Family Planning Key to Curbing Child Mortality

Washington, DC - May 21, 2007

Maternal and infant mortality have declined in Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines according to a new report released by Save the Children. Much of this good news can be attributed to access to family planning services which give women the ability to space their children at healthy intervals and plan the size of their families. The successes of these five countries show how crucial financial and political commitments to family planning are to curbing child mortality, as well as meeting other development goals.

Egypt’s remarkable 68 percent reduction in child deaths in the last 15 years puts the nation right on track to meet Millennium Development Goal 4 (reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015) . After hosting the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994, Egypt committed itself to investing in the health of mothers and children. The country aimed to reduce child mortality, reduce the fertility rate and to improve pregnancy outcomes. Through public health initiatives that provided healthcare for pregnant women and improved access to family planning education and services - including contraceptives - the fertility rate has declined from 4.3 to 3.1 births per woman, contraceptive use has increased to nearly 60 percent and child mortality has declined significantly.

“Voluntary family planning has been estimated to prevent one-fourth of maternal deaths by helping women delay early pregnancy and childbirth, prevent closely spaced births and reduce the risk of HIV transmission,” according to the report. In addition, “[i]nfants spaced more than three years apart are more than three times as likely to survive as infants both less than one-and-a-half years apart.” Considering that each year ten million children under five die - primarily from preventable causes and in poor countries - as well as an additional half a million mothers who die in childbirth or pregnancy, it is clear that family planning must remain on the forefront of any development agenda.

Unfortunately, for over a decade, U.S. support for these life saving programs has steadily declined. The U.S. has cut funding for international family planning by 41% (adjusted for inflation) since 1995, despite family planning’s proven track record of reducing maternal and child mortality. Political and financial support for international family planning must be central to global efforts to save the lives of women and children. The evidence is mounting; now we must act.

Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.