Due to its high importance and influence on families and society, family planning (FP) is one of the primary health care elements focused on by the Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health’s (MOPH’s) Reproductive Health Strategy (2012–2016).

In Afghanistan, despite the high awareness levels of contraceptive methods, the contraceptive prevalence is low and short birth spacing is common. The aim of this study was to understand the perception about family planning and contraceptive utilization among reproductive- 15 aged married women, their husbands, their mothers-in-law, religious leaders and healthcare providers.

The increase in contraceptive use in Afghanistan has been frustratingly slow from 7.0% in 2003 to 11.3% in 2012. Data on contraceptive use and influencing factors were obtained from Afghanistan Health Survey (AHS) 2012, which had been collected through interview-led questionnaire from 13,654 current married women aged 12–49 years.

FP2020 is pleased to announce new commitments from the July Newslettergovernments of Afghanistan, Lao PDR, and Vietnam, as well as organizations Population Services International (PSI) and theMargaret Pyke Trust, with the Population & Sustainability Network.

Read one-page country update posters from 16 country delegations, who participated in the Accelerating Access to Postpartum Family Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia Global Meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on June 8–11, 2015.

Download DKT International's Excel database of Contraceptive Social Marketing reports, which provide social marketing contraceptive program sales by country from 1991 through 2014. DKT International designs and implements social marketing programs in 20 countries around the world. DKT programs provided 28.2 million couple years of protection (CYPs) in 2014, using standard conversion factors for Couple Years of Protection (CYP). DKT’s sales totals for 2014 included nearly 553 million condoms, 86 million cycles of oral contraceptives, over 20 million injectable contraceptives, 2.4 million IUDs, emergency contraception, implants, mifepristone/misoprostol, and manual vacuum aspiration kits. Revenue from the sales of contraceptives and family planning services in 2012 was $105 million. Program revenues covered approximately 70 percent of our operating costs. This figure has been climbing steadily over the past several years.

In this report, DKT International publishes self-reported statistics from Contraceptive Social Marketing (CSM) programs around the world. CSM programs provide subsidized branded contraceptives through widespread retail and wholesale networks and are usually backed by large-scale media campaigns. This report shows that, between 2013 and 2014, some countries, such as Myanmar, have experienced tremendous growth in their programs, while others have stagnated or witnessed a decline.

Representatives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Zambia shared progress and challenges in increasing access to postpartum family planning (PPFP) since the June PPFP Global Meeting, hosted in Chiang-Mai, Thailand, by Jhpiego and FP2020.

Download, in Excel format, the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT’s most recent annual data collection of Contraceptive Security Indicators for Afghanistan.