Towards Ending Unmet Need for Family Planning

What is Family Planning

Family planning empowers couples and individuals with the ability to decide, freely and responsibly, the number and spacing of children they plan to have, using adequate information and the means to do so. All individuals have the right to family planning services and commodities (modern contraceptives). Despite this progress, many women would like to access family planning services and commodities, but are unable to do so. This is referred to as unmet need for family planning, which remains relatively high in Zambia at 20%. On average, a Zambian woman will have 4.7 children during her reproductive years.

Progress

Over the last 2 decades, the percentage of married women aged 15-49 using modern methods of contraception has increased by over 500%, from 9% in 1992 to 48% in 2018. UNFPA’s partnership with the Government of Zambia has contributed to increased availability of contraceptives at national and sub-national levels through UNFPA’s procurement of more than 60% of the country’s reproductive health commodities needs for the public sector, funded through the UNFPA Supplies Partnership and bilateral donors. National capacities for forecasting, quantification, and logistics management of reproductive health commodities has also improved in the last few years, alongside other life-saving medicines and supplies

The Focus of UNFPA’s Work

Informed by UNFPA’s global Transformative Results, and in line with the Government of Zambia /UNFPA 9th Country Programme (2023-2027), UNFPA in Zambia works towards ending unmet need for family planning through five modes of engagement namely:

Advocacy and policy dialogue: In Zambia, UNFPA advocates for the right of women and men to voluntarily decide when, how often, and how many children they want to have. UNFPA is also committed to collaborating with the Government of Zambia and stakeholders in the development and implementation of comprehensive and integrated family planning policies and programmes.
Targeted service delivery: UNFPA supports the availability of reproductive health commodities for delivery through the public sector, of which over 60% are procured by UNFPA with funding from the UNFPA Supplies Partnership and bilateral donors. Through provision of age appropriate and context-specific modern methods of contraception, UNFPA contributes to the aversion of maternal deaths, aversion of unplanned pregnancies, aversion of unsafe abortion, and generation of increased number of Couple Years of Protection (i.e. 1 year of protection against unintended pregnancy).
Capacity development: UNFPA’s support includes strengthening national health systems; as well as improving national capacities for forecasting, quantification, and logistics management of reproductive health commodities, alongside other lifesaving medicines and supplies. UNFPA also supports the strengthening of national capacity towards sustainable domestic financing for reproductive health commodities.
Knowledge management: Acknowledging the critical role of data towards informing national policy, planning and resource allocation, UNFPA provides both technical and financial support to the Government of Zambia to scale up national capacity to generate and utilize statistical data and evidence on family planning.
Partnerships and coordination: UNFPA continues to foster strategic partnerships with key decision makers in Government, donor countries, trust and thematic funds, towards advancing health and development outcomes for women and young people, in line with Zambia’s development aspirations.