UNFPA Annual Report | 2016

Millions of lives
Transformed

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Introduction
2016 In Action
Regions
Resources and management

Introduction

Leaving no one behind

Now more than ever, we must ensure that the marginalized, the forgotten—the ones often left behind—can exercise their fundamental human right to decide, free of coercion, discrimination and violence, when or how often to have children.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is proud to have enabled millions of women of childbearing age to exercise that right and to have helped to nearly double modern contraceptive use worldwide from 36 percent in 1970 to 64 percent in 2016.

This annual report shows how funds entrusted to UNFPA have enabled us to protect and promote the health and rights of millions of women and young people and enable them to realize their full potential.

Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin
The late Executive Director, UNFPA
(1949-2017)

Key Achievements

Estimated impact of contraceptives provided by UNFPA in 2016:

3,680,000

unsafe abortions averted

29,000

maternal deaths averted

IN 2016, UNFPA PROGRAMMES AND SERVICES HELPED:

20,900,000

people reached by contraceptives provided by UNFPA in 2016

11,400,000

people had access to sexual and reproductive health services and services to address gender-based violence

2016 In Action

No matter how difficult the environment or how remote the community, UNFPA enables women to delivery safely, makes voluntary family planning information and services available to millions of couples in developing countries and protects the health and rights of adolescents so they may realize their full potential.

Millions of women and adolescent girls, especially those who are poor, rely on UNFPA programmes for life-saving sexual and reproductive health services.

Pregnancy by choice, not by chance

One-hundred seventy-nine governments agreed in 1994 that individuals have the right and should have the means to freely decide whether or when they want to start a family. Yet, an estimated 225 million women in developing countries are unable to exercise that right because they are not using, or have no access to, contraception.

Unmet demand for family planning translates into nearly 60 million unintended pregnancies annually in developing countries.

UNFPA is helping respond to the unmet demand and enabling more women to exercise their right to decide whether, when or how often to become pregnant. Increased access to contraception also leads to fewer abortions and reduces risks to women’s health.

UNFPA provided

268,000,000

male condoms

7,000,000

female condoms

34,852,080

doses of injectable contraceptives

21,350,104

cycles of oral contraceptives

Estimated impact of contraceptives

11,700,000

unintended pregnancies averted

$716,000,000

savings in health-care costs

Saving mothers’ lives

Every day, 830 women die from preventable causes during pregnancy or childbirth.

UNFPA makes pregnancy and delivery safer in developing countries by building the midwifery workforce, increasing access to antenatal and emergency obstetric care and providing life-saving medicines and medical equipment.

UNFPA supports safe pregnancies and deliveries even in humanitarian settings,such as camps for refugees or internally displaced people or in the aftermath of man-made and natural disasters.

Impact of maternal health thematic fund

15,638

women underwent surgery to repair obstetric fistulas

5,200

midwives trained

Impact of UNFPA services in humanitarian settings in 2016

2,488

health facilities with emergency obstetric care

481

mobile maternal health clinics in 27 countries

Empowering the next generation

Young people, ages 10 to 24, account for about 24 percent of the world’s 7.4 billion people.

UNFPA in 2016 helped millions of young people, especially adolescent girls, remain healthy and avoid pregnancy. UNFPA also helped protect them from harmful practices and enabled them to realize their full potential.

As a result of UNFPA programmes in 2016

23,000,000

adolescents gain access to sexual and reproductive health services

730,000

girls and women received comprehensive services related to female genital mutilation

Impact of the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child marriage

65,000

adolescent girls were empowered with life skills, sexual and reproductive health information and access to services

285,000

community members gained awareness about girls’ rights

Regions

Africa, East and Southern

Context And Challenges

Young people make up the largest and fastest-growing share of the region’s population. How governments in the region invest in their health, education and capabilities in the years ahead will determine whether the region will reap a demographic dividend.

Investments in the human capital of region’s young people and women entails expanding access to sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception and HIV prevention. About one in four women wants to prevent a pregnancy but is not using a modern method of family planning. Nearly half of all new HIV infections worldwide occur in the region. An estimated 640 adolescent girls and young women are infected with HIV every day.

A further challenge for the region is the high rate of gender-based violence. About one in two women has experienced physical or sexual violence.