By Abujah Racheal
Global experts and advocates have warned that widening funding gaps and uneven political will threaten to reverse hard-won gains in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), particularly in low- and middle-income countries such as Nigeria.
The stakeholders made intuitive submissions at the just-concluded 7th International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP 2025) held in Bogotá, Colombia.
The conference brought together more than 3,500 delegates from 120 countries, including policymakers, donors, researchers, and civil-society leaders, to confront one urgent problem: how to sustain progress when global resources are shrinking.
Reports from the World Health Organisation (WHO), The Lancet, Guttmacher Institute, and Rutgers reveal that global SRHR progress stands at a crossroads, where innovation and inequality collide.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, more than 70 per cent of global family-planning funding depends on a few donors, nearly 40 per cent from the U.S.
Donor disbursements fell by 27 per cent in 2023 to 10.77 billion dollars, only 4.3 per cent of total official development assistance.
Stakeholders say that the decline in external support is particularly worrying for countries like Nigeria, which still rely heavily on donor funding for contraceptive commodities and reproductive-health supplies.
According to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, domestic financing for family planning remains below 30 per cent of the required budget, leaving significant gaps in procurement, logistics, and service delivery.
Dr Philip Anglewicz, Director of the William H. Gates Sr. Institute and Chair of the ICFP 2025 International Steering Committee, said research must move beyond data to impact.
“Evidence is only as powerful as the action it inspires; this week, the SRHR community is proving that research can do more than describe the world, it can change it,” Anglewicz said.
Dr Saifuddin Ahmed, who led The Lancet/WHO Global SRHR Analysis, explained that sustained investment in reproductive health saved lives and fueled economic growth.
“Investment in SRHR does not just save lives; it strengthens economies, protects rights, and builds resilience in times of crisis,” Ahmed said.
New findings from Guttmacher’s Adding It Up and FP-Impact studies presented at the conference showed that meeting all SRHR needs in low- and middle-income countries would cost 104 billion dollars annually but save 2.48 dollars in health costs for every dollar spent.
In countries like Nigeria and Kenya, contraceptive access has been linked to a 12 per cent rise in women’s paid employment.
Dr Amina Dorayi, Senior Country Director at Pathfinder International Nigeria, described the conference as “an incredible experience” that renewed her commitment to people-centred health systems.
Dorayi said the most powerful outcomes were not only the sessions but the people: “The connections forged here are the true currency of our work.”
During the panel themed “Partnerships in Action: Lessons from the Field, “Dorayi shared how Pathfinder Nigeria, in collaboration with government, civil society, media, and state-led accountability mechanisms, was helping to mobilise domestic resources, sustain policy commitments, and build accountability systems that worked for communities.
Key lessons from the discussions highlighted the urgent need to mobilise greater domestic resources for family planning, embrace task-shifting and task-sharing to expand access, reduce maternal and newborn deaths, and build climate-resilient health systems capable of withstanding future shocks.
Dr Olukunle Omotoso, MPH, PhD, of the Centre for Communication and Population Health (CCP), provided insights.
“The government, with the right tools, can make family-planning uptake sustainable without constant donor support.
“When communities lead, progress lasts,” she said.
The message resonated across Bogotá: local ownership is not a trend; it is the engine of real development.
Capacity grows when people are trusted to lead their own solutions; sustainability is built from within; and partnerships thrive when power is shared, not centralised.
According to FP2030 Executive Director Dr Samukeliso Dube, several African countries, including Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, have renewed commitments to expand access to modern contraception and increase domestic financing toward 2030 targets.
“Countries see the evidence; family planning remains a development best buy. It’s worth prioritising,” Dube said.
Nigeria’s FP2030 pledge seeks to raise the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) to 27 per cent by 2030 and to integrate family-planning services within universal health-coverage (UHC) frameworks.
However, inconsistent domestic funding and periodic stockouts could undermine progress if donor support continues to decline.
At ICFP 2025, Mr Davis Oenga, M&E Advisor with the International Centre for Reproductive Health Kenya (ICRHK), presented evidence that Kenya’s modern CPR has stagnated at 54 per cent despite sustained investment.
“To bridge this gap, we must rethink our strategies. Private providers play a pivotal role in expanding access and choice, especially for adolescent girls and young women who prefer private outlets for confidentiality and convenience,” Oenga said.
He added that failing to integrate private-sector data into national health-information systems obscures the true scale of their contribution to SRHR outcomes.
Participants called for policies on task-shifting and task-sharing, adoption of the Total Market Approach, and investment in robust data systems that capture all sectors, public, private, and NGO, working synergistically to achieve universal access.
Reproductive equity, delegates agreed, cannot be achieved if those living the reality are excluded from the conversation.
Across the world, decisions on reproductive health are often made without the voices of those most affected.
At the session themed “Local Voices, Global Platforms: Power of Integrating Media into Movements for Reproductive Equity,” media leaders, advocates, and journalists explored how storytelling could elevate community realities and inspire action for SRHR.
Mr Chibuike Alagboso, Director of Media Programmes at the Family Planning News Network (FPNN), urged journalists to report beyond the problems.
“We must also tell stories of what’s working, who is making change happen, and how.
“The entire hall is filled with solutions, yet we rarely report them. When we do, we inspire learning, replication, and progress,” Alagboso said.
Ms Esenam Amuzu, Community Reporter with FPNN, shared how her passion for storytelling took her from the classroom to the community, connecting supply chains to girls’ lives and linking local realities to global advocacy.
Ms Natalia De León Tello of FP2030 Global added that youth-led storytelling in Latin America is transforming advocacy through partnership and representation.
“When youth speak, it is not just representation, it is transformation,” Tello said.
Ms Luisa Fernanda Orozco Valencia of El Espectador highlighted how journalism bridged public health, data, and human stories to drive accountability.
Together, the speakers envisioned a global, community-owned media network amplifying local voices and driving reproductive justice through storytelling.
Beyond statistics, ICFP 2025 stressed accountability and transparency.
The conference’s Media and Accountability track convened more than 50 international journalists and advocates under the FPNN, strengthening evidence-based reporting and countering misinformation in SRHR.
Ms Eszter Kismodi of Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) described it as “the beginning of a global community of journalists and advocates committed to advancing transparency and accountability in SRHR reporting.”
Ms Marta Royo, Executive Director of Profamilia, closed with a reminder that the next decade will be defined not by data alone but by the courage to act.
“We have more data than ever before; but what will define the next decade is not how much we know, but how boldly we act.
“Evidence must drive equity, and equity must drive everything else,” Royo said.
As the conference ended, delegates echoed a collective message: the future of reproductive health depends on power shifting, partnership, and people-led progress.
Local ownership, equitable financing, and stories that humanise evidence remain the compass points for transforming commitments into lasting change.
As the world rallies to protect reproductive rights, observers say Nigeria’s next decade of action may well depend on whether domestic commitment can match global ambition.
(NANFeatures)
