Access to family planning and women's health

Ndola Prata, University of California, Berkeley

Family planning is one of the most cost-effective health interventions to reduce maternal mortality. In many parts of the developing world organized family planning programs have been effective in reducing fertility and affect population growth. During fertility decline the resulting changes in the age structure of the population can provide countries with a demographic window of opportunity that can help countries grow economically if able to benefit from the demographic dividend. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to grow rapidly and access to family planning is still limited or totally unavailable to many women. As a result, the region has the highest fertility in the world the lowest contraceptive prevalence rates and the poorest women’s health indicators. Only realistic access to correct information and contraceptive methods can accelerate fertility decline, bring changes in the age structure composition of the population, thus allowing countries to capture the demographic dividend.