The Guttmacher Institute says every additional dollar invested in family planning and contraceptive care can save $1.97 in pregnancy-related and newborn care costs.
The institute disclosed this in its Adding It Up 2024 report, made available to reporters ahead of World Contraception Day on 26 September and International Safe Abortion Day on 28 September.
The report, covering 128 low- and middle-income countries, found that increased investment in contraception, maternal and newborn care, abortion services and STI treatment could generate significant health and economic benefits.
Meeting the full need for modern contraception, maternal and newborn care, abortion services and treatment for four infections in low- and middle-income countries in Asia would require annual spending to rise from $5.87 to $8.61 per person — an additional $2.74 per person, or $12.4 billion overall.
Meeting sexual and reproductive health needs across Asia could result in a 26% reduction in unintended pregnancies, a 65% decline in maternal deaths and a 62% decline in newborn deaths. The report also highlighted wider economic benefits of contraceptive use, including increased workforce participation and greater control over earnings and savings.
It estimated that 129 million women of reproductive age in Asia had an unmet need for modern contraception. However, the conventional measure of “unmet need” includes women using traditional methods who may not want to switch. The report therefore introduced “unmet demand,” focusing on women who want to avoid pregnancy, are not using any contraceptive method and express a desire for future family planning. On this basis, 36 million women in low- and middle-income Asia had unmet demand for contraception.
Asia recorded an estimated 120.6 million pregnancies annually, of which 63% resulted in live births, 19.4% ended in safe abortions, 21.3% in unsafe abortions, and 16.7% in miscarriages and stillbirths.
The report stressed that financing alone is insufficient without trained healthcare workers, medicines, referral systems and services responsive to vulnerable populations.
Ms Shobha Shukla, Coordinator and Host of SHE & Rights and Executive Director of CNS, called for accessible, safe, legal and stigma-free abortion care and access to the full range of proven contraceptive options. She said investment in sexual and reproductive health and rights is important not only for meeting health needs but also for advancing gender equality, the right to health and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Ms Riju Dhakal, Programme Officer at the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), called for international commitments on sexual and reproductive health and rights to be reflected in approved national budgets. Governments and stakeholders should track not only what was pledged but whether funds were budgeted, released and ultimately reached health services and communities.
Ms Jane Nyanjom, Associate Director for Advocacy and Partnerships at the Reproductive Health Network Kenya, said translating reproductive health rights into practice requires alignment between law, policy, financing and service delivery. She highlighted concerns about contraceptive commodity stock-outs, particularly their impact on women and girls in rural and hard-to-reach communities, and stressed the importance of youth-friendly services, accurate information, effective referral systems and informed choice.
Ms Nawmi Naz Chowdhury, Executive Director of the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), said reproductive rights must translate into actual access to services. She identified conflict, humanitarian crises, displacement, shortages of trained providers and medicines, weak referral systems, administrative requirements, cost, geographical barriers, stigma and misinformation as factors affecting access to abortion care.
Dr Imran Pambudi, Director of Vulnerable Groups Health Services at Indonesia’s Ministry of Health, said health systems need to pay particular attention to vulnerable populations, including persons with disabilities, remote communities, survivors of violence, older people, women and adolescents. He advocated integrating sexual and reproductive health and rights into primary healthcare and strengthening healthcare workforce capacity, medicines availability and referral systems.
The Guttmacher Institute’s Family Planning Investment Impact Calculator and Safe Abortion Calculator were also highlighted as tools for estimating the potential health and economic impact of increased investment in reproductive health services. The tools allow users to examine country-specific implications of investments in contraception and safe abortion care, including potential reductions in unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and health-system costs.
