Reproductive health including family planning

Despite occasional efforts to reverse the consensus articulated in the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), for almost a decade the recommendations contained in this Programme of Action have provided the guiding framework for expanding and reorienting reproductive health programmes in the Asian and Pacific region. Reproductive health in the above-mentioned Programme is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes” (para. 7.2). Reproductive health services are viewed as a basic right through which women and men can express their reproductive choices.