Urban Reproductive Health

Current UN projections show 70% of the world’s population will be urban by 2050, with 90% of that urbanization in Africa and Asia. Global challenges such as urban poverty, gender inequity, maternal and child mortality, and climate change will only worsen if cities continue to grow at the same rate as they are today.

The Challenge Initiative provides cities in Africa and Asia with a bold approach to rapidly and sustainably scale high-impact family planning and reproductive health solutions for women and girls living in urban poverty.

Investing in family planning and reproductive health is known as a best buy in public health. Enabling woman to make informed decisions about whether and when to have children reduces unintended pregnancies as well as maternal and newborn deaths. It also increases educational and economic opportunities for women and leads to healthier families and communities.

However, more than 220 million women in developing countries who don’t want to get pregnant lack access to contraceptives and voluntary family planning information and services.

TCI empowers cities to rapidly scale up evidence-based family planning solutions that were proven to work in urban settings in developing countries by supporting local governments to design, implement and monitor these solutions.