Technical Areas
Family Planning
Family
planning services are an
important component of
USAID’s comprehensive
maternal health strategy,
which seeks to support
the health needs of women
from pre-pregnancy through
post partum care. Interventions
under this maternal health
strategic objective focus
on providing voluntary
child spacing services
in order to prevent unwanted
pregnancies and abortions
and promote optimal birth
spacing.
Closely spaced pregnancies,
multiple pregnancies, and
pregnancy among very young
and older women place mothers
and their newborns at higher
risk for illness and even
death. Family planning
services can help couples
achieve the number and
timing of their children,
while reducing health risks.
Recent
research found that birth
intervals of
three to five years are
safer for mothers and babies
compared to birth intervals
of two years of less. Children
born 36 to 41 months after
their next older sibling
have a lower risk of neonatal,
infant, and under-five
death as well as a lower
risk of stunting and being
underweight than children
born 24 to 29 months apart.
Mothers benefit as well
with longer birth intervals.
Birth intervals of 27 to
32 months place women at
a decreased risk of maternal
death, third trimester
bleeding, premature rupture
of the membranes, puerperal
endometritis, and anemia
compared to births spaced
9 to 14 months apart.
Early
motherhood is dangerous for
both mother and baby.
Because of their physical
immaturity, teens are more
susceptible than their
older counterparts to pregnancy
and birth complications
and death. Family planning
services can help women
postpone pregnancy until
they are physically mature
enough to avoid these risks.
By delaying early pregnancy,
mothers are also more likely
to give birth to babies
that survive infancy.
Family
planning information and
services are important
components of good quality
antenatal, postpartum,
and post abortion care.
These occasions provide
an opportunity for health
providers to discuss with
women the benefits of birthspacing
for their health and health
of their current and future
children. A woman’s
family planning options
and desires vary throughout
her lifetime, and continuity
of reproductive health
care promotes appropriate
birthspacing and limiting
options. For example, during
antenatal care, providers
and mothers-to-be might
discuss the benefits of
spacing subsequent children.
At a postpartum visit,
providers can educate women
on the nutritional and
birthspacing benefits of
breastfeeding. And, during
post-abortion care, health
providers can discuss family
planning options for avoiding
unwanted pregnancy.
Learn
more about USAID's Family Planning Services.
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