The Department of Basic Education and partners joined five United Nations agencies in South Africa –UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women in successfully leading the launch the Education Plus Initiative in Pretoria on 31 March 2022.

Half. That is the alarmingly high proportion of pregnancies that girls and women do not deliberately choose. The neglected crisis of unintended pregnancy is the subject of UNFPA’s flagship 2022 State of World Population report, released today. Such pregnancies represent a global failure to uphold basic human rights.

Half. That’s the share of all pregnancies that are unintended. Nothing is more fundamental to bodily autonomy than the ability to decide whether or not to become pregnant. Yet for too many, the most life-altering reproductive choice is no choice at all. Women are more likely to experience an unintended pregnancy when they have fewer choices and less power.