The 17th World Contraception Day, celebrated on September 26, 2024, is an opportunity to remind us of the vital importance of family planning and the choice to use contraception for the health of women and girls, community development, and gender equality. This year’s theme for World Contraception Day is: “A choice for everyone. The freedom to plan, the power to choose.” In Africa, a continent where reproductive health needs are immense, this day holds particular importance.
Key Figures
- A pressing need: According to UNFPA, currently, nearly 257 million women worldwide, most living in low and middle-income countries, do not have access to modern contraception. Millions of women in Africa lack access to modern contraceptive methods, leading to unwanted pregnancies, clandestine abortions, and preventable maternal deaths.
- Much remains to be done: While many countries have increased their spending on contraceptives, the funding gap continues to grow globally and is expected to reach at least $1.5 billion in low and middle-income countries by 2030.
- Adolescents particularly vulnerable: African adolescents are often the most affected by a lack of information and access to contraception.
- Regional disparities: Contraceptive needs vary considerably from country to country in Africa, with marked disparities between rural and urban areas.
Specific Challenges in Africa
Cultural prejudices
Many cultural prejudices persist in Africa, particularly around sexuality, fertility, and women’s roles. These prejudices hinder access to contraception and informed decision-making in reproductive health.
Social and psychological barriers
Beyond cultural constraints, women and girls in Africa face other obstacles, often more subtle but just as decisive: judgments and looks. Obtaining contraception can be a psychological ordeal due to accusatory looks from pharmacists, health workers, and even other customers. These judgmental looks can generate shame, guilt, and discourage women from making informed decisions about their reproductive health. Pharmacies, health centers, and hospitals, places meant to provide care and support, can paradoxically become spaces of stigmatization. This fear of judgment can lead women to delay their visit, choose less effective contraceptive methods, or completely give up on protecting themselves.
Lack of information
Information on contraception is often insufficient or even erroneous, particularly in rural areas.
Economic constraints
The cost of contraceptive methods, as well as difficulties in accessing health centers, constitute major obstacles for many women.
Resistance from male partners
Men play a crucial role in decision-making regarding family planning. However, many African men are reluctant to the idea of their partner using a contraceptive method.
New Contraceptive Methods: An Opportunity for Equality
While condoms remain an essential means of contraception, new methods, such as contraceptive pills for men, could revolutionize family planning. By allowing men to take a more active part in contraception, these new methods could help reduce gender inequalities and encourage greater accountability.
Benefits of Contraception for Women and Girls
Beyond simply preventing unwanted pregnancies, contraception offers women and girls many opportunities:
- Taking control of their sex life: Contraception allows women to decide freely and knowingly when and if they want to have children.
- Planning their future: By giving them the ability to control their fertility, contraception allows women to plan their studies, career, and family life.
- Reducing health risks: Contraception helps reduce risks related to pregnancy and childbirth, as well as sexually transmitted diseases.
- Promoting empowerment: By giving them the means to choose, contraception contributes to women’s empowerment and emancipation.
- Increasing gender equality: By allowing women to fully participate in economic and social life, contraception helps reduce gender inequalities.
Concrete Recommendations
To improve access to contraception in Africa and maximize its benefits, it is necessary to:
- Strengthen health systems: Invest in training health professionals, improve equipment in health centers, and facilitate access to contraception services.
- Combat stereotypes and taboos: Conduct information and awareness campaigns to deconstruct cultural prejudices related to contraception and sexuality.
- Involve men: Raise awareness among men about the importance of family planning for them too and encourage them to support their partners in their choices.
- Promote sex education: Educate young people from an early age about sexuality, contraception, and STIs.
- Develop programs tailored to adolescent needs: Implement specific programs to address the particular needs of adolescents in reproductive health.
- Facilitate access to modern contraceptive methods: Strengthen the availability and accessibility of modern contraceptive methods, especially for women living in rural areas.
- Support research: Encourage research on new contraceptive methods that are more effective and better adapted to the needs of African populations.
Access to Contraception is a Human Right!
World Contraception Day is a key moment to remind us of the importance of family planning accessible to all. In Africa, it is urgent to remove the cultural, economic, and social barriers that prevent women from fully exercising their sexual and reproductive rights. The emergence of new contraceptive methods offers an opportunity to rethink family planning and promote a more equitable and inclusive approach.