Resources

India is home to 20 female-only prisons, that have the capacity to hold just 5,000 inmates. Women currently make up 4% of India's prison population. Before they reach prison, many women have already experienced sexual and gender-based violence. Many inmates face discrimination and are often ostracized from their community and their families once they are released. Realizing a gap in care for women once released, the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) have stepped in to ensure women are equipped with not only healthcare whilst in prison but life training skills. Skills that will financially support them and their children with or without the support of their families. Established in 1949, the Family Planning Association of India has provided life skills training ranging from beauty parlour related work to car mechanics to 768 women in six locations.

Malawi has one of the most comprehensive laws against child marriage in Africa after a new bill was passed in 2017 increasing the legal marital age from 15 to 18-years-old. The Marriage Act of Malawi in 2017 protects any girl under the age of 18 from marriage and holds parents or other family members who marry their children off below the age accountable and liable to prosecution. But even with the law, cases of child marriage are still happening but community Watch Groups have been set up to help. This is the story of one girl helped by her local watch group. Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM) with money from the Japan Trust Fund supports the watch group by building the capacity of its members. Five members of the Jalasi Watch Group have been trained about the law, policies around the issue of child marriage and how they align with the by-laws. © Photos: James Ngechu

Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa and the tenth most populous in the world. It is estimated that two-thirds of women do not have access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services. Our member association - Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE) is bridging the gap between the need for healthcare and women by bringing services into the heart of the workplace across Ethiopia, a country where 47% of the workforce is female. FGAE currently provides services to over 125,000 people at sixteen large-scale workplaces across Ethiopia, from coffee plantations to textile factories.

Malawi has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. It's estimated that 47% of women and girls are married before the age of 18. In 2017 to help combat child marriage, Malawi changed the legal age of marriage to 18 but despite the change in the law, early child marriage still occurs in many villages. IPPF member association, Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM), is teaming up with social workers and local community leaders to form community watch groups, to help end child marriage.

What do you know about girls?11 October marks International Day of the Girl Child, a time to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges they face around the world. Find out what you do and don’t know about these issues in our quiz. Warning: may contain information some find upsetting.How many girls below the age of 18 are there in the world?How many girls are at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) each year?Annually, how many girls around the world aged 10-19 are subject to unsafe abortions?Of all sexual assaults globally, how many are committed against girls aged 16 or younger?How many girls worldwide are child brides, i.e. married before the age of 18?Good try! If you learned something new today, scroll down to share this with friends :point_down:Great work! If you learned something new today, scroll down to share this with friends :point_down:

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a procedure that involves altering or injuring female genitalia for non-medical reasons.   It is estimated that almost 200 million women and girls worldwide have undergone some form of FGM. FGM has been recorded in 30 countries with Somaliland having one of the highest prevalence rates in the world at 98% for women and girls aged between 15 - 49 years old. Hope on the horizon documents the hard work IPPF member association SOFHA (Somaliland Family Health Association) is doing within the local community to help change minds and eventually bring an end to female genital mutilation (FGM). Slowly, but surely, attitudes are changing.

The Serbian Association for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRH Serbia) teamed up with IPAK to challenge gender stereotypes in Serbian society through the act of theatre-based workshops. Boys and girls participate and literally walk in one another's shoes to help challenge and dismantle 'gender roles'. The workshop was funded by the IPPF Innovation Programme.

Today marks the International Day of the Girl Child. Girls are often the ones to suffer firsthand from the lack of access to sexual and reproductive services. We will continue to fight for girls everywhere to not only have access to health care services but to stand up and shout 'I Decide my future'.

The Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Service Package for Men and Adolescent Boys has been developed to support providers of sexual and reproductive health services. It aims to increase the range and quality of sexual and reproductive services provided that meet the specific and diverse needs of men and adolescents boys. It covers men and adolescent boys in all their diversity, and takes a positive approach to sexual and reproductive health, seeing this not just as the absence of disease, but the positive expression of one’s gender, sex and sexuality. Men have substantial sexual and reproductive health needs, including the need for contraception, prevention and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), sexual dysfunction, infertility and male cancers. Yet these needs are often unfulfilled due to a combination of factors, including a lack of service availability, poor health-seeking behaviour among men, health facilities often not considered "male-friendly," and a lack of agreed standards for delivering clinical and preventative services to men and adolescent boys. 

IPPF recognizes that investing in gender equality is essential both as a means for fulfilling SRHR and as an end in itself. Sexual and reproductive health and rights will only be achieved when there is gender equality.  The report is available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.