While her husband holds their youngest child, Twesigye Christente waits to receive a long-acting contraceptive at the Kinaaba Health Center II. Photo: UNFPA/Omar Gharzeddine

This week Uganda held its first national family planning conference in Kampala. This is particularly significant because family planning has not always been pressing on the agenda of Uganda’s longtime president, Yoweri Museveni. In fact, under Museveni’s 30 year leadership, Uganda’s population more than doubled from 1986 until 2012. Museveni has traditionally advocated for a large population that he believed could boost economic growth for Uganda. But during this week’s family planning conference Museveni changed his stance on women’s right to space their pregnancies saying, “Although I advocate for a big population, I have realised that a poor quality population cannot transform the country.”

Family planning has gained worldwide traction since the London Family Planning Summit held in July 2012. At the summit, Uganda committed to decreasing its unmet need for family planning services by 40 percent and increasing its budget for family planning by 30 percent from $3.3 million USD to $5 million USD. By 2022, Uganda wants its unmet need for family planning services to reach 10 percent. Right now Uganda’s unmet need for family planning services hovers around 34 percent.

Uganda has extensive work to do in order to reach its summit commitments, but this week’s national family planning conference signals to the world that it government leaders have amassed enough political will to put family planning on its national agenda and to be held accountable for its public goals.

Read more about Uganda’s first family planning conference at health.go.ug/FPconferenceuganda.