In India and Pakistan, women and young girls from marginalized communities bear the greatest burden of poor reproductive health due to their disadvantaged social status, limited educational and economic opportunities, early marriages and births, frequent childbearing, and lack of access to quality health services. These inequities, coupled with a rapidly growing youth population, exacerbate poor health outcomes and hinder broader economic development.
Building on more than ten years of work in the region, the South Asia subprogram of Population and Reproductive Health works in India and Pakistan to decrease early and unwanted fertility among young couples by improving access to family planning and reproductive health services. We also reduce the health risks of unsafe abortion by improving women’s access to safe abortion and post-abortion care.
Specifically, our grantmaking works to:
- Improve access to quality family planning and reproductive health services for young people, especially young women
- Empower women and girls to increase their ability to make informed family planning and reproductive health decisions, and
- Mobilize the political will to improve policies and increase financial resources to support effective initiatives.
We fund non-governmental organizations and networks in the Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan; and in Bihar and Jharkhand states in India, as well as a few regional initiatives in South Asia where there is a strategic opportunity. We do not fund programs in other South Asian countries. While we focus on grants that allow us to partner with government and donors, we generally do not fund governmental institutions.
