Malawi case study: Choice Not Chance. A repositioning family planning case study.

Family planning saves lives and has long been considered a key aspect to socioeconomic development. Although this is widely acknowledged and well documented in recent years the attention and resources directed toward improving family planning programs in developing countries have been decreasing even though the need remains high. By one estimate satisfying the unmet need for contraceptive services in developing countries would avert 52 million unintended pregnancies a year thereby saving 1.5 million lives and preventing 505000 children from losing their mothers. To address this need the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has identified Repositioning Family Planning as a priority for its work in Africa. In the face of scarce resources weak infrastructure and a growing focus on HIV/AIDS it is extremely difficult for African country programs to make significant gains in strengthening their family planning programs and thereby raising contraceptive prevalence. USAID has committed itself to providing incremental assistance to a selected number of focus countries at the very early stages of program development. To help guide these investments lessons learned by countries in the region that have made significant progress will be very useful. (excerpt)