Fragile, Threatened, and Still Urgently Needed: Family Planning Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa

Many family planning (FP) programs in sub-Saharan Africa are fragile; recent performance has fallen off and future performance is challenged. Yet robust and well-functioning FP programs are still urgently needed if countries are to meet their health, equity, poverty-alleviation, and economic development goals. In support of these observations, we present data on FP parameters in sub-Saharan Africa overall and in eight of its countries, including Nigeria, the most populous African country; Kenya, a long-time leader in FP in the region; and Uganda, with fertility among the highest in Africa and a population projected to more than triple in the next 40 years to become sub-Saharan Africa's fourth-most-populous country. We also draw upon findings of individual case studies of the contraceptive programs of Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia, as well as a synthesis of some of these case studies. All eight of these countries, which together comprise 40 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa, are facing the same difficult dynamics in terms of threat and need. Adapted from the source document.