On 16 November UNFPA Country Office in Ukraine launched State of World Population 2012 report, entitled “By Choice, Not by Chance: Family Planning, Human Rights and Development.”
UNFPA’s report makes the case that voluntary family planning is a human right. Moreover, because it’s a right, everyone who wants access to family planning should have access to it.
For UNFPA as the Agency which is delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted… every childbirth is safe… and every young person’s potential is fulfilled reproductive health and family planning is a key area of work.
The report shows that family planning has a positive multiplier effect on development. It saves lives and protect the reproductive health of women, leading to having healthier children; gives a choice and opportunities to young people and families letting them live a healthier life; prevents reproductive loses due to unintended pregnancies and abortions; saves resources for other ultimate priorities of national health care system, including improvement of maternal health services and primary health care strengthening.
“Not only does the ability for a couple to choose when and how many children to have help lift nations out of poverty, but it is also one of the most effective means of empowering women. Women who use contraception are generally healthier, better educated, more empowered in their households and communities and more economically productive. Women’s increased labour-force participation boosts nations’ economies”, - said UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin.
Family planning enables a woman to have control over her life by preventing abortions and unwanted pregnancies that may endanger her physical and psychological health as well as reduce education and career opportunities and can condemn both the woman and her family to a life of poverty and social exclusion. Family planning also contributes to achieving gender equality by empowering women to make informed decisions regarding family size and birth timing.
From a public health perspective, family planning has proved to be effective in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity due to healthy spacing of the children and fewer numbers of pregnancies, as well as preventing unsafe abortion. By preventing unsafe abortions and STIs, family planning contributes significantly to reducing risks of infertility among men and women.
Family planning is a cost-saving intervention at an individual, household and national level. By preventing abortion, family planning avoids post abortion complications, maternal morbidity and costly medical interventions to treat these conditions.
The studies prove that one third of the growth of Asian “tiger” economies is attributed to a demographic shift in which the number of income-generating adults became higher than those who depended on them for support. This shift, says the report, was a consequence of family planning and brought increased productivity, leading to economic development in the region.
And the costs of ignoring the right to family planning include poverty, exclusion, poor health and gender inequality.
Therefore, family planning is one of the most critically important investments that the governments could make: in health, in women’s rights, and in the life trajectories of young people. With age-appropriate sexual education and access to family planning, the young can truly plan their education, work and childbearing on their terms.
These can also be important contributors for Ukraine’s development and demographic strategy.
UNFPA works throughout the world to mobilize the resources which will secure the accessibility of family planning for more than 220 millions of women in developing countries. Last July, at the London Summit on Family Planning, donor countries and foundations together pledged $2.6 billion to make family planning available to 120 million women in developing countries with unmet needs by 2020. Developing countries themselves also pledged to increase support.
In Ukraine UNFPA through its country programme for 2012-2016 will provide support to the Government of Ukraine improving the quality of maternal health and family planning services in underserved areas, making high quality family planning services widely available through primary health care system.
UNFPA hopes that the report will stimulate discussion in Ukraine and will encourage Government, civil society, health providers and communities in Ukraine to make further responsible steps to ensure continuous progress in the area of family planning for the sake of health and prosperity of people who live in this country.
UNFPA hopes that the report will stimulate discussion in Ukraine and will encourage Government, civil society, health providers and communities in Ukraine to make further responsible steps to ensure continuous progress in the area of family planning for the sake of health and prosperity of people who live in this country.
