The International Planned Parenthood Federation in the Americas and the Caribbean (IPPF ACRO), made up of 30 organizations in 29 countries, met in Mexico City with a common goal: to co-create strategies to advance access to sexual and reproductive health services and advance laws and public policies that guarantee comprehensive wellbeing and lives free of discrimination and violence for all people.

Together they are an impressive force in this sector. In 2023 alone, IPPF ACRO provided more than 17 million sexual and reproductive health services, including safe abortion procedures, fertility care and sexual and gender-based violence, and invested millions of dollars in the region.

Globally, IPPF, a 72-year-old organisation, is active in 152 countries. In 70% of them, we are the leading provider of sexual and reproductive health services. As Teresa Alarcón, executive director of Colectivo Rebeldía, IPPF's Collaborative Partner in Bolivia, says: ‘In the face of the advance of hate speech and regression in public policies and laws, IPPF's work in Bolivia is not only a matter of the future, but also of the future of our country:

‘It is our agendas that are connected to life, dignity and happiness and it is our organisations and movements that work for lives free from violence, for the right to health, for autonomy, for a more just world, where all people can live healthy and fulfilled lives.

‘The organizations that come together in IPPF ACRO bring sexual and reproductive health to people directly every day, they are experts in their contexts not only in health, but in social and legal aspects,’ said Eugenia Lopez Uribe, director of IPPF's Americas and Caribbean office. ‘This week, we are meeting to bring what we have learned this year, to exchange common ground, both achievements and challenges, and to strategize on advancing access to safe abortion, the adoption of comprehensive sexuality education programmes, gender-sensitive mitigation of the climate crisis, and funding to advance this key agenda. In addition, ‘we will do so with populations hard hit by the absence of sexual and reproductive rights, such as youth, women living with HIV and transgender people.’

This is very important work considering the current situation: 18 million women in Latin America have an unmet need for modern contraception, even though, in terms of investment, it is more efficient to meet that need than the consequences of lack of access to it. Moreover, 1,500 hospitals specialising in maternal health and family planning are in coastal areas prone to natural hazards, which will further impede access to them in the face of the growing climate crisis.

In addition, only 7% of the Sustainable Development Goals are on track, highlighting the lack of attention and investment that governments around the world and the region have put into ending inequalities and leaving no one behind. IPPF in the region works as a priority to advance access to safe abortion, the adoption of comprehensive sexuality education programmes, gender-sensitive mitigation of the climate crisis and funding to advance this key agenda. And to achieve this, they partner with key populations to connect lessons learned with the direct needs of groups such as youth, women living with HIV and transgender people.