Joint Op-Ed by

Dr. Bounfeng Phoummalaysith, Minister of Health

Dr. Bakhtiyor Kadyrov, UNFPA Representative to the Lao PDR

(KPL) Imagine a girl. She is 14 years old. She lives in a remote village. With four other siblings, she lost her mother while giving birth to a sixth member of the family. Now, she too, will give birth in the same mountainous village without access to the maternal healthcare that could have saved her mother.

Imagine a couple. She’s 15 years old, her “lover” is five years older. She loves school. Her teacher says she has a gift for learning and she even aspires to one day be a teacher herself. Then one morning, she discovers she is pregnant. Her parents tell her she will marry to uphold her family’s honour. She’ll never return to school and realize her goal of becoming a teacher.

Imagine a teenage pregnant girl. Afraid of stigmatization from family and friends, with nowhere to turn, she keeps her pregnancy a secret and undergoes an unsafe abortion.  While the physical harm from this traumatic experience will heal, she will carry the mental scars with her for the rest of her life.

In fact, there’s no need to imagine these scenarios any further – because they are all real. They are played out many times a day. Every day. Across many countries and all because of an unmet human right to access contraception. 

This speaks to the theme of this year’s World Contraception Day: “A choice for all. Freedom to plan, Power to choose”.

Achieving well-being, prosperity, and socio-economic development in the Lao PDR is not just a vision; it is an attainable goal grounded in the health of its women. 

For this, every individual must be guaranteed the freedom to protect their reproductive health and to plan their family. Access to contraception is essential to bodily autonomy and to achieving one’s full potential. It helps reduce adolescent births, prevents maternal deaths and furthers gender equality. When families are decided by choice, not by chance, couples can plan their parenthood and choose the spacing and number of their children. 

Investing in rights-based family planning is among the most cost-effective measures, yielding significant health, social, and economic benefits for women, girls, families, and communities. An investment case developed by UNFPA showed that for every US dollar spent on family planning in the Lao PDR, there is an estimated return of 33.60 dollars in benefits. This investment helps keep adolescent girls in school, enables women to enter the workforce, reduces household poverty, improves nutrition, and addresses inequalities. The Lao PDR has made considerable progress in the area of reproductive health, including Family Planning. The RMNCAH Strategy has clear output and goals, having FP services, including counseling, available in all health facilities. The Adolescent and Youth Friendly services are now available in eight provinces for young people to access confidential, non-judgmental SRH services. The government continues to invest in this area through annual contribution for the procurement of contraceptives, and many more.

While the family planning challenges are already well-documented, discouragingly the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate here trended down during the COVID-19 pandemic with a drop of 20 per cent in new users and has not recovered since. To address this challenge, UNFPA is currently supporting the Ministry of Health to conduct a landscaping analysis for family planning to develop the next strategy to address these emerging issues and gaps to improve access.

This commitment to family planning, of course, is championed by the Government of the Lao PDR, as reflected in the national statement reflecting the 14 key recommendations from the National Conference on Population and Development earlier this year at the 57th session of the Commission on Population and Development and last year at the Seventh Asian and Pacific Population Conference in Bangkok.

Another key milestone this year is the government pledge for FP2030 commitments to reach the last mile to provide remote communities with essential sexual and reproductive health services, especially through increasing investments and mobilizing partnerships for national family planning programmes, developing a comprehensive family planning strategy and investing in youth-friendly health services inclusive of vulnerable groups, amongst other initiatives.

On this World Contraception Day, We would like to underline the Government of the Lao PDR and UNFPA’s resolve to continue our important work with all national stakeholders to ensure the Lao PDR achieves its commitments under the International Conference on Population and Development and realizes the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The progress has been possible thanks to all our partners, including ministries, civil society organizations, the private sector, and development partners such as Luxembourg, KOICA, Australia and our UN partner agencies, striving to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health rights and choices. As the Lao  saying goes: “Mueang Kai Dern Khoo, Huan Kai Mee Koo ເມືອງໄກເດີນຄູ, ເຮືອນໄກມີກູ່’’ meaning "A long journey is best walked with a companion, a distant house is best reached with a guide."

But, there is work to do.

Addressing the unmet need for family planning requires greater investments in the health workforce, national supply chain management system, reaching adolescents and youth and enhancing women’s and girls’ agency.  Accelerating progress towards ending the unmet need for family planning can both contribute to and result from women’s empowerment and gender equality, a valuable result and a critical element of economic development. 

Investing in adolescent and youth-friendly services and ensuring access to family planning and contraception are vital steps in reducing early pregnancies and shaping a brighter future for the Lao PDR. To create lasting change and transform the stories we’ve discussed today, we must intensify our efforts to mobilize resources and expand these essential services nationwide. By scaling up our initiatives, we can guarantee that no young person is left behind, no matter where they live.

Together: governments, communities, and partners, we have the power to prioritize the well-being of our youth. Let’s empower them with the knowledge and choices they deserve, ensuring a healthier and more promising future for all in the Lao PDR. The time for action is now; let’s work hand in hand to make this vision a reality.

Let’s re-imagine a future where every woman and girl, everywhere, can decide freely whether or when to become pregnant, where no woman or girl dies from preventable causes during pregnancy or childbirth and where adolescents and young people can live healthy, productive and fulfilling lives that meet their aspirations.

Imagine it, believe it and make it happen!

KPL