We promote gender equality and empower women, girls and young people to take control of their bodies and their futures. We work with partners in more than 150 countries to provide access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services. Our goal is ending unmet need for family planning, preventable maternal death, and gender-based violence and harmful practices including child marriage and female genital mutilation by 2030.
Access to safe, voluntary family planning is a human right. Family planning is a process that helps individuals to decide if and when to have children and how many to have. It includes advice on which contraceptive...
Making childbirth and motherhood safer is a top priority for UNFPA, and we work with governments, health experts, and civil society to ensure maternal health for all, including training health workers, enhancing the...
Almost every case of cervical cancer can be prevented. Well-organized screening programmes can detect and remove pre-cancerous lesions early before they develop into cancer, reducing the number of both new cases and...
Sexual and reproductive health encompasses everything to do with the reproductive system, including physical, mental and social well-being. It signifies that people can have a satisfying and safe sex life, and have the...
Adolescence and youth are critical periods that can set the course of an individual’s life and shape the future of their communities. The current generation of young people is coming of age at a time when digital...
Teenage pregnancy can have a devastating impact on the lives of girls, harming their health, education and long-term opportunities. Many adolescents are not yet physically ready for pregnancy or childbirth and so are...
Early or child marriage is the formal or informal union of two persons, where at least one side is under 18 years of age. Due to their age, child spouses are considered to be incapable of giving full consent, meaning...
Comprehensive sexuality education is a way to empower young people to protect and advocate for their health, well-being and dignity by equipping them with accurate evidence-based information about human development,...
The practice of prenatal sex selection happens when a foetus is determined to be female and the pregnancy is terminated, or when parents choose the sex of an embryo before it is implanted in the uterus to ensure it is a...
Gender equality is a human right. UNFPA works to guarantee this right for women and girls in Eastern Europe and Central Asia by empowering them to have agency, choice and access in making decisions about their bodies,...