For 5 decades, the Government and the people of Jamaica prioritized family planning services as a way to promote healthier pregnancies and births, reduce high maternal and child mortality, and respond to individuals’ and couples’ desires to plan and space their children.

Overview

• With U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) assistance from 1966 to 2008, Jamaica led the way in successfully reducing teenage pregnancy and improving child survival, demonstrating that investments in evidence-based approaches to family planning are effective and sustainable.
• The family planning partnership between the Government of Jamaica, USAID, and non-governmental organizations led to the use of modern contraception, the rate of which doubled between 1970 and 2008. This was accompanied by 44 percent, 47 percent, and 49 percent reductions in newborn, infant, and child deaths, respectively, from 1990 to 2015.
• USAID piloted innovative approaches in partnership with the Jamaican Government. They implemented the first social marketing project, which increased the use of effective methods of contraception among younger populations and funded the first mobile family planning units.