The Health Benefits of Family Planning and Reproductive Health

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KEY FACTS:

• More than 400,000 women suffer from maternal morbidities every year.
• Women suffer more from maternal morbidities than any other illness.
• Around 200,000 maternal morbidities—up to half the total— can be prevented through effective family planning.
• Eleven women die each day from pregnancy and birth complications. Most of these deaths are preventable.
• Proper birth spacing reduces by half the risk of death for newborns and infants. More than 7,800 infant deaths can be prevented yearly through family planning.
• Poor women and infants carry the most risk of death and disability from lack of access to reproductive health services.
• For every peso spent in family planning, around 3 to 100 pesos will be saved in maternal care costs for unintended pregnancies.
• At least 5.5 B (billion) pesos are spent each year in health care costs for managing unintended pregnancies and its complications. An annual budget of 2 to 3 B pesos for FP is a cost-effective public health measure.