A Choice For All: Freedom to Plan, Power to Choose

Joint Op-Ed by Bounfeng Phoummalaysith, Laos’ Minister of Well being, and Bakhtiyor Kadyrov, UNFPA Laos Consultant

Think about a lady. She is 14 years outdated. She lives in a distant village. With 4 different siblings, she misplaced her mom whereas giving delivery to a sixth member of the household. Now, she too, will give delivery in the identical mountainous village with out entry to the maternal healthcare that would have saved her mom.

Think about a pair. She’s 15 years outdated, her “lover” is 5 years older. She loves college. Her trainer says she has a present for studying and he or she even aspires to sooner or later be a trainer herself. Then one morning, she discovers she is pregnant. Her mother and father inform her she is going to marry to uphold her household’s honor. She’ll by no means return to highschool and notice her objective of changing into a trainer.

Think about a teenage pregnant woman. Afraid of stigmatization from household and associates, with nowhere to show, she retains her being pregnant a secret and undergoes an unsafe abortion.  Whereas the bodily hurt from this traumatic expertise will heal, she is going to carry the psychological scars together with her for the remainder of her life.

The truth is, there’s no have to think about these eventualities any additional – as a result of they’re all actual. They’re performed out many instances a day. Daily. Throughout many international locations and all due to an unmet human proper to entry contraception.

This speaks to the theme of this 12 months’s World Contraception Day: “A selection for all. Freedom to plan, energy to decide on.”

Reaching well-being, prosperity, and socio-economic growth in Laos isn’t just a imaginative and prescient; it’s an attainable objective grounded within the well being of its ladies.

For this, each particular person have to be assured the liberty to guard their reproductive well being and to plan their household. Entry to contraception is important to bodily autonomy and to attaining one’s full potential. It helps scale back adolescent births, prevents maternal deaths and furthers gender equality. When households are determined by selection, not by probability, {couples} can plan their parenthood and select the spacing and variety of their kids.

Investing in rights-based household planning is among the many most cost-effective measures, yielding important well being, social, and financial advantages for ladies, ladies, households, and communities. An funding case developed by UNFPA confirmed that for each US greenback spent on household planning in Laos, there’s an estimated return of USD 33.60 in advantages. This funding helps preserve adolescent ladies at school, permits ladies to enter the workforce, reduces family poverty, improves diet, and addresses inequalities. Lao PDR has made appreciable progress within the space of reproductive well being, together with Household Planning. The RMNCAH Technique has clear output and targets, having FP providers, together with counseling, out there in all well being services. The Adolescent and Youth Pleasant providers are actually out there in eight provinces for younger folks to entry confidential, non-judgmental SRH providers. The federal government continues to speculate on this space by way of annual contribution for the procurement of contraceptives, and plenty of extra.

Whereas the household planning challenges are already well-documented, discouragingly the Contraceptive Prevalence Fee right here trended down through the COVID-19 pandemic with a drop of 20 p.c in new customers and has not recovered since. To deal with this problem, UNFPA is presently supporting the Ministry of Well being to conduct a landscaping evaluation for household planning to develop the subsequent technique to deal with these rising points and gaps to enhance entry.

This dedication to household planning, in fact, is championed by the Authorities of Laos, as mirrored within the nationwide assertion reflecting the 14 key suggestions from the Nationwide Convention on Inhabitants and Improvement earlier this 12 months on the 57th session of the Fee on Inhabitants and Improvement and final 12 months on the Seventh Asian and Pacific Inhabitants Convention in Bangkok.

One other key milestone this 12 months is the federal government pledge for FP2030 commitments to succeed in the final mile to supply distant communities with important sexual and reproductive well being providers, particularly by way of rising investments and mobilizing partnerships for nationwide household planning applications, growing a complete household planning technique and investing in youth-friendly well being providers inclusive of weak teams, amongst different initiatives.

On this World Contraception Day, We wish to  underline the Authorities of Laos and UNFPA’s resolve to proceed our necessary work with all nationwide stakeholders to make sure Laos achieves its commitments beneath the Worldwide Convention on Inhabitants and Improvement and realizes the Sustainable Improvement Targets.

The progress has been potential due to all our companions, together with ministries, civil society organizations, the non-public sector, and growth companions comparable to Luxembourg, KOICA, Australia and our UN companion businesses, striving to make sure common entry to sexual and reproductive well being rights and selections. Because the Lao  saying goes: “Mueang Kai Dern Khoo, Huan Kai Mee Koo,” that means “An extended journey is finest walked with a companion, a distant home is finest reached with a guide.

However, there’s work to do.

Addressing the unmet want for household planning requires higher investments within the well being workforce, nationwide provide chain administration system, reaching adolescents and youth and enhancing ladies’s and ladies’ company.  Accelerating progress in the direction of ending the unmet want for household planning can each contribute to and end result from ladies’s empowerment and gender equality, a priceless end result and a important ingredient of financial growth.

Investing in adolescent and youth-friendly providers and guaranteeing entry to household planning and contraception are very important steps in decreasing early pregnancies and shaping a brighter future for Laos. To create lasting change and remodel the tales we’ve mentioned immediately, we should intensify our efforts to mobilize assets and broaden these important providers nationwide. By scaling up our initiatives, we will assure that no younger individual is left behind, regardless of the place they stay.

Collectively: governments, communities, and companions, we now have the facility to prioritize the well-being of our youth. Let’s empower them with the data and selections they deserve, guaranteeing a more healthy and extra promising future for all in Laos. The time for motion is now; let’s work hand in hand to make this imaginative and prescient a actuality.

Let’s re-imagine a future the place each girl and woman, all over the place, can resolve freely whether or not or when to grow to be pregnant, the place no girl or woman dies from preventable causes throughout being pregnant or childbirth and the place adolescents and younger folks can stay wholesome, productive and fulfilling lives that meet their aspirations.

Think about it, imagine it and make it occur!