Reproductive Health and the World Bank: The Facts

1. Access to quality reproductive health (RH) and family planning services is a top health and development priority for the World Bank.

• Globally 358,000 women die from complications in pregnancy and childbirth each year – one of the leading causes of death and disability among women of reproductive age in low-income countries – and the vast majority of these deaths (57 percent) are in Sub-Saharan Africa. 
• 57 low-income countries are burdened by high rates of maternal mortality and high fertility, which are closely linked to high infant mortality and gender inequality. 
• More than 1/4 of girls and women in sub-Saharan Africa cannot access family planning services, fueling unplanned pregnancies and spreading HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

2. The World Bank’s support for RH and family planning is strong and growing.

• World Bank lending for RH during the past two years totaled US$1.3 billion, helping increase the number of poor women with access to lifesaving antenatal and postnatal care, safe births, and family planning services. 
• Lending for RH in the last year alone amounted to US$830 million, a 59-percent increase. 
• To date, the World Bank also has committed US$314 million out of the US$600 million in results-based financing for health pledged at the 2010 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit to accelerate progress toward MDGs 4 and 5 for maternal and child health. 
• As a result of the World Bank’s five-year Reproductive Health Action Plan, the number of World Bank Country Assistance Strategies and projects that address RH is increasing; 64 percent of all ongoing World Bank health projects include RH components or indicators. For example: 
  • In Bangladesh, the Health Sector Development Project is strengthening delivery of reproductive, maternal, and child health services, including providing more skilled-birth attendants and improving the nutrition of pregnant women and children; 
  • In Mozambique, the World Bank is expanding the availability of essential drugs and medical supplies, including contraceptives; 
  • In Swaziland, the World Bank is training doctors and midwives in antenatal, emergency obstetrics , and neonatal and postnatal care, and is improving access to specialized facilities; and 
  • In Yemen, the Health and Population Project is increasing poor women’s access to and use of maternal and child health services, especially in remote and rural areas.

3. Support from IDA, the World Bank’s Fund for the Poorest, has improved the lives of poor women and children around the globe. Some results:

• Afghanistan: 22-percent reduction in infant mortality and 26-percent reduction in child mortality in just three years. 
• Benin: 2 million medicated bed nets have benefited pregnant women and children under age five since March 2007. 
• Georgia: 29-percent and 59-percent increases in health insurance coverage for poor women of reproductive age and children under age five. 
• Ghana: Improved maternal and child health care reduced mortality rates for children under five to 80 per 1,000 live births in 2008, from 111 in 2003. 
• Lesotho: Prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission rose from 5 percent in 2005 to 31 percent in 2009; 10-percent increase in contraceptive prevalence rate from 2004-2009.