A choice for all: Different needs, different choices

There are many pathways through reproductive life. What is right for one woman is not necessarily right for another and a woman’s needs will change across her lifetime. 

Investment in sexual and reproductive health and rights is one of the most powerful accelerators of human progress, delivering strong returns to economies and societies through lasting benefits for individuals and families. 

Access to contraception and choice is central to women’s empowerment. It gives women the ability to control their own bodies and their own futures. It helps to ensure that girls can continue their education and develop their professional skills, and increases women’s participation in the economy and society. When pregnancies and female genital mutilation are prevented, and women who do become pregnant can access services essential to them, death and disability rates fall. This results in increased years of healthy living, which can contribute to a dynamic female labour force. 

But still, it is estimated that more than 257 million women have an unmet need for contraception, many of which are actively displaced by conflict or natural disasters. 

Each year, UNFPA sources and procures a significant volume of contraceptives to ensure that quality-assured and cost-effective contraceptives are distributed to women and adolescents in different circumstances, across development and humanitarian contexts, worldwide.

The impact of contraceptives delivered by UNFPA (2022)

• 59 million couples years of protection
• 13.3 million unintended pregnancies prevented
• 5.1 million new sexually transmitted infections averted
• 3.7 million unsafe abortions prevented
   

On this World Contraception Day, let’s affirm that all women and adolescents, no matter who they are or where they are, should have access to voluntary contraceptives and choice, regardless of their circumstances.

#AChoiceForAll