The ability to make decisions for one’s health, family, and future is a fundamental right of every person.
Good sexual and reproductive health occurs when individuals have the agency, information, and resources they need to make decisions for their bodies, families, and futures. It means having access to contraception, sex education, midwives, menstrual products, maternal health services, counseling for survivors of violence, as well as safe places to sleep, bathe, and raise a family. Good sexual and reproductive health also means having support of partners and families to freely make decisions about our bodies.
Far too often, women and girls are deprived of their rights and the care they need. They encounter barriers to using the contraception of their choice, putting them at risk unintended pregnancy. They may face life-threatening pregnancy and childbirth complications, the vast majority of which could be prevented with adequate funding for care. And, women and girls face violence, including being forced into becoming child brides, which limits their ability to pursue education and employment opportunities.
When women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health needs are not met, the consequences of poor health, violence, poverty, and denial of rights reverberate for generations.
We are here to change that.
Key Concerns
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218 million women and girls who want to avoid pregnancy lack access to family planning.
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Every year, 121 million women and girls become pregnant before they’re ready.
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Every two minutes, a woman or girl needlessly dies of pregnancy or childbirth complications and the majority of these deaths occur in crisis settings.
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Globally, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death for girls aged 15 – 19.
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90 percent of women who experience obstetric fistula, a debilitating childbirth injury, have a stillbirth.
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1 in 3 women will experience physical or sexual violence in her lifetime.
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Every day, more than 30,000 girls become child brides.
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4 million girls undergo female genital mutilation, an extreme human rights violation, every year.
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A woman or girl is murdered by a member of her own family every 11 minutes.
None of this has to be the case.
We provide lifesaving sexual and reproductive health care in over 150 countries, including those facing the world’s most dire humanitarian crises, so every woman and girl has agency over her body and can reach her fullest potential.
Our Work
We work toward universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. UNFPA works with governments, other UN agencies, civil society organizations, and supporters like you to reach every woman and right with care.
Our work is a key effort toward achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. We advance Goal 3, which calls for good health and well-being, Goal 5, which calls for gender equality, as well as many others included in the 2030 Agenda.
“Now, I am capable of everything.”