2016 -2020 commodity funding gap to reach cumulative $1.175 billion

As the number of users of contraception grows, so too does the volume of supplies required for user consumption. The Coalition’s Global Contraceptive Commodity Gap Analysis costed current and projected user consumption volumes, and compared those costs to the amount currently spent on contraceptive supplies across 135 low- and middle-income (LMI) countries. 

At the recent EuroNGOs 2017 conference Nina Miller, project lead CGA2016, shared key findings on the growing gap between the cost of contraceptive supplies and the funding available to purchase them. She revealed that the gap between the consumption cost and all spending on supplies is projected to reach a cumulative $1.175 billion for the years 2016 through 2020.  She was speaking in a panel co-hosted by the Coalition, titled “SRHR without contraceptives? Supplies financing in an increasingly challenging funding environment” with speakers from the Mozambican Association for Family Development, PAI, and UNFPA. 

One of the most critical findings for advocates, funders, and programmatic decision-makers is that unless there is an increase of public sector spending on contraceptive supplies, every additional user of contraception will have no choice but to purchase her supplies out-of-pocket. Out-of-pocket purchases currently account for approximately 58% of all spending on contraceptive supplies in 135 LMI countries; in the subset of 69 FP2020 countries – the lowest income countries – it accounts for 54%. These estimates raise serious questions about how many more women can to afford purchase their own supplies, and who will be left behind if expanding access to family planning is limited by the ability to pay.

Ms. Miller announced that the next round of CGA analysis will use these findings along with new data on private sector prices to develop a better understanding of supply costs and equity of access. New findings will be published in the CGA 2018 this January.