USAID Administrator Raj Shah recently released his annual letter in which he discusses the important role family planning plays in helping countries reap a demographic dividend. "If you look at some of the fastest growing countries in Latin America and East Asia today, you’ll see a pattern in the age of their populations,” writes Shah. “The percentage of those who are able to work — usually those between 15 and 64 — is much larger than the share of the very young or very old. With more of their populations able to work, those nations increase their economic potential…. That phenomenon, known as the demographic dividend, is rooted in decisions those countries made in the ‘60s and ‘70s to improve child survival, expand access to voluntary family planning, and educate girls."

• Read the letter.

Surveys conducted over the past three years in long-standing USAID family planning priority countries in Africa show substantial increases in modern contraceptive use. Increases range between 1.5 and 7 percentage points per year:

• Ethiopia: 14 to 29 percent between 2005 and 2011
• Kenya: 32 to 39 percent between 2004 and 2009
• Madagascar: 18 to 29 percent between 2004 and 2009
• Malawi: 28 to 42 percent between 2004 and 2010
• Rwanda: 10 to 45 percent between 2005 and 2010
• Tanzania: 20 to 27 percent between 2004 and 2010
• Uganda: 18 to 26 percent between 2006 and 2011

These are countries where USAID family planning investments, taken together, have more than quadrupled over the past 10 years. Increases in contraceptive use translate into improved maternal and child health (magnified through healthier timing and spacing of pregnancies) and reductions in number of abortions. They also translate into improved family well-being, poverty reduction, and elevated development prospects.

• Read the latest DHS reports.

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals recently announced another reduction in the price for Jadelle, a two-rod 75 mg levonorgestrel contraceptive implant, to US$18 per unit, down from the already-reduced price of US$19, announced this past December. The reduction will provide new access to the method by an additional 167,000 women. This reduction comes after several months of discussion convened by the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC). This past year, largely working in partnership with other donors, USAID has negotiated lower unit prices (10–15 percent reductions) for the "most-in-demand" contraceptives: implants and injectable products, which are becoming more accessible to women who live in rural and peri-urban areas. Bayer’s decision represents an effort to increase access to quality family planning methods for women in the least-resourced countries and marks one of the company’s contributions to the "Hand-to-Hand Campaign," which has a goal of cutting the unmet need for family planning information and services in half.

This new advocacy video covers the research and programmatic evidence on the provision of injectable contraception by community health workers and the latest efforts to implement CBA2I programs throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The video includes the personal story of a woman in Uganda who has benefitted from the family planning services offered in her community.

• Watch the video.

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with participation by other partners (including technical assistance from USAID), are sponsoring a high-level event in London on World Population Day, July 11, to galvanize political commitment and financial resources from developing countries, donors, the private sector, civil society and other partners to meet the family planning needs of women in the world’s poorest countries by 2020. The ultimate goal is to ensure women in developing countries have the same access to life-saving family planning information, services, and supplies as women in developed countries. The summit provides an excellent opportunity to raise attention and resources for family planning in response to the high unmet need for family planning.

• Review the announcement.