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Family planning is a matter of social justice

Leaders have the opportunity to unleash women's full potential.

By Helen Clark Published 11 July 2012 9:14
A Philippine health worker lectures pregnant women
A Philippine health worker lectures pregnant women on responsible family planning. Photograph: Getty Images

Many leaders from government and civil society will meet in London today to discuss family planning. What they discuss will have an impact on women and girls around the world.

Today more than 25,000 girls under the age of 18 will get married, and the same number will do so tomorrow, the next day, and the next. For the majority of these girls, pregnancy and childbirth will soon follow.

Complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death among adolescent girls aged 15-19 in low and middle-income countries, resulting in thousands of deaths every year. That so many women die as a result of complications from pregnancy or childbirth in the 21st century is a shocking indictment of the low priority given to the needs and status of women and girls in many societies.

As well, many suffer complications in childbirth. In the case of fistula, women may be rejected by their husbands and families and outcast by their communities. They may endure intense shame and physical pain.

Access to reproductive health services is a health issue, but it is also an issue of social justice and human development. It is a basic human right for women to enjoy full legal equality and equality of opportunity, and for a girl born today, in any country, to have the same life prospects as any boy.

When women’s needs for family planning and reproductive and sexual health services go unmet, their chances of finishing their education, entering and remaining in productive work, and breaking out of poverty are sharply reduced.

All too often, women and girls are discriminated against not only in access to health services, but also in education and in the labour market — with negative repercussions for not only their own freedoms, but for progress in their countries as a whole.  In 2010, UNDP introduced the Gender Inequality Index as part of its Human Development Reports, to reveal differences in the distribution of human development achievements between women and men so that policymakers know to take steps to reduce disparities.

Empowering women and girls is one of the strongest tools available to accelerate development. Sexual and reproductive health and rights are an essential component of that empowerment.

When women have control over their health and sexuality, they can plan their pregnancy and childbirth, better protect themselves from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and fare better in their families, households, communities, and countries.

This summit, hosted by the UK government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with UNFPA and other partners, could mark the start of a new drive to empower women and girls.

The Guttmacher Institute and UNFPA estimate that meeting the unmet need for modern family planning methods in developing countries would cost about $8.1 billion annually. With $4 billion of this total now being invested, there is a shortfall of $4.1 billion.

Leaders have the opportunity to help plug the $4.1 billion a year funding gap in order to get contraception to the hundreds of millions of women who would like to access family planning, but can’t.

Leaders can also take this opportunity to ensure that women’s and girls’ rights are enshrined in law, empowering them to decide whether, when, and how many children they have. 

When women can access family planning, they have the opportunity to shape their own future, and that of their children.  The benefits are felt across whole nations.

All our societies are the poorer if they fail to tap the full potential of half their population, and do not remove the obstacles to their success.

Helen Clark is the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and the former Prime Minister of New Zealand
 

 
 

20 comments

Dikhsha's picture

Mon, 2012-11-26 07:33 — Dikhsha (not verified)

I think it would be great gathering on discussion of family planning ,hope people will learn and understand the importance of that.

mikemollan123's picture

Mon, 2012-09-24 21:57 — mikemollan123

Nice observations and summing up of the topic!

While it is nice to know that there is a desire to double the CPR in all the developing countries, a Plan B for contraceptive failure ought to not have been excluded from such an important summit.

Sadly these mothers have left with no choice than either to over the burden of an undesirable pregnancy and childbirth or to succumb to the practices of hazardous abortion, an important cause of maternal mortality and morbidity!

seputarsoftware's picture

Mon, 2012-09-17 15:59 — seputarsoftware

While the before commentator is aptly to top to the comprehensive distribution of wealth, and the shape hand shortages in rising countries, as answer underlying causes of the poor shape outcomes in these countries, today’s Family Planning Summit is indeed a salutation and overdue opportunity to focus on an aspect of comprehensive shape with the intention of has been neglected pro many years.
===> update-seputar-software.blogspot.com/2012/09/sepeda-motor-bebek-injeksi-kencang-dan.html

This cinderella of shape services has been the victim of a politically motivated flatlining in funding pro contraception and family tree planning services, and the subsequent excessive deaths of many tens of thousands of women and children.

The NGO Health Poverty Action facility with community communities across Asia, Africa and Latin America, permanent alongside them in their struggle pro shape civil rights, counting reproductive and sexual shape civil rights. So we put your hands together this breakthrough in the international community’s hard work to boost funding and attention in this area, while recognising its limitations. However, I would argue with the intention of the banned on safe abortion should be challenged if we genuinely aspire to prevent the excessive loss of thousands of lives. Some 47,000 women go to meet your maker through unsafe abortion all time and this cannot be unseen.

Another aspect of the argument with the intention of seems to be inflicted with been sidelined is the need pro family tree planning services, and cargo, to be FREE by the top of aid. A litany of disastrous user fee policies around the planet has underlined could you repeat that? Many activists be inflicted with argued pro years; with the intention of charging even small amounts pro shape services creates an insurmountable barrier to access pro the poor. This argument holds real pro family tree planning. A strategy vacant forwards from now should acknowledge this need pro emancipated shape services: As long as vast amounts of contraceptives pro deal (even cheaply) will not sort out.

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

Neal-12's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 03:22 — Neal-12 (not verified)

Well paid parasite Helen. Only a virus will work here!

tyrete's picture

Thu, 2012-07-12 00:51 — tyrete (not verified)

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SarahKEdwards's picture

Wed, 2012-07-11 21:12 — SarahKEdwards (not verified)

While the previous commentator is right to point to the global distribution of wealth, and the health worker shortages in developing countries, as key underlying causes of the poor health outcomes in these countries, today’s Family Planning Summit is indeed a welcome and overdue opportunity to focus on an aspect of global health that has been neglected for many years.

This cinderella of health services has been the victim of a politically motivated flatlining in funding for contraception and family planning services, and the ensuing unnecessary deaths of many tens of thousands of women and children.

The NGO Health Poverty Action works with local communities across Asia, Africa and Latin America, standing alongside them in their struggle for health rights, including reproductive and sexual health rights. So we applaud this breakthrough in the international community’s efforts to increase funding and attention in this area, while recognising its limitations. However, I would argue that the taboo on safe abortion must be challenged if we genuinely want to prevent the unnecessary loss of thousands of lives. Some 47,000 women die through unsafe abortion each year and this cannot be ignored.

Another aspect of the debate that seems to have been sidelined is the need for family planning services, and commodities, to be FREE at the point of use. A litany of failed user fee policies around the world has underlined what many activists have argued for years; that charging even small amounts for health services creates an insurmountable barrier to access for the poor. This argument holds true for family planning. A strategy going forward from today must acknowledge this need for free health services: providing vast amounts of contraceptives for sale (even cheaply) will not do.

Davidaslindsay's picture

Wed, 2012-07-11 18:46 — Davidaslindsay (not verified)

Pope Melinda I is in town, with no one from the idiot BBC daring to question her assertion that Catholic doctrine is, or at the very least ought to be, determined by opinion polls taken among Americans who happen to identify themselves as Catholics. It is likewise taken as read that the problem with the world is that it has proles and darkies in it. Heaven forfend that anyone might mention the global redistribution of wealth, or the improvement of African women's healthcare by providing them with, oh, you know, doctors, nurses and midwives.

The invariable increase in abortions wherever there are contraceptives; the horrific side effects of the Pill, of women poisoning themselves so as to be permanently available for the sexual gratification of men; the obvious dangers of sticking a coil or a diaphragm up oneself; the total ineffectiveness of condoms in preventing sexually transmitted infections from Botswana to Birmingham, from Malawi to Manchester, from Ghana to Glasgow, from Cameroon to Cardiff: none of this must ever be mentioned. Did someone say something about "informed choice"?

Years ago, I remember mentioning the Conservatives to one of this country's best-known pro-life and pro-family activists. She all but spat with contempt: "I spent 18 years campaigning against them." As, indeed, she had done, and most especially against Margaret Thatcher, the abomination of whose name in such circles is matched only by the abomination of the name of Tony Blair. A traditional Catholic, my interlocutor's only objection to Labour was that "it used to be based on Methodism, but it isn't anymore."

And now, the party against whom she fought so valiantly for 18 years is back with a vengeance. Labour should make clear that, in emulation of Saint Melinda, it will cease the direct funding of abortion as part of the overseas aid budget, something that would in fact reduce that budget dramatically, so very much of it is spent on that procedure.

We could then get to work with facts such as the invariable increase in abortions wherever there are contraceptives. Our reasonable expectation could be to reframe the debate entirely, in terms such as the global redistribution of wealth, and the improvement of African women's healthcare by providing them with, oh, you know, doctors, nurses and midwives.

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