Family Care International (FCI) strives to ensure that all women have access to comprehensive, high-quality reproductive and maternal health care counseling and services that include family planning information, so that they can make informed decisions about their reproductive and sexual lives. Of the 210 million pregnancies that occur every year, approximately 38% are unintended or mistimed. Unintended pregnancies occur for a number of reasons, the most common being the non-use or incorrect use of contraceptives, or contraceptive failure.
Increasing Access to Emergency Contraception (EC)
FCI has been working with the Latin American Consortium for Emergency Contraception (LACEC) to advocate for women’s access to EC in throughout Latin America. With members of LACEC, FCI has drafted a set of materials about EC for NGOs, community groups, legislators, and government agencies working in the sexual and reproductive health and rights field.
FCI serves as the host organization of the International Consortium for Emergency Contraception (ICEC), a global membership organization seeking to expand access to emergency contraception, with a focus on developing countries.
Increasing Awareness about Family Planning and Contraceptive Methods
According to UNFPA, more than 350 million women do not have access to a choice of modern, safe, and effective contraceptive methods. FCI works with health care providers in Africa and Latin America to ensure that young people have access to family planning information, counseling, and services. In Latin America, we work with indigenous communities to raise awareness of preventing unwanted pregnancy through health outreach volunteers. In addition, FCI disseminates information about family planning and contraceptive methods in many of our publications.
Young people in 4 Caribbean countries have new health education tools October 21, 2008
FCI and UNFPA-Jamaica have co-published You, Your Life, Your Dreams- A Book for Caribbean Adolescents in four Caribbean nations. Easy to read and visually attractive, it provides accessible, objective, and urgently-needed information on a broad range of sexual and reproductive health issues, empowering young people to make informed decisions about their sexual lives. Originally conceived for use in English-speaking Africa, You, Your Life, Your Dreams, was extensively adapted to reflect both the unique challenges facing young people in Caribbean nations and the sub-region’s rich multi-ethnic culture. Click here to download a copy.
Emergency Contraception in Latin America and the Caribbean: Advocacy Fact Sheets
Set of twelve fact sheets facilitating access to reliable and evidence-based information about Emergency Contraception (EC).
Visit our Publications section to view our complete online catalogue of training and informational materials.
20 million women who would like to be able to use contraception for spacing and limiting births are unable to do so because they lack access to information, education, and counseling on family planning, cannot access contraceptives, or face other social, economic, or cultural barriers.
More than one-third of all pregnancies – 80 million each year – are unwanted or mistimed.
Unwanted pregnancies are more likely to result in maternal death, since women experiencing unwanted pregnancies often resort to unsafe abortion when safe services are not available.
The world’s population is now 6.5 billion people and is expected to reach 9.1 billion by 2050. 95% of these births will be in the poorest nations, which have the highest levels of unmet need for family planning and sexual and reproductive health services.
