By the end of 2030, Lao PDR’s family planning vision is to accelerate progress towards the achievement of universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. This will be done through the following investments in human capital development: supporting adolescent girls and boys to delay pregnancy and marriage until adulthood by acquiring skills and competencies, including through comprehensive sexuality education, ensuring every pregnancy is by choice and that no woman or girl dies while giving life, and that women and girls can live lives free from abuse and violence. These are essential for youth to realize their full potential and for the country to realize its demographic dividend. The programme will focus on supporting national systems so that the country stays on track to achieve the SDG and ICPD25 commitments despite setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ministry of Health will focus on reaching the last mile to ensure that remote communities are better served with SRH supplies thereby reducing the unmet need for FP among the unmarried group. Other areas of support include the integration of FP services to broader MCH and nutrition activities, increasing male involvement at community level, expanding the Adolescents and Youth Friendly services, strengthening work with the private sector and ensuring no stock out of commodities at all levels, focusing on the Health Centre level.
The country commitments
1. Commitment Objective 1: Improve access to adolescent and youth-responsive health systems for contraceptive use
2. Commitment Objective 2: Ensure the availability of quality and safe YFS/FP information and services to decrease the unmet need for FP among adolescents and young people (15-24 yrs), the unmet need is 31.1% (LSIS II) to 12% by 2030.
3. Commitment Objective 3: Increase the availability (no stock out) of Contraceptive/RH commodities from 53% to 100%
4. Commitment Objective 4: Increase the Family Planning fund to support the availability of commodities at the lower level
