UN Says Family Planning Pays Big for Developing Countries
November 21, 2012
Savio Niwagaba of Uganda holds his newborn baby as his wife Chrisente, behind him, has a contraceptive implant placed in her arm
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report in Special English.
A new report says greater access to family planning methods would save developing countries more than eleven billion dollars a year. The United Nations Population Fund says the savings would come from reduced costs of care for mothers and newborn babies.
These are some of the findings from this year's "State of World Population" report:
Two hundred twenty-two million women in developing countries cannot get birth control or other family planning services. An investment of four billion dollars a year would provide these women with reproductive information to reduce unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
An investment of about two billion dollars a year would provide enough contraceptives to meet the needs of developing countries.
The report says increased access to family planning is a good economic investment. Having fewer children has long paid a so-called demographic dividend to rich countries in Europe and North America. Population Fund spokeswoman Diane Stewart says one-third of the growth of Asia's "tiger" economies is the result of increased use of family planning services.
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