Family planning in a conflict settings and Imperative to invest in girls

Ndola Prata, University of California, Berkeley

Even in civil wars, refugee settings and chronically failed states, people continue to have frequent sex and there is an unmet need for voluntary family planning. In fact in such situations rape and coercive sex are more common. Yet agencies working in these situations often do not make the needed contraception available and unsafe abortion is common. Communities can be empowered to distribute not only oral contraceptive pills and condoms but also injectable contraceptives. Some refugee camps have seen a more rapid rise in contraceptive prevalence than in any other setting in the world. Emergency contraception and safe abortion are also needed in refugee settings and both medical and surgical first trimester abortions can be performed safely in low resource settings.