ZIMBABWE MAKING PROGRESS IN PROMOTING ACCESS TO VOLUNTARY FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES

World Population Day 2017 falls on the same day as the Family Planning Summit in London, the second meeting of the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) initiative, which aims to expand access to voluntary family planning to 120 million additional women globally by 2020. FP2020 high level summit in London brings together governments, the United Nations, private sector and civil society to galvanize progress on family planning to both meet the FP2020 goals and strengthen foundations for achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goals. Zimbabwe being part of the FP2020 initiative is represented in the London Summit to present a progress report in line with commitments made in 2012 to be achieved by 2020.The country committed to increase the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) from 59% to 68%, reduce unmet need for Family planning from 13.5% to 6.5 % and remove user fees on Family planning services. Additional commitments were to increase the FP budget including procurement of contraceptive commodities from 1.7% to 3% of the National Health Budget, improve the method mix with the emphasis on Long Term and Reversible Contraceptive and reduce unmet need for adolescent girls from 16.9% to 8.5% by 2020. In response to government's commitments and guided by the country's vision and economic blueprint; Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZIMASSET), under the social services and poverty eradication cluster, the Government through the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) and its parastatal Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) with financial support from development partners, developed the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Strategy (ZNFPS) (2016-2020) accompanied by the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan (ZNFPCIP) (2016-2020). The ZNFP Strategy was developed to provide direction in implementing family planning programmes in order to attain FP2020 commitments and Sustainable Development Goals of eradicating extreme poverty, promoting good health and wellbeing as well as to promote gender equality amongst communities. Essentially, the ZNFP Strategy seeks to address two major goals, which are to increase Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) from the current 59% to 68% and reduce teenage pregnancy rate from 24% to 12% by 2020. Under the ZNFP Strategy there are five strategic thematic areas to focus on, these include; enabling environment, commodity security, service delivery, demand creation and monitoring and evaluation. Cutting across these strategy areas are three key strategic priorities that will drive the family planning agenda forward: reducing teenage pregnancies, providing family planning services in integrated settings, and increasing utilization of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) and permanent methods. Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council is one of the most successful organizations working in family planning in Africa. ZNFPC provides FP products and services, education and counselling, breast and cervical cancer screening, fertility services, voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC), sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing, referral, and prevention education; and pregnancy diagnosis and counselling. To date, the country through the effort of ZNFPC and other like-minded organizations has made major achievements which include universal knowledge of FP among the sexually active population, almost at 99%. According to the findings of the 2015 Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS), Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) improved from 43% in 1988 to 67% in 2015.The unmet need for FP declined from 19% in 1994 to 10% in 2015. Total fertility rate has also declined from 5.4 in 1988 to 4.0 in 2015. Various efforts were undertaken by the government to promote the use of Long Acting and Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs) that includes implants and Intra Uterine Contraceptive Device. The activities include training of health service providers to administer Long Acting Methods and awareness campaigns from selected districts across the country. The uptake of these services has increased as shown by the results of ZDHS 2015 which shows an increase in the use of implants from 2.7% in 2010 to 9.6% in 2015. However, these achievements are being diluted by the increasing number of teenage pregnancies. This is further worsened by existing negative socio-cultural practices that put young people at risk of teenage pregnancies and child marriages. Despite several recent initiatives, youth friendly reproductive health services either in outreach or in set up facilities are far from available to young people. With an estimated youth population of 62 %, Zimbabwe needs to investment in family planning to reap a demographic dividend, which raises the country's economic earning potential. In recognition of the WPD 2017 theme, 'Family planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations', it can be said that, family planning has direct links with improving the social and economic development of individuals and communities. Family planning empowers people to take control of their lives, enjoy their basic sexual and reproductive rights contributing meaningfully to their overall development and that of their societies and nations. By ensuring universal access to reproductive health including FP services we can reduce the levels of maternal mortality, infant mortality, teenage pregnancies and unsafe abortions. Ultimately the country benefits in the form of broad-based economic growth, a productive and educated workforce, and a growing middle class. This leads naturally to the demographic dividend that the country will celebrate in the foreseeable future. In this regard, FP plays a critical role in reducing poverty and driving economic growth. Family planning saves lives. It enables couples to choose whether and when to have children. It preserves women's and girls' health, and empowers them to pursue education and work. It boosts their ability to save, contribute to the economy and invest in the health and education of their children. In sum, family planning enriches communities and strengthens economies. An investment in making family planning available also yields economic gains that can propel development forward. Access to safe, voluntary family planning is a human right. It is also central to gender equality and women's empowerment, and is a key factor in reducing poverty. An understanding of timing and spacing of pregnancies is essential in empowering people and developing nations. By the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council