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In an era of mounting global uncertainty, the mission of FP2020 remains as pertinent and compelling as ever. Every woman and girl must be able to exercise her basic human right to control her own reproductive health. Access to safe, voluntary family planning is fundamental to women’s empowerment. It’s also fundamental to achieving our global goals for a healthier, more prosperous, just, and equitable world. Rights-based family planning programs have a greater ripple effect than almost any other development investment, from saving lives and improving health to strengthening economies, transforming societies, and lifting entire countries out of poverty. It is the surest path to the future we want.

This report includes a step-by-step overview of how FP2020 countries, donors, and partners work together to implement programs that are grounded in human rights principles, based on evidence and data, and accountable to stakeholders.

Over the past five years, FP2020 has pioneered a country-led, globally-backed development partnership that will help us travel that path. Our partners have reached millions of women and girls with the services they want and need, and collaborated across countries and sectors to build stronger, more diverse and sustainable family planning programs. This report discusses the state of the FP2020 partnership, provides progress notes on our work, and points to the way ahead.

REACHING MORE WOMEN AND GIRLS

• As of July 2017, more than 309 million women and girls in the 69 FP2020 focus countries are using a modern method of contraception. This is 38.8 million more than were using contraception in 2012, when FP2020 was launched—an increase that is approximately 30% above the historical trend. Through the dedicated efforts of governments, policymakers, program implementers, service providers, and donors, the health systems in FP2020 countries are becoming better aligned to meet the needs of an ever-increasing number of women and girls.

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• Africa accounts for almost half of the additional users of contraception. As of July 2017, 16 million additional women are using a modern method of contraception in the FP2020 countries of Africa as compared to 2012. The rate of contraceptive use is also growing rapidly: since 2012, the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (MCPR) among all women in the region has increased from 19.5% to 23.4%, with the fastest growth occurring in Eastern and Southern Africa.

• More than half of the additional users of contraception are in Asia: 21.9 million. Asia includes four of the five most populous FP2020 countries—India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh—and progress in these countries has a large influence on the total number of additional users. Because MCPR rates are already higher, the rate of contraceptive use is growing more slowly than in Africa, ranging from 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points per year across regions of Asia. In 2017, we estimate that 38% of all women of reproductive age in Asia are using a modern method.

Family planning has an enormous impact on the lives and health of women and girls, as well as on their families, communities, and countries. From July 2016 to July 2017, the use of modern contraception in FP2020 focus countries prevented 84 million unintended pregnancies, 26 million unsafe abortions, and 125,000 maternal deaths.

THE GLOBAL CONTEXT

Shifts in the political landscape over the past year have created an uncertain funding environment for family planning programs. The Mexico City Policy, reduced funding to UNFPA, and changing priorities in the US imperil many programs. The threat to women’s health, and to our shared vision of the future, is undeniable.

At the same time, new global initiatives are emerging and some donors are increasing their investments. Worldwide, there is broader recognition of family planning as a development priority. The FP2020 partnership continues to grow, spanning dozens of countries and bringing together national governments, multilateral agencies, philanthropic foundations, civil society organizations, and private sector partners who all share a powerful commitment to rights-based family planning.

In July 2017, the Family Planning Summit welcomed 25 new partners to FP2020 and generated 74 new and revitalized FP2020 commitments. The Summit was also the occasion for the announcement of 11 Global Goods: groundbreaking group initiatives designed to solve persistent challenges across the family planning sector. These initiatives promise to channel more resources into capacity building, forge pathways to sustainable domestic financing, resolve commodity spending gaps, strengthen global and domestic supply chains, ensure that adolescents are counted and their needs are met, and address the needs of women and girls in crisis settings.

The range and depth of commitments announced at the Summit reflect the growing understanding that rights-based family planning is essential to global development. FP2020 is aligned with the Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, and FP2020 commitments to extend the lifesaving benefits of modern contraception play a vital role in contributing to the Global Strategy’s goal of ending all preventable deaths of women, children, and adolescents within a generation. Contraceptive access is incorporated in the Sustainable Development Goals, and FP2020’s goal of reaching 120 million women and girls is a critical benchmark on the global path to universal access by 2030.

COUNTRY PROGRESS

With new commitments this year from Chad, Haiti, and South Sudan, the FP2020 partnership now includes 41 of our 69 focus countries.a As a country-led movement backed by the participation and support of global partners, FP2020 functions as the central platform for progress on family planning. This report includes a step-by-step overview of how FP2020 countries, donors, and partners work together to implement programs that are grounded in human rights principles, based on evidence and data, and accountable to stakeholders. Examples of progress in political advocacy, financing strategies, service delivery, supply chain strengthening, social and behavior change, data usage, and youth outreach are highlighted.

MEASUREMENT

FP2020’s measurement agenda is revolutionizing the family planning sector, enabling governments, donors, and civil society organizations to use data for program decisions and investments. This year’s report highlights a number of findings:

• Goal tracking: Countries are increasingly using data to assess and adjust their family planning programs, and there are now 12 countries within reach of achieving the goals for MCPR growth they established as part of their FP2020 commitments.
• Wealth disparities: Among the 19 countries with two comparable surveys of wealth quintile data since the launch of FP2020, 17 have seen an increase in MCPR among the lowest wealth quintile—and in 14 countries that increase has been faster than the national average.
• Unmet need: In Eastern and Southern Africa, unmet need for modern methods has dropped by more than 3 percentage points since 2012—by far the largest change of any FP2020 region.
• Method mix: Injectables are the most common method in use in 28 countries, followed by pills in 16 countries, condoms in 9 countries, and IUDs in 8 countries. Implants and injectables are continuing to increase in prevalence.

• Contraceptive discontinuation: A new indicator for contraceptive discontinuation will provide a better understanding of when and why women stop using contraceptives or switch to a different method.

FP2020’s measurement agenda also contributes to the Unified Accountability Framework for the Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy.

THE WAY AHEAD

Family planning is both a basic right and a life-changing, transformational health service with the potential to accelerate progress across all our development goals. The FP2020 platform has proven to be effective, flexible, and resilient in the face of change. Although the current funding environment for family planning is in flux, our vision of the future remains clear.

We believe that every woman and girl must be empowered to shape her own life. We know that rights-based family planning is a critical element to empowerment. And we are confident that the FP2020 approach—country-led, grounded in human rights principles, buttressed by data and evidence, and accountable to all—is the way ahead.