World leaders have announced progress on and new commitments to expanding contraceptive access for women in developing countries. On Wednesday at the Women Deliver conference taking place in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, the leaders also outlined their respective countries’ plans for sustaining this momentum in the years to come.
The day’s events built on the commitments and energy generated at the landmark July 2012 London Summit on Family Planning where global leaders pledged more than US $2.6 billion to provide 120 million more women and girls in the world’s poorest countries with voluntary access to contraceptive services, information and supplies by 2020.
Speakers at Women Deliver 2013 discussed strategies to reach women and girls in developing countries who do not want to become pregnant but lack access to contraceptives.
“Putting women at the centre of development and delivering solutions that meet their needs will result in huge improvements in health, prosperity and quality of life,” said Melinda Gates, co-chair of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Melinda said that when women have access to contraceptives they are healthier, their children are healthier, and their families thrive.
At the morning plenary session led by Melinda Gates and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director and Family Planning 2020 chairperson Babatunde Osotimehin, government leaders from Africa and Asia highlighted concrete examples of progress on family planning and reaffirmed commitments to further expanding contraceptive access:
Senegal’s Minister of Health, Dr Awa Coll-Seck, discussed the country’s dramatic progress in eliminating contraceptive stock-outs since the national family planning programme’s roll-out in November 2012, doubling the budget to 200 million with plans for further increases in 2015.
The Philippines’ Secretary of Health, Dr Enrique T. Ona, said that his country’s has experienced the historic passing of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act after a battle lasting nearly 15 years.
The First Lady of Zambia, Dr Christine Kaseba-Sata, highlighted Zambia’s stalwart commitment to expanding family planning access in the country, which launched its national family planning programme last month.
Indonesia’s Minister of Health, Dr Nafsiah Mboi, announced the government’s increase in funding for long-acting reversible contraceptives as part of redoubled efforts to regain momentum on family planning access after recent plateaus.
According to the National Coordinator for Malawi’s Safe Motherhood Initiative, Dorothy Ngoma: “These countries show that we can make an impact on women’s access to reproductive health if we rally the necessary political will and financial commitments. Expanding access to contraceptives is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to save lives and ensure the health and well-being of future generations.”
They said that continued advocacy will be needed to ensure that governments sustain and increase their commitments to family planning and to girls’ and women’s health and rights more broadly.
The day’s conversations helped set the stage for Thursday’s discussions on the critical role of girls and women in the post-Millennium Development Goal framework.
