Available research shows that contraception has a striking impact on the lives of women in terms of both improved survival and empowerment. Without access to family planning, women are trapped in a vicious cycle that inhibits their full participation in socioeconomic development. This policy brief summarizes evidence on multiple benefits of family planning: both in health and survival and socioeconomic development of populations, supporting the conviction that family planning should have a much higher profile in international health priorities than it presently occupies.
WHO, Department of Reproductive Health and Research. Family planning: a health and development issue, a key intervention for the survivalof women and children. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland (2012) 4 pp.