Investing in Family Planning: Key to Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

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In this commentary, the authors explain how family planning can accelerate progress across the 5 SDG themes of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership and why it is critical to achieving the goals and the post-2015 development agenda. Empowering women to choose the number, timing, and spacing of their pregnancies is not only a matter of health and human rights but also touches on many multisectoral determinants vital to sustainable development, including women’s education and status in society. Without universal access to family planning and reproductive health, the impact and effectiveness of other interventions will be less, will cost more, and will take longer to achieve. Global strategies and partnerships—and health decision makers at all levels—must leverage the abundance of available research, evidence, and the range of justifications presented here to prioritize family planning as a foundational component of health, rights, and long-term development strategies.

Year: 2016

Source: Global Health: Science and Practice

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