South Sudan has been devastated by decades of war in terms of loss of human life,
massive displacement, destruction of both physical and social infrastructure, and loss of
human resource development opportunities, including the loss of experienced health
professionals. This, combined with a lack of awareness, has seriously limited both access
to and use of quality reproductive health services including family planning (FP). As a
result the country has some of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in Sub-
Saharan Africa.
One of the most important steps the Government of the Republic of South Sudan intends
to take to reduce maternal and infant mortality, in addition to providing emergency
obstetric and neonatal care (EmONC) and promoting skilled birth attendants, is to
strengthen the integration of family planning services with other primary healthcare
services. It is expected that this will contribute to a reduction in the number of deaths of
women and new-borns from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. To this end,
family planning has been made part of the country’s Basic Package of Health and
Services (BPHS) as a critical strategy to ensure that FP is made available to the entire
population throughout the country, particularly at the community level. This will give all
sexually active adults and adolescents, including and families, improved access to FP
services, irrespective of their geographic location or social status.
This Family Planning Policy will provide guidance to all players in the delivery of FP
services, including but not limited to: policy makers, programme managers, health
services administrators at various levels, various cadres of healthcare providers, training
institutions and the civil society. It outlines the service requirements at various levels and
provides a framework upon which the services will be delivered by the different cadres of
health service providers at all levels of care.
In addition to the National Reproductive Health Policy, this FP Policy has been
developed to contribute to the acceleration of efforts aimed at increasing access to, and
utilisation of, FP services in South Sudan. This is in recognition that demands for FP in
the country is high, while contraceptive prevalence remains quite low. There is also
evidence that increased access to FP information and services will have a significant
impact on reducing maternal mortality and morbidity in the country. FP further increases
opportunities for all women who are sexually active to participate in other economic
activities and nation building. It provides opportunities for young women to continue
with their education and achieve their potential in life. FP helps prevent unplanned
pregnancies and unsafe abortion, which is a major cause of maternal deaths and illnesses.