**Author details**

abortion through WoW after the PAHO announcement [36]. The increased demand for abortion was most pronounced in Brazil (108% increase, p < 0.001), Ecuador (107.7% increase, p < 0.001), Venezuela (93.3% increase, p < 0.001), and Honduras (75.7% increase, p < 0.001). Increases in requests for abortion were also statistically found in Colombia (38.7% increase), Costa Rica (36.1% increase), and El Salvador (35.6% increase). In several countries where health advisories were not issued, the requests for abortions had increased but to a lesser degree. An exception to this was in Bolivia, with an approximately 68% increase demand. Abortion requests increased in Nicaragua, Panama, and Paraguay from 21 to 25% and Guatemala by more than 8% [36]. "It seems as though as though women were responding not only to the threat of Zika but to the

Messages sent to WoW requesting abortifacients have reflected not only the strong feelings but also the desperation of the women at risk for Zika virus infection in these countries. From Venezuela, a woman wrote "I contracted Zika four days ago. I need an abortion. I love children, but I don't believe it is wise to keep a baby who will suffer. I don't know who to turn to – please help me" [41]. From the same country, WoW received this appeal—"We are going through a really serious situation for the economic and humanitarian crisis unleashed by Zika. There are no treatments, contraceptives nor pills to abort. I want to terminate my pregnancy but I cannot" [38]. A woman pleaded from Brazil "I need to do an abortion because of the great risk of infection with Zika here … Please help me. My economic situation is extremely difficult." And there is an entreaty from a women in Colombia—"Here Zika is a major problem and the health authorities do not help with it … I have no resources at this time and want

to ask for your help because fear overwhelms me. What if the baby is born sick?" [38].

Amanda Klasing, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch who specializes on women in Latin America, said "Regardless of the fact that you can go to jail for having an abortion in many of these countries, it's not surprising that women and girls would turn to clandestine avenues to procure abortions. Imagine how scary it must feel to be a girl or woman who

In Latin America, the Zika virus pandemic has disproportionately affected women in the reproductive-age group and especially the most vulnerable members of society—those girls and younger women who live in conditions of poverty. It has brought renewed attention to the multifaceted human rights problems that, although predating the onset of the pandemic in 2015, have significantly been worsened by the spread of Zika virus infection. These include ethnic and socioeconomic health disparities, access to reproductive health education, restrictions on sexual and reproductive rights, inadequate access to water and sanitation, and stigmatization and criminalization of women seeking to terminate their pregnancies [35]. Data published in 2016 clearly indicate an increase in demand for abortions following the advent of the Zika epidemic, but because of the clandestine nature of both unsafe and safe abortions, criminalization of pregnancy termination, and the threat of penalties, the actual numbers of abortions occurring as a result of Zika in these countries are likely much greater. The Zika

advisories issued by their governments," said Dr. Aiken [37].

60 Family Planning

becomes pregnant in a Zika-affected country right now" [39].

**7. The past predicts the future**

David A. Schwartz

Address all correspondence to: davidalanschwartz@gmail.com

Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA

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**Section 2**

**Resources to Access Contraception and**

**Populationn Policy**

**Resources to Access Contraception and Populationn Policy**

**Chapter 5**

**Provisional chapter**

**Family Planning Services in Africa: The Successes and**

The world population is on the increase, and the majority of this increase will be from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It is estimated that by 2030 the population of Africa will rise to 1.3 billion. Published peer-reviewed journals, abstracts, Gray literature (government documents, technical reports, other reports, etc.), internet articles and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) reports were used as resource materials. Manual search of reference list of selected articles was checked for further relevant studies. Family planning (FP) programmes that started in 1960s across SSA have made steady progress with contraceptive prevalence rates still very low and unacceptably high unmet need. Despite near universal knowledge on contraceptives, there is an obvious knowledge-practice gap. There are barriers, personal, religious and community levels, to contraceptive use. Contraceptives have a lot of benefits to the mother, child and community. Thus, there is a need for publicity campaigns through information, education and communication (IEC) to address social and cultural barriers to FP including misconceptions and misinformation. Contraception should be vigorously promoted in SSA not only for its demographic dividends but also on socio-economic and health grounds and the attainment of sustain-

**Family Planning Services in Africa: The Successes and** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.72224

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The world population reached 7.4 billion in 2016 at an annual growth rate of 2.55% with Africa accounting for 1203 million. It is estimated that between 2015 and 2030 the population in Africa will reach 1.3 billion [1]. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (excluding North Africa) has seen remarkable population growth in the past three to four decades. SSA population in 1990 was 510 million, 688 million in 2002 and by 2016 has reached 974 million [2]. By 2050, three countries (Nigeria, 4th, Democratic

**Challenges**

**Challenges**

Alhaji A Aliyu

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

Alhaji A Aliyu

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72224

able development goals (SDGs).

**Keywords:** contraceptive use, benefits, barriers, unmet need, SSA

**Provisional chapter**
