THE landscape of sexual and reproductive health and rights is shifting: millions of women want to avoid pregnancy but are not using a modern method of contraception.
Modern contraceptives are essential and life-saving, and yet an estimated 224 million women in developing countries who want to avoid pregnancy are not currently using safe and effective family planning methods.
As the seventh International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) 2025 takes place in Bogota from 01-06 Nov, more than 3,500 attendees from across the globe (including world leaders, researchers, and advocates), the world stands at a decisive crossroads for sexual and reproductive health and rights.
By committing to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 2015), all government leaders had promised health and wellbeing (SDG-3) and gender equality (SDG-5) by 2030 "where no one is left behind".
Two-thirds along the way in 2025, the writing on the wall is clear: promises are not being kept.
"Together, these two SDG goals (SDG-3 and SDG-5) are at the heart of the 2030 SDGs agenda," said Benedicta Oyedayo Oyewole, Community Engagement and Partnership Lead, InternationalPlanned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) Africa.
"Without them, there can be no human development, no sustainable peace, and no economic transformation."
Experts warn that this is not just a health issue - it is a human rights and economic crisis that threatens decades of progress in gender equality, education and maternal health.
"When women and adolescent girls have access to contraceptives, their pregnancies are more likely to be planned and safe, they are more likely to complete school, be employed and fulfil their potential, their children are healthier, and their societies are more prosperous," said United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Diene Keita.
"Contraceptives reduce abortion rates and lower the incidence of death and disability related to complications of pregnancy and childbirth," she added.
She noted that every $1 spent ending unmet need for contraception yields nearly $27 in economic benefits.
In the Asia-Pacific region, more than 140 million women of reproductive age still lack access to modern methods of contraception.
The consequences are staggering: an estimated 13 million unplanned pregnancies occur every year, alongside 3.9 million adolescent pregnancies, nearly half of which are unintended.
Fewer than one in four sexually active, unmarried adolescent girls in Asia and the Pacific are using a modern contraceptive method.
Across the region, 64 out of every 1,000 women will experience an unintended pregnancy during their lifetime.
For many, this leads to unsafe abortions - a leading cause of maternal death and injury - or forces girls out of school and women out of the workforce.
"The supply, distribution, and availability of contraceptives are simply not keeping up with demand," a UNFPA regional report states.
"Persistent supply gaps and funding shortfalls are putting millions of women at risk."
This is especially true of women living in remote and rural areas.
Despite the proven benefits, global funding for family planning is falling.
Recent major funding disruptions and proposed cuts by key donors, including the USA, threaten to worsen this crisis significantly in communities that rely on international family planning funding.
The UNFPA projects a US$1.5 billion shortfall in reproductive health commodity financing by 2030 in low- and middle-income countries.
Rising anti-rights and anti-gender pushbacks, along with conflicts, wars, invasions and genocides, have not only arrested the progress made on gender and health but also threaten to reverse - and are reversing - some of the fragile gains made on health and gender.
Gender equality and the right to health are fundamental human rights.
Governments must correct course and be on track to deliver on the promises of Agenda 2030.
This article was contributed by Shobha Shukla, President of Asia Pacific Regional Media Alliance for Health, Gender and Development Justice, and Executive Director of Citizen News Service.
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