A Record 290 Million Women, Girls In Poor Nations Are Using Contraception: Report

“Family planning saves lives and unlocks the potential of women, their families and communities. But while we have made progress, the latest data show that we’re not yet meeting our goals,” the report said. “With five years to go, we have a window of opportunity to get back on track.”

The effort was launched in 2012 in 69 focus countries.

Looking at the countries’ typical rates of unintended pregnancies, the use of modern contraception by 290.6 million women and girls averted an estimated 80 million pregnancies, 28.6 million unsafe abortions and 111,000 maternal deaths this year, it said.

Among nations showing progress was Kenya, where contraceptive use rose to 58 percent of married women in 2014 from 46 percent in 2009.

Much of the improvement can be traced to Kenya’s community-based distribution of injectable contraceptives, it said.

Zambia’s contraceptive prevalence also improved, rising to 45 percent from 33 percent in 2012, partly because the nation doubled its budget for family planning, the report said.

Ten nations that are home to half the women of reproductive age in the 69 focus countries are not showing marked advances, among them India, Pakistan and the Philippines, it said.

(Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)