29 July 2012

Why Girls?

Girl Effect
I've always believed that family planning unleashes the girl effect.

At the groundbreaking London Summit on Family Planning this month, more than 150 leaders from the public and private sector joined forces to increase access to lifesaving contraceptives in the developing world. Over $2.6 billion was committed to get modern family planning to 120 million girls and women in the world’s poorest countries by 2020.

A huge success, by anyone's standards.

However, when it comes to adolescent girls’ access to family planning and contraceptives, we’re still at the starting line.

In the two minutes you will spend reading this post,
  • 52 adolescent girls in the developing world will give birth
  • 90 percent of whom were child brides; 1 in 7 married before the age of 15
  • 4 of them will die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth
You see, family planning without adolescent girls isn't family planning, it's planning for poverty.

So let's keep girls at the center of all US$ 2.6 billion in commitments that were made on Wednesday by making sure the world knows WHY GIRLS.

Share this infographic on Facebook, pin it to your pinterest account, blow it up and put it on the side of your car, tattoo it to your forehead – however you fancy. Just get the word out.