Meeting the Development and Health Needs of 215 Million Women: U.S. International Family Planning Goals

Abstract

U.S. international family planning assistance is one of the great success stories in the history of U.S. development assistance. In 2007, 56.5 million women in the developing world were using modern contraception as a direct result of U.S. support. Many millions more have benefited indirectly from service improvements resulting from the guidance and technical expertise of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Unfortunately a large and growing need for family planning remains in many developing nations. While the world population continues to grow by 79 million people annually, 215 million women in developing countries seek to postpone childbearing, space births, or stop having children, but are not using a modern method of contraception. The United States can lead international efforts to meet the unmet need for family planning by appropriating $1 billion annually. The$1 billion figure is the U.S. fair share of developed country contributions necessary to address unmet need in the developing world and would also fulfill our historic commitments to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals