Aussies contribute to family planning
AUSTRALIA will give $50 million to help prevent 100 million unwanted pregnancies in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says.
The funding will double Australia's contribution to family planning in the region as part of a global initiative to save the lives of women and children who do not have access to adequate healthcare or modern contraception.
Senator Carr said about 220 million people around the world had no access to family planning advice of modern contraception.
He said the money will be spent on developing countries in the Asia-Pacific, giving women "the opportunity to decide whether, when and how many children they have".
Australia already spends about $26 million on overseas family planning aid in Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea each year.
