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Over 6.5 million women now use a modern method of contraception in Nigeria
November 11, 2019
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Source:FP2020
Topics:
Adolescents & Youth
Advocacy & Awareness
Building 2030
Contraceptive Security
Emergency Preparedness & Response
Financing
Innovation
Integrating FP & HIV Services
Policy and Enabling Environment
Rights-Based Family Planning
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Click here to download Nigeria’s 2019 Fact Sheet
Monday 11 November, Nairobi – A ground-breaking report on family planning in the world’s 69 lowest-income countries today shows that more women and girls have access to family planning than ever before. It reveals that 314 million women and girls are now using modern contraception, with 53 million new users in the last seven years, and 9 million in the past year alone. While Nigeria has over 6.5 million women using a modern method of contraception, it is the second slowest growing country in West Africa when it comes to the uptake of modern contraception.
FP2020: Women at the Center has been produced by Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) – a global partnership that supports the rights of woman and girls to decide – freely and for themselves – whether, when, and how many children they want to have.
Launched on the side-lines of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Nairobi, FP2020’s latest report is part of the 25-year arc of progress that has lifted hundreds of millions of women and girls since the Cairo Summit in 1994.
With almost 60% of its population under the age of 25, Africa is the world’s youngest region. Ensuring that young women and girls have access to family planning is central to the continent’s future development, paving the way for more educated communities, healthier populations and wealthier nations.
Beth Schlachter, Executive Director of FP2020, said:
“The evidence is clear – when you invest in women and girls, the good deed never ends. Barriers are broken and opportunities open up that not only lift women out of poverty but can elevate society and bring about economic gains. No other single change can do more to improve the state of the world.”
She continued,
“25 years on from the first ICPD, the family planning movement has gained huge momentum. Yet big challenges remain. With every day that passes, millions are denied the right to choose their own future. As we look ahead to 2030, we must continue to push for progress, build on what works well, and ensure we leave no woman or girl behind.”
While progress has been significant, FP2020 approaches its deadline year and the initial numeric goal of reaching an additional 120 million women and girls has yet to be realized. The challenge of putting women and girls at the centre of development remains critical.
There are 926 million women of reproductive age today across the 69 FP2020 countries – 100 million more than there were in 2012. With this number expected to surpass 1 billion in 2025, millions more women will need vital family planning services.
In Nigeria, a woman gives birth to an average of 5.5 children in her lifetime. The population of women of reproductive age in Nigeria makes up roughly half of all women of reproductive age West Africa. Although Nigeria’s modern contraceptive prevalence rate (MCPR) is growing at roughly the average rate of FP2020 focus countries as a whole - 0.3 percentage points per year – Nigeria remains the second slowest growing country in West Africa, due to the growing population of women at reproductive age.
As the global community looks ahead to the post-2020 framework, the importance of putting women and girls at the centre of development is paramount. More work is ahead, and the challenge will be to deepen existing commitments and approaches to ensure that the needs and rights of women and girls around the world are met and respected.
Family Planning 2020
Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) is a global partnership and works with governments, civil society, multilateral organizations, donors, the private sector, and the research and development community to enable millions more women to use contraceptives no matter where they live. An outcome of the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning, FP2020’s objective is to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and rights by 2030, as laid out in Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 5. FP2020 is in support of the UN Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health.
Core partners of FP2020 are The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Department for International Development (DFID) , UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, and USAID. The FP2020 Secretariat, based at the United Nations Foundation in Washington, DC, implements the day-to-day activities of the partnership. One of the Secretariat’s main functions is to report on progress made by the FP2020 partnership.