Bonface Orucho, Bird Story Agency…..
“We refuse our land to be a smooth field for oppressors,” was the message from Rachael Mwikali, a Kenyan feminist and human rights defender, shared in a LinkedIn post this week.
“Work that we have put in for years to fight for our rights, we will put in extra work to safeguard our gains on Human Rights for all, SRHR and Gender Justice,” she added.
Her words reflect the sentiment echoed by many feminists and civil society actors from the region, who have taken to social media to critique the Pan-African Conference on Family Values, initially planned to be held in Nairobi this week.
“We reject the imposition of anti-human rights agendas in Africa disguised as ‘family values,’” a statement by the Feminists in Kenya, a Pan-African collective rallying under the hashtag #ResistAndReject, declared.
According to experts, the backlash is less a rejection of dialogue and more a reflection of rising awareness.
“Africans are increasingly asserting their right to shape programs and policies that affect their bodies, lives, and futures,” Angela Mwangangi, a Nairobi-based family lawyer and sexual and reproductive health (SRHR) advocate, explained in a call.
Kennedy Ajola, a South Sudanese advocacy expert and social campaigner, reiterated that “the insistence by Africans to be at the center of conversations shows the social awareness milestones that have been achieved.”
The Pan-African Conference on Family Values billed itself as a platform to promote African family ideals. But its speaker lineup—dominated by white, male, ultra-conservative voices—drew backlash for a lack of diversity and sidelining African perspectives.
Beyond resisting regressive agendas, communities in Africa are crafting a new, locally driven reproductive health future rooted in innovation and autonomy.
Family planning is one of these areas showing rapid progress.
Statistics from fp2030.org, a global data resource on family planning, show the uptake of contraceptives has grown steadily over the past decade, painting a picture of progress rooted in agency, awareness, and access.
Ethiopia leads the continent with nearly 10 million modern contraceptive users today—an increase from 21% in 2012 to 31% in 2024 in terms of modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR). The DRC has also witnessed a more than doubled usage increase—from 8% to 18%—reaching over 4.2 million users in 2024.
Others, such as Burkina Faso, climbed from 17% to 30%; Côte d’Ivoire, from 14% to 22%; Angola, from 12% to 17%; Algeria, from 25% to 28%; Djibouti, from 10% to 17%; Morocco, from 33% to 36%; and Egypt, to 42%; and Tunisia has held steady at 27% over the period.
Southern Africa remains ahead, with countries such as Botswana boasting uptake rates of 56%, Eswatini 48%, and Cabo Verde hitting 45%.
The continent’s contraception progress has been fueled mainly by the rapidly growing reproductive health innovations being pushed by local researchers, technologists, and frontline providers.
Ongoing milestones include research and pilots for non-hormonal contraceptives being advanced by programs such as the Grand Challenges Africa initiative, led by the Science for Africa Foundation (SAF).
This initiative is currently rolling out innovations such as vaginal gels and intravaginal systems that avoid hormonal side effects and provider dependency, with over 90% of funding going directly to African institutions.
Successful pilots have been rolled out in countries such as Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal, and Uganda for Sayana Press (DMPA-SC)—a self-injectable contraceptive.
According to SAF, nearly 30% of users during these pilots are adopting modern contraception for the first time, highlighting its potential to reach underserved populations.
Meanwhile, implants like Sino-Implant (II) are seeing widespread uptake. According to WHO, implants account for 25–50% of modern methods used in countries like Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, driven by mobile clinics and trained local providers.
Emerging digital health platforms are also expanding access through applications like M-TIBA (Kenya), Imara Health (South Africa), and LifeMD (Nigeria), which are offering remote contraception information.
In Senegal, policy changes now allow community health workers to administer injectable, s—removing barriers to rural access and decentralizing service delivery. Similar programs have been implemented in Ethiopia and Kenya.
However, beyond expansion programs focused on scaling modern contraceptive technologies, African scientists are also tapping into the continent’s rich indigenous knowledge systems.
In Nigeria, Mutiat Bolanle Ibrahim and her team at the University of Lagos are researching fertility-regulating plant extracts to develop non-hormonal, vaginal herbal contraceptives.
Their work includes screening for sperm immobilization and migration inhibition, with a focus on ensuring safety, user comfort, and zero irritation.
The continent’s contraception drive is hugely pegged on national policies and programs leveraging public-private partnerships to raise funding.
Nigeria is for instance, is scaling up access to contraceptives through its FP2030 commitment, aiming to raise its modern contraceptive prevalence rate from 12% in 2018 to 27% by 2030.
Through the Saving One Million Lives (SOML) initiative, the government rewards states that improve maternal and child health indicators, including contraceptive uptake.
By 2021, SOML contributed to a 32% increase in uptake in states like Kaduna and Lagos, with over 11.5 million additional women accessing modern contraception since 2011, according to the PMNCH (Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health).
The continent’s most populous country has recently pledged over US$4 million to sustain momentum. States like Kano are also stepping up—launching a strategic plan to reach over 800,000 women by 2030.
In Ethiopia, the government has been training over 40,000 female health extension workers (HEWs) to deliver injectables and implants at the community level.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, this program is helping avert 1.4 million unintended pregnancies annually.
Successful cases include Rwanda, where performance-based financing rewards clinics for family planning results.
Community health workers deliver contraceptives door-to-door—helping drive mCPR from 10% in 2005 to 58% in 2020, according to the government. Ministry data also suggests that today, 97% of women know at least one modern method.
Burkina Faso has also been implementing the Gratuité Policy, offering free family planning services across public health facilities since 2016.
The mCPR rates in Burkina more than doubled from 14% in 2010 to 32% by 2021, and postpartum contraceptive uptake increased by 50% in five years, according to WHO.
Ongoing efforts transcend national programs and initiatives. At the continental level, the African Union’s Maputo Plan of Action (2016–2030) is an example. The program calls on member states to allocate 15% of their national budgets to health, including family planning.
It also targets 50% modern contraception access among women by 2030.
Fifteen countries—including Ethiopia and Malawi—now fund family planning domestically, up from five in 2012. Maternal mortality has fallen by 35% in countries with strong programs, according to the AU’s 2023 report.
