PRB

This report examines the status of family planning programs in 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa since the 2016 release of Fostering Economic Growth, Equity, and Resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Family Planning. We build and expand on themes explored in the 2016 report to better understand progress and challenges that may shape the trajectory of rights-based family planning programs and inclusive development in the region.

Where has modern contraceptive use increased? What are the implications for fertility trends? How are trends in family planning use related to trends in poverty and economic inequality? What impact has the COVID-19 pandemic had on access to and use of family planning services? We explore the existing evidence to gain a better understanding of the progress that’s been made and the challenges that will influence family planning and inclusive development in sub-Saharan Africa over the next decade.

The report, available in English and French, is broken into six sections.

• Section 1 introduces the report and summarizes the key takeaways.
• Section 2 explores family planning program progress, particularly increases in mCPR, in SSA since the 2016 report.
• Section 3 explores how trends in mCPR may influence trends in fertility, highlighting patterns unique to SSA.
• Section 4 examines the extent to which family planning programs have reached women regardless of economic status, enriching our understanding of whether poverty is affecting family planning use.
• Section 5 complements the analysis of poverty by examining the relationship between family planning, fertility trends, and socioeconomic inequality both between and within countries in SSA.
• Section 6 proposes future directions for family planning decisionmakers to prioritize during the next decade.

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For several decades, PRB has helped researchers, journalists, advocates, and decisionmakers understand, use, and communicate population and health data, research, and information to improve the well-being of all people. These capacity-strengthening activities—knowledge, tools, trainings—are among PRB’s flagship programs. PACE—Policy, Advocacy, and Communication Enhanced for Population and Reproductive Health—is showcasing talented alumni of our training programs in a series of profiles that highlight how the skills they learned with PACE and other PRB projects shape their efforts to influence policy change.

Alumni in this series are graduates of PRB programs:

• Policy Communication Fellowship
• Women’s Edition Journalist Training Program
• Youth Multimedia Fellowship
• Population, Environment, and Development Youth Advocates Program
• Population, Environment, and Development Policy Communication Trainings

Explore the Alumni Profiles