Increase in number of women with access to modern contraception has stalled, report says

"Progress in ensuring that women in poor countries have access to modern methods of contraception has stalled," according to a new report (.pdf) by the United Nations Population Fund and the Guttmacher Institute, BMJ reports. The study "found that this year 645 million women of reproductive age (15 to 49 years) are using modern methods of contraception in the developing world, 42 million more than in 2008," but "this rise is less than half the increase of 100 million between 2003 and 2008," the journal writes.

"Half of the rise between 2008 and 2012 is the result of an increase in the population, rather than in the number of women using contraception, says the report," BMJ notes, adding, "Susan Cohen, the institute's director of government relations, said that one of the reasons for the larger rise in the number of women accessing contraception between 2003 and 2008 could be that they were among the easiest to reach." "The report was published weeks before a family planning summit is due to meet in London on 11 July," BMJ writes, noting, "Cohen said that she hoped that the international summit ... would give added impetus to family planning" (Gulland, 6/22).