The Ministry of Health’s family planning efforts are being strengthened with a recent donation of contraceptives, including 5,000 sets of Depo-Provera and syringes, 5,000 sets of Noristerat and syringes, and 10,000 cycles of Microgynon, 9,000 female condoms and 7,200 male condoms from UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.{{more}}

The contraceptives will allow women and their families in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to address their family planning needs and exercise their right to decide the number, spacing and timing of their children. This is in fulfillment of the commitment made by 179 governments around the world in 1994 in Cairo, Egypt, when they agreed to provide universal access to a full range of safe and reliable family planning methods and to related reproductive and sexual health services by 2015. Fulfilling this commitment is important in tackling critical reproductive health challenges such as reducing unwanted pregnancies and preventing maternal mortality and the disease burden of women.

UNFPA works with governments worldwide to ensure that all individuals can obtain and use affordable, quality reproductive health commodities of their choice whenever they need them. As part of this effort, UNFPA routinely supplies governments with reproductive health commodities, including equipment, pharmaceuticals and supplies for obstetric and maternal health care; the prevention, diagnosis and management of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections; and contraceptives, including and male and female condoms.