NAIROBI, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Countries in the Sub-Saharan African region have witnessed a spike in the uptake of modern contraceptives among women of reproductive age, says a report launched in Nairobi on Monday.
The Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) Women at the Center report, said that seven African countries including Kenya, Chad, Mozambique, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Zimbabwe, have since 2012 been trailblazers in birth control.
Sicily Kariuki, Kenya's cabinet secretary for health, commended progress African countries have made towards attainment of universal access to contraceptives among women of childbearing age.
"A lot has happened since we committed to reduce unmet need for family planning during the Cairo summit of 1994. We must consistently advocate for more investments to attain the goal of zero unmet need for contraceptives," said Kariuki.
The FP2020 report that was launched ahead of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD 25) slated for Nov. 12 to 14 in Nairobi, indicated that 314 million women and girls in 69 lowest income countries are currently using modern contraceptives.
According to the report, 53 million women of reproductive age have in the last seven years embraced birth control methods in some of the world's poorest nations that are mainly found in Africa.
"Ensuring that every woman and girl has the ability to control her own fertility and decide whether or when to get pregnant is the bedrock of their empowerment, better health and greater life opportunities," said the report that was compiled by FP 2020 lobby which is based in Washington DC.
The report said that all the seven African countries alongside Sri Lanka and Kyrgyz republic are on track to surpass the FP 2020 target of narrowing contraceptives' access gap.
It revealed that 119 million unintended pregnancies, 21 million unsafe abortions and 134,000 maternal deaths were prevented in the last year alone due to the robust uptake of modern contraceptives in the 69 poor nations.
"The modern contraceptive prevalence rate across all FP 2020 focus countries has risen by more than 2 percent since 2012," said the report adding that the highest spike has occurred in east and southern African region where the use of contraceptives has increased by 7 percent since 2012.
Beth Schlachter, the executive director of FP 2020 said that investing in reproductive health for women and girls will leapfrog countries to new levels of growth and transformation.
"The evidence is clear, when you invest in women and girls' reproductive health, opportunities open up that not only lift them out of poverty but also bring economic gains," said Schlachter.
Benoit Kalasa, director, Technical Division at the UN Population Fund, said that African states must address supply chain hiccups, disjointed policies, underfunding and cultural barriers to ensure that women of childbearing age have access to modern contraceptives.
