Gweru, Zimbabwe, 26 September, 2024 – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council today joined various partners to commemorate World Contraception Day with calls for continued investment to support access to quality assured reproductive health and quality family planning commodities.

The theme for this year’s World Contraception Day is: “Contraception - It’s your Life, It’s your responsibility”. This year’s commemorations are being held in Gweru as an opportunity to raise awareness on the importance of family planning and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted.

UNFPA has been supporting the family planning programme in Zimbabwe since the early 1980s through partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, and its parastatal, Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC). 

UNFPA's support ensures a reliable supply of quality contraceptives; method mix to facilitate a broad choice for the women; strengthening of national health systems; promoting  policies supportive of voluntary family planning; providing financial and technical support for family planning programmes, and gathering evidence for informed decision making.

As a result of the Government's long-standing commitment to the provision of contraceptives, Zimbabwe has made great strides in increasing access to family planning services and earned  recognition in Africa as one of the countries with the highest modern contraceptive prevalence rate of 68 per cent. It is estimated that about 80%  of women in Zimbabwe have their demand for modern contraceptives met. The impact of using contraceptives has been profound.  In 2023, 2.1 million women were using modern contraception in Zimbabwe. As a result of contraception use, 780,000 unwanted pregnancies, 195,000 unsafe abortions and  about 2,200 maternal deaths were averted. 

To sustain the results, predictable funding is critical. The government is strengthening its investment in family planning.  In the past 3 years the Government of Zimbabwe  has been allocating domestic resources for procurement of contraceptives.  Annually 1.5 million USD has been invested in the past 3 years including this year. UNFPA has been matching the investment by the government under the UNFPA Supplies Global Partnership. 

“We commend the government for allocating domestic resources for procurement of contraceptives,” said UNFPA Representative Ms. Miranda Tabifor in a speech read on her behalf by the agency’s Deputy Representative Ms. Navchaa Suren. “Although the progress is significant, more efforts are required to improve access to family planning services for those in the remote areas, and the most vulnerable groups including young people and persons with disabilities.”

Despite the great progress in the provision of family planning services, gaps remain. Unmet need for young people is higher at 12.6% as compared to the national average of 10%. national. Access to contraceptives for adolescents and young people is therefore limited. As a result, this year’s World Contraception Day comes against a growing concern of  high teenage pregnancy in the country. The launch of the “Not-In-My-Village Campaign” seeks to tackle teenage pregnancy working closely with the communities and traditional leaders.

“It should be noted that most young girls and women are faced with unprecedented challenges; among them high levels of unintended pregnancies which may result in unsafe abortions, school drop outs, and child marriages,” said the Minister of Health and Child Care Dr. Douglas Mombeshora. 

“Today we join the world celebrating key milestones which we have achieved with regards to contraception and also reflect on the challenges, experiences and areas of improvement as a country towards attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals and Vision 2030 Agenda,” said Zimbabwe National Family Council Executive Director Mr Farai Machinga.

For more information and media queries please contact

MOHCC Public Relations Director

Mr Donald Mujiri +263 772 945 032) dmujiri@gmail.com 

ZNFPC Communications Officer

Mr Donald Dube +263 772 101 057  dbube@gmail.com

UNFPA Communication Specialist 

Bertha Shoko : +263 772 782 299 or email: shoko@unfpa.org