Funding for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Low- and Middle-income Countries: Threats, Outlook and Opportunities

Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are essential for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for health. The Guttmacher-Lancet Commission found that meeting the unmet need for contraception for 214 million women in developing regions would avert an additional 67 million unintended pregnancies in 2017. If combined with full care for pregnant women and newborns, this reduction in unplanned pregnancies would reduce maternal deaths by 73% (from 308,000 to 84,000) and newborn deaths by 80% (from 2.7 million to about 538,000).