Half of all pregnancies around the world are unplanned, so family planning is a critical pillar of our work to reduce maternal deaths, empower women to plan their pregnancies, and create safer, healthier families.

Family planning is not just a women’s issue. Men and fathers are playing a role in the global fight for gender equality — here’s how:

Vasectomies as a form of contraception are rare in places like Ethiopia. But Sileshi was confident he made the right decision by getting one.

Sileshi and his wife already have six children. He did not want to burden her with sole responsibility for their family planning as she fell ill.

“My wife tried both short- and long-term family planning methods for some time, but they did not go well with her health,” he remembered. So he made a choice that would help his wife regain her health by protecting her from unplanned pregnancies.

Family planning saves lives by decreasing the incidence of pregnancy complications and unsafe abortions. UNFPA programs to increase contraceptive use in Ethiopia are estimated to have averted 2 million unsafe abortions and 20,000 maternal deaths.

Will you help contribute to a world where every pregnancy is wanted and families have the resources to plan their pregnancies by making a gift today? Your donation will fuel crucial family planning work and other lifesaving services for women and girls across the globe.

Because of traditional perceptions around masculinity, family planning is widely considered a woman’s responsibility in Haiti. In the last decade only 0.1% of women surveyed said they relied on a partner’s vasectomy as a form of contraception, and only 5% relied on male condoms.

UNFPA is working in Haiti to increase the availability and variety of contraceptives, so individuals and couples can choose the methods that work best for them.

“At 55, I already have four children. I realized that I do not have enough resources to take care of more mouths in my family,” explained Lamour, at a reproductive health clinic in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. “So, I decided to do it.”

“We had three teams of vasectomy surgeons with commodities for 25 people,” recounted Dr. Gianni De Castro, who was part of an outreach event for men supported by UNFPA. “But there were more than 100 people to register, and we had 83 vasectomies, compared to only 18 last year."

The partnership of men is fundamental to ensuring every person has control over their own body and reproductive choices, in Haiti and beyond.

Will you support this work and empower more families to plan their futures and help reduce preventable maternal deaths by making a gift today?

Thank you for supporting this critical work.

— USA for UNFPA