Contraceptive Shortfall Crisis is Real, International Leaders Agree

“The need is pressing and we must act now. The decisions we make at this meeting, the actions we agree on, the plans we lay, will have an impact on millions of women and men around the world. We must not fail them.”
- Amy Coen, President Population Action International

Istanbul — The shortfall in contraceptives is a serious crisis. Why? Because these reproductive health supplies that save the lives of men, women, and children are in high demand and short supply. This theme was expressed repeatedly during the opening of “Meeting the Reproductive Health Challenge: Securing Contraceptives, and Condoms for HIV/AIDS Prevention.” This unprecedented global meeting of key international organizations and leaders opened on Thursday in Istanbul, Turkey.

Among the 150 people participating in the meeting are:

• Dr. Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of the U.N. Population Fund;
• Dr. Osman Durmu, Executive Director of UNAIDS;
• Dr. Peter Piot; Turkey’s Minister of Health;
• Amy Coen, President of Population Action International;
• Michael Fox, UNAIDS Senior Technical Advisor;
• representatives of NGOs and advocacy groups around the world.

In her keynote address to open the conference, Dr. Obaid said, “Meeting reproductive health supply needs is a key element of the global effort to save the lives of women and men by protecting their reproductive health. The most alarming consequence is in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention.”

UNFPA estimates that 350 million couples worldwide lack access to the full range of modern contraceptive methods. Surveys suggest that more than 120 million of them would use contraception if it were available. This gap is likely to widen with the number of reproductive-age women in developing countries expected to grow by more than 20 percent in the next 15 years, to 1.55 billion. Total demand for contraception is likely to grow by more than 40 percent by 2015.

Michael Fox, Senior Technical Advisor at UNAIDS, spoke of the need for reproductive health supplies, including condoms and such products as Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) treatment drugs, to save lives through preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. He said, “There are 36 million people in the world living with HIV. In five years that number could double. In Africa, it is the number one killer disease. Every country in the world has reported AIDS cases. Addressing the need for social education and the crisis in condom supply and distribution is critically important to the prevention of HIV/AIDS.”

Amy Coen, President of Population Action International said, “Women and men increasingly want to plan their families. And AIDS is dramatically increasing the need for condoms — both male and female — as well as other preventive methods, such as microbicides. People are dying, whether we talk about the 2.5 million people who died of AIDS last year, or the more than 500,000 women who died in pregnancy or childbirth. The need is pressing; and we must act. The decisions we make at this meeting will have an impact on millions of women and men around the world. We must not fail them.”

Dr. Osman Durmu, Turkey’s Minister of Health also spoke about securing contraceptives. While emphasizing the success that Turkey has had in achieving relative self-reliance, he stressed that every country is different and that the solutions to the problem of securing reproductive health supplies will also need to be different. He urged developed countries to continue supporting developing countries with technical assistance, and pointed out that those countries able to buy their own supplies need to have access to products at the at the lowest possible price.
The conference continues through Saturday, May 5. Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, will address the conference on Friday, turning the focus to the impact of HIV/AIDS on the exponential increase in the demand for condoms worldwide. This meeting, to identify the critical next steps toward averting a crisis in reproductive health, is being watched carefully by both NGOs and donor governments.