Youth at the just concluded International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP 2018), have called on governments around the world to increase access to family planning services.
“I have had friends who got pregnant when they were just 16,” said Baye Leinyuy Bongla, an ICFP youth leader and medical doctor from Cameroon. “This experience changes your life completely. We need to start talking (about access to family planning) so fewer girls have to go through bad experiences. Isn’t it wrong to deny a person the ability to make decisions about their bodies and live a healthy life?”
This was one of the posers raised by a young advocate of family planning and a representative of a youth group as they called on global leaders to invest in quality, youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services.
It was another interesting day Thursday at the 5th International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP 2018) as a large group of political leaders, researchers and several youth witnessed heart-wrenching presentations by about 30 youth leaders. The gathering highlighted their personal experiences and beliefs.
What caught everyone’s attention wasn’t only the messages they passed across and the style and eloquence but the passion and confidence they exuded. Their presentations were received with thunderous applause by all present.
It must be noted here that this year’s event has scored more firsts than others especially in the area of youth participation.
Through monologues and creative storytelling, nearly 30 ICFP Youth Leaders and family planning experts illustrated the barriers young people face while trying to prevent unintended pregnancies, including misinformation, stigma and provider bias, stock-outs and high costs. Their stories also explored related topics including sexuality, menstruation and gender equality.
According to new data released by the Guttmacher Institute this month, 36 million young women aged 15–19 in developing regions are sexually active and want to avoid pregnancy, but most are not using modern contraceptives. The report notes that roughly half of the 9.6 million pregnancies among this group each year are unintended, and about half of these unintended pregnancies end in abortion – most of which are unsafe.
“Investing in sexual and reproductive health care that meets adolescents’ needs is critical to ensuring young people are able to make voluntary and informed choices regarding contraception and relationships,” said Dr. Ann Biddlecom, Director of International Research at the Guttmacher Institute. “Young women and men must have access to youth-friendly contraceptive services that include the provision of a wide range of method options, as well as medically accurate counseling and information.”
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Youth advocates are at the forefront of this effort, and have implemented creative strategies to eliminate stigma, train providers and overcome barriers young people face in accessing reproductive health services in their local communities.
During the plenary, Kokou S. Djagadou, Youth Division representative with the African Union, described how as a provider he works to ensure young people have the tools they need to prevent unwanted pregnancy, by fighting against misinformation and addressing societal beliefs about young women’s sexuality.
The plenary closed with a speech from Kojo Lokko, Deputy Director of The Challenge Initiative, about the young women he has met through his work, their hopes for their futures and the role of family planning in realizing these goals.
“My daily work is not about high-level meetings or international conferences like this,” said Mr. Lokko. “It’s about empowering girls to ask questions, plan their futures, and access contraception without any fear or judgement.”
The plenary came on the heels of a two-day ICFP Youth Pre-conference, which gathered more than 600 youth leaders from over 40 countries to exchange resources to support advocacy, research and programmes in their home communities. This is the largest contingent of youth leaders in the history of ICFP. The plenary was followed by the 2018 ICFP FPitchfest, a live action competition where youth advocates competed for funding to bring their ideas for transforming the future of family planning to life.
The third day of the 2018 ICFP ended on commitments to actions and FP2020 countries shared their success stories.
“The collaboration of Rwanda Ministry of Health with faith-based health facilities has played a huge role in raising awareness for all contraceptive methods – and this saves lives. Now women in need of modern contraceptives are referred to outreach services and women seeking natural approaches that align with their faith know their options,” said Dr. Felix Sayinzoga, Division Manager at Rwanda Biomedical Center.
Alongside Rwanda, representatives from Indonesia, Madagascar and Mozambique shared their progress and lessons learnt, and reflected on common challenges they face when it comes to improving access to family planning services for adolescents and young people.
