Britain will save the lives of thousands of women by providing urgently needed contraceptive supplies, International Development Minister Stephen O’Brien announced today ahead of the International Conference on Family Planning in Senegal.

Britain’s support with these contraceptives will prevent more than 2 million unintended pregnancies and avert nearly 220,000 unsafe abortions, many of which result in life-threatening complications such as severe bleeding and organ damage.

Stephen O’Brien said the funding for the UN’s Population Fund (UNFPA) will provide at least 1.6 million implants for women across the developing world so that they can decide for themselves whether, when and how many children to have.

It will ensure women in countries such as Mali, where the prevalence of contraception is only 8% compared with 82% in Britain, receive implants, which are long-acting but reversible methods of birth control.