Pathfinder Highlights Urgent Needs of Young People for 2016 World Contraception Day

On Monday, September 26, 2016, Pathfinder International joins the global health community in celebrating World Contraception Day. Launched in 2007, World Contraception Day aims to raise awareness about the importance and availability of a full range of contraception, especially for young people.

“With each passing year, more and more people discover there are choices when it comes to methods of contraception,” said Pathfinder International’s Technical Advisor for Contraception and Cervical Cancer. “This day is a way for everyone invested in making contraception accessible to highlight the challenges that remain, especially for young people, when trying to access sexual and reproductive health and services – particularly around contraception education and accessibility.”

A centerpiece of Pathfinder International’s ongoing efforts to raise awareness, accessibility, and support for a wide range of contraception is its support for the Global Consensus Statement aimed at supporting the expansion of contraceptive choice for young people to include long-acting reversible contraceptives, also known as LARCs. The statement was launched in October 2015 and has been endorsed by 50 global health and development organizations. Pathfinder today also released a piece on Medium entitled “8 Things Everyone Should Know About Contraceptive Implants & IUDs” detailing lesser-known facts about long-acting contraception. “LARCs have a lot of benefits, and are an option that should be accessible to everyone,” Lew said. 

Lesser-known things about LARCs include:

• An estimated 33 million young women aged 15-24 in low and middle-income countries have an unmet need for contraception. 
• If given a choice, many young people choose implants and IUDs. When adolescents are truly given their choice of contraceptive method, and barriers like cost are removed, a significant number choose implants and IUDs. A recent study in the United States showed that when counseled on all of their options, nearly 70% of young people 14–25 enrolled in the project chose a long-acting reversible method.
• The phenomenon of rapid repeat pregnancy (for example, a pregnancy within 2 years of a previous pregnancy) is associated with increased maternal and newborn morbidity.

“The numbers are self-evident,” Lew said. “Today, we recommit ourselves to promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights for everyone and to ensuring everyone has full and informed choice of contraceptives."

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