Family Planning for Health and Development

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo -“In one day, my world changed,” said Bokoli Bepete, 36, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was something of an understatement: Ms. Bepete had just given birth to quadruplets.

NEW YORK, United States – Mama Hadija, now in her 60s, had grown accustomed to living in shame. Over 25 years ago, she suffered a prolonged, obstructed labour. The ordeal caused her to develop an obstetric fistula, a form of internal damage that results in incontinence, stigma...

LILONGWE, Malawi – “I started having an affair with a grown man when I turned 11. I was in the final year of my primary education,” recalls Mercy Jackson, a young girl from the Chikhwawa district in southern Malawi. After she became pregnant, Mercy dropped out of school and took...