More than 250 million women around the world who want to avoid a pregnancy are not using a modern method of contraception, according to United Nations Population Division data modeling — a staggering figure. And the impacts are pronounced: Across low-and middle-income countries, there are 96 million unintended pregnancies each year.
We can — and must — do better.
The case for expanding access to family planning is powerful. It is not only the right thing to do in terms of protecting, respecting, and enhancing the rights and choices of all women — it is also the smart thing to do. Meeting the global demand for modern contraception could unlock more than $660 billion in economic gains by 2050, both through improved workforce participation and increased labor productivity — a dividend for humanity that remains largely untapped.
To ensure a future where the transformative benefits of family planning are unleashed, the public and private sectors must come together with civil society organizations and multilateral agencies to accelerate investment, innovation, advocacy, and access to information. This is where opportunity and impact can converge.
Encouraging investment
We have heard governments, advocates, and business leaders talk repeatedly about the need for private sector partnerships to tackle global challenges. Now is the time to move from deliberation to action.
Globally, the gap between available and needed funding for family planning is widening and is now more than $14 billion annually. All players can work together to build robust supply chains and encourage sustainable financing within the family planning ecosystem. We are already working to make this happen: through initiatives such as the United Nations Population Fund Supplies Partnership and with investments, such as the one from the Gates Foundation, governments are able to access critical commodities at negotiated prices.
Partnering to innovate
Private sector advancements in digital health and telemedicine, including artificial intelligence chatbots, are already helping to improve health care access. Philanthropic supporters, such as Pivotal Ventures, are committing catalytic funding to spur further breakthroughs. UNFPA, Organon, and MIT Solve have launched the 4HerPower Challenge to identify and fund youth-led innovations addressing sexual and reproductive health barriers, offering cash prizes and a six-month mentorship program to selected innovators.
Advocating for women at work
The private sector also has a critical role in advancing access to family planning policies and services in the workplace. Women make up about 40% of the world’s workforce and yet have limited access to family planning information and services offered by their employers. The UNFPA-led Coalition for Reproductive Justice in Business is addressing this gap by working with forward-thinking companies that are championing women’s health and wellness within their workplaces.
Expanding access to information
Finally, the private sector, governments, and advocates can work together to address growing information gaps and to advance and uphold scientific truths in family planning. Studies point to growing misinformation about contraception on social media platforms. Corporations and advocates can work together to dispel these myths.
Bayer, for example, is working with UNFPA on the AI-powered chatbot ‘Just Ask!’ in India, which has reached women with culturally sensitive, scientifically accurate family planning information. FP2030 and other partners are working together through the Made Possible campaign to bring evidence of the economic, social, and human rights benefits of family planning to policymakers.
Unlocking opportunities for the future
In the end, when individuals are empowered to choose whether or when to have a child, a world of opportunities opens up to them, from education and career benefits to health and stability. In aggregate, those individual choices lead to community-wide gains: Children stay in school longer. Fewer women die in childbirth. More people — women and men — pursue their career aspirations. Incomes grow. Economies thrive.
To fully realize this potential, to unlock the substantial $660 billion economic dividend, and to secure a healthier, more equitable future for all, we must prioritize and invest in robust public-private partnerships, recognizing their indispensable role in achieving the global agenda for women and girls.
Learn more about FP2030’s Made Possible campaign at https://www.fp2030.org/madepossible/.
About the authors
Mariarosa Cutillo-Blake
Mariarosa Cutillo-Blake is the private sector and civil society branch chief at the United Nations Population Fund. Mariarosa brings with her more than 20 years of professional experience in development and human rights. Before joining UNFPA, she was the head of corporate social responsibility at Benetton Group as well as president and CEO of Benetton’s UNHATE Foundation. As part of her career, she has extensively worked for civil society organizations in the field and internationally, including leading the movement of the Global March Against Child Labour for Europe. On issues relating to human rights and corporate sustainability, she has served as director of Valore Sociale per l’Impresa Responsabile and as a legal expert for various Institutions.
Samukeliso Dube
Samukeliso Dube has more than 25 years of experience in health care, including several senior roles in the delivery and financing of health services, and is currently executive director for FP2030, a global organization working to accelerate access to family planning globally.
Claus Runge
Claus Runge leads the public affairs, sustainability and internal engagement group at Bayer AG's Pharmaceuticals Division and acts as its chief health equity officer. Claus has 25 years of experience working in the pharmaceutical industry. He has held senior roles on both local and global levels in various multinational companies, such as GSK, Wyeth, and AstraZeneca. In his career, he has been responsible for a broad span of functions, including commercial, pricing, and market access; communications; governmental affairs; and patient advocacy. Claus is a pharmacist and health economist by training and holds a Ph.D. from Humboldt University in Berlin.
Noha Salem
Noha Salem is the global women’s health policy lead for Organon. As a founding executive, she directs global strategic policy-shaping efforts across the full portfolio of women’s health and contributes to the strategic alignment of Organon’s comprehensive environmental, social, and governance program, with a focus on gender equity and women’s health. Before this, Noha spent five years at MSD, where she took on country and regional responsibilities for health care and industry policy. She has nearly two decades of experience at the World Health Organization and in the pharmaceutical industry. Noha graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry at Alexandria University, Egypt, and holds a bachelor's degree in dental medicine and surgery.
