International Access to Family Planning and Reproductive Health

Women waiting outside a market day clinic in the village of Ticho, Ethiopia. Photo: Chloe Hall

These grants extend good family planning and reproductive health information and services to more women and men throughout the world, with a particular emphasis on those living in profound poverty. 

More than 100 million women remain without access to family planning, and many times that number don’t receive other essential reproductive health services. This is particularly true in the world’s poorest region, sub-Saharan Africa, where almost a quarter of women still lack family planning services and information. This urgent need is underscored by an epidemic of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.

Evidence shows that having an array of contraceptive methods and other reproductive health options increases their use and reduces maternal death rates. Despite their public health benefits, many reproductive health services and family planning options are still not readily available.

To address this, the Program supports work to improve quality of care, increase the breadth of services and outreach, improve laws and policies by basing them on sound science, and advance research on how to encourage people to seek good health care and to design programs that provide it.

Illustrative grants include:

• Support for a nationwide launch of emergency contraception campaign in Kenya with extensive media outreach and public and private sector involvement to increase knowledge and appropriate utilization of the method;
• Support of legal reform and policy implementation guaranteeing access to safe abortion, training of health care providers in safe abortion care, and;
• Support for advocacy to build political and financial commitment to ensuring universal access to female condoms, the only available woman-initiated method that protects against both unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

The Global Development and Population Program does not accept unsolicited Letters of Inquiry for its International Access to Family Planning and Reproductive Health grantmaking.