CARE and our partners help expand access to quality reproductive health services so women and girls can make informed choices about their bodies and their futures.
In 2025 alone, more than 11 million pregnant women will require life-saving reproductive health services. Yet over 220 million women still cannot access safe and effective family planning. These numbers reflect the fragile state of reproductive health care in many parts of the world.
The consequences are serious. Women, adolescents, and babies face unnecessary risks when they cannot access essential services such as STI prevention, contraception, maternal care, and cancer screening.
Gaps in care put lives at risk and undermine long-term health and well-being.
Limited access to reproductive health services also affects women’s autonomy, gender equality, and economic opportunity. When women can decide if and when to have children, families and communities are healthier and more resilient. According to UNFPA, every one dollar invested in access to contraception can generate nearly 27 dollars in economic gains.
By 2030, CARE aims to support 30 million women and girls to realize their right to reproductive health.
How CARE expands reproductive health access
CARE works with communities, health workers, and local leaders to ensure reproductive health services are accessible, high-quality, and tailored to people’s needs.
We focus on:
Improving access to quality services
CARE supports clinics and community health workers with training, resources, and tools so they can provide respectful, responsive care before, during, and after pregnancy.
Supporting adolescents and young people
Adolescents often face stigma, limited information, and barriers to services. CARE and our partners help create youth-friendly spaces, strengthen support networks, and engage families and communities in understanding and responding to young people’s needs.
Working with communities to shift harmful norms
CARE partners with families, community leaders, and local groups to address social norms that prevent women and girls from seeking care, using contraception, or making decisions about their health.
Partnering with governments and health providers
CARE works alongside national and local health authorities to strengthen policies, improve service delivery, and build health systems that can sustainably support reproductive health over the long term.
Reproductive health support in practice
Out-of-school adolescent girls are consistently left out of traditional adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) programs, are difficult to reach, and often have the greatest need and least access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services.
CARE's She Soars works alongside health care providers and key stakeholders in Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia to:
- Provide evidence-based sexual and reproductive health information
- Address root causes of gender-based inequalities
- Improve health services
- Work with young people, particularly girls, to increase decision-making about their lives and their bodies
Learn more about the program below.
