U.S. Ambassador to Uganda Highlights Need for Family Planning in HIV/AIDS Prevention

Washington, DC - July 3, 2006

Although woefully underfunded compared to other HIV/AIDS prevention programs, family planning and reproductive health services are essential tools in reducing the spread of HIV. For example, family planning services are effective and affordable interventions for preventing mother-to-child transmission of the disease by helping HIV-positive women have access to the contraceptives they desire to prevent unintended pregnancies.

The critical role of family planning in HIV/AIDS prevention strategies – and the need to do more in this area—was underscored by the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda, Steve Browning, at the recent annual meeting on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Durban, South Africa. Citing a study that found that 90 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women in Uganda did not intend to become pregnant again, Ambassador Browning highlighted the need for more family planning programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the disease.

Partially due to lack of access to family planning, Ugandan women have among the highest birth rates in the world—seven children on average per women. In sub-Saharan Africa and the developing world as a whole, more than 200 million women lack access to the contraceptives they desire to plan or space childbirth.

Ambassador Browning’s statement reaffirms the critical role of family planning and reproductive health services in fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is essential that donors, developing country governments, and the private sector implement plans to ensure the availability and affordability of family planning services and integrate these programs into comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention strategies.

Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.