Scientists and political leaders at an international public health conference here yesterday called for higher investment in family planning, terming it a central part of the global development agenda and a basic human right.
Every dollar spent on family planning can save governments up to 6 dollars that can be spent on improving health, housing, water, sanitation, and other public services, Melinda Gates, co-chair of US-based charity Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said in a video message at the opening of the fourth International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) at Nusa Dua, Bali.
“There is no time to lose, so let’s start,” Gates said, pledging that her Foundation will invest an additional $120 million in family planning programmes over the next three years – a 25% increase in its current family planning funding.
Health and development experts highlighted the need to expand access to high-quality, voluntary family planning methods and materials to reduce maternal and newborn mortality in developing countries as part of the push towards the new Sustainable Development Goals.
According to the World Health Organisation every day, nearly 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, and 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries.
“Family planning is about women’s right and their capacity to take decisions about their health and well-being contributing to the objectives of FP2020,” said Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UNFPA.
Around 3000 leaders, UN officials, academics, NGOs including from Bangladesh are attending the 5-day international conference.
Maternal mortality in Bangladesh is about 194 per 100,000 live births. Last year, an estimated stillbirth in Bangladesh was 83,100, while neonatal deaths were 74,400, according to The Lancet, a UK-based medical journal.
Unintended pregnancy, early marriage, lack of reproductive and sexual education as well as services and contraceptive supplies are the major reasons behind the deaths, experts say.
However, according to data presented at conference, over 220 million women in developing countries who don’t want to get pregnant lack access to contraceptives and voluntary family planning information and services.
In 2012, an estimated 80 million women in developing countries had an unintended pregnancy; of those women, at least one in four resorted to an unsafe abortion.
In Bangladesh, official data shows, 65% of girls are married before the age of 18. Also, around 40% couples do not use contraceptives in Bangladesh.
“Three years ago, the global community set an ambitious goal. More than that, we made a promise. A promise to 120 million women and girls that by 2020 they would have access to family planning services and contraceptives if they wanted it,” stated Melinda Gates.
“Since we made that promise, millions of unintended pregnancies have been avoided and thousands of lives saved. But the hard truth is, that to keep it, we must do more, and we must act now.”
The Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the National Population and Family Planning Board of Indonesia (BKKBN) organised the conference titled “Global Commitments, Local Actions.”
“It is a most significant investment to promote human capital development, combat poverty and harness a demographic dividend thus contributing to equitable and sustainable economic development within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Dr Babatunde Osotimehin of UNFPA.
Indonesian President Jokowi Widodo said that stigma and discrimination against women seeking family planning services must end, and that family planning education must become a priority in Indonesia, the world’s fourth largest populated country with over 250 million population.