The aim of the family planning and comprehensive abortion care (FP and CAC) competencies for the primary health care workforce is to advance improvements in FP and CAC service delivery by aligning health worker education approaches with population health needs and health system demands. This document, which describes these competencies in detail, is intended to: describe competencies that are relevant to current and future health practice; and enable widespread use of the competencies for curriculum development, for pre-service education, but also for in-service education, regulation, qualifications, quality assurance, personal development, performance evaluation, recruitment, management and career progression. The competencies can be used in many ways by the following target audiences: health workers and their managers, educators, policy makers and regulators. The most relevant uses for these FP and CAC competencies will be: to define the learning outcomes/objectives for education and training, to design curriculum and learning activities and to help identify learning needs/gaps (both knowledge and hands-on techniques), whether in the context of pre-service curricula, on-the-job training, or when working towards further qualifications; as performance standards for recruitment, compiling job descriptions, performance appraisal, and for optimizing roles within the health workforce.

This document is the third volume of the Toolkit on family planning and comprehensive abortion care for the primary health care workforce. The toolkit aims to enhance the capacities of the primary health care (PHC) workforce in terms of their competencies to provide family planning (FP) and comprehensive abortion care (CAC) services and thus to enhance the quality of care provided to women and girls. This volume is meant to be used by all stakeholders involved in developing, implementing and assessing competencies in the provision of FP and CAC services. These stakeholders can include health service practitioners, managers and regulators; educators and health- and education-related policy-makers; and multilateral agencies and civil society organizations supporting health- and education-related initiatives.

The Programme and curriculum development guidance presents a systematic approach to developing programmes and curricula for implementation of the family planning (FP) and comprehensive abortion care (CAC) competencies, and the theory behind the approach. Specifically, the aim is for effective implementation of these competencies in the context of pre-service education and training, post-graduate studies and continuing professional development (CPD). This guidance is designed for programme and curriculum developers who are preparing or revising formal education and training programmes and curricula for the FP and CAC workforce. This guide proposes a new FP and CAC Educational Design Model for programme and curriculum development (PCD). This model can support competency-based education (CBE) for current and future FP and CAC services, with a pre-service training pathway of at least 12 months, and can also support in-service training. With this guide, various instruments have been developed to operationalize each step of the programme and curriculum development.

The United Nations Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction, known as the Human Reproduction Programme or HRP, has been providing the world with research findings and guidance on sexual health and reproduction (SRH) for more than half a century. This annual report highlights the programme’s key achievements in 2023, and points to major ongoing research that will be completed in the next few years.

At a UN General Assembly Special Session in 1999, governments recognised unsafe abortion as a major public health concern, and pledged their commitment to reduce the need for abortion through expanded and improved family planning services, as well as ensure abortion services should be safe and accessible. This technical and policy guidance provides a comprehensive overview of the many actions that can be taken in health systems to ensure that women have access to good quality abortion services as allowed by law.

Abortion is a legal medical procedure that has been provided to millions of American women. Since the Institute of Medicine first reviewed the health implications of national legalized abortion in 1975, there has been a plethora of related scientific research, including well-designed randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews, and epidemiological studies examining abortion care. This research has focused on examining the relative safety of abortion methods and the appropriateness of methods for different clinical circumstances. With this growing body of research, earlier abortion methods have been refined, discontinued, and new approaches have been developed. The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States offers a comprehensive review of the current state of the science related to the provision of safe, high-quality abortion services in the United States. This report considers 8 research questions and presents conclusions, including gaps in research.

The evaluation of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) by the Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3) focuses on maternal conditions, childhood illness, and malnutrition. Specifically, the chapters address acute illness and undernutrition in children, principally under age 5. It also covers maternal mortality, morbidity, stillbirth, and influences to pregnancy and pre-pregnancy. Volume 3 focuses on developments since the publication of DCP2 and will also include the transition to older childhood, in particular, the overlap and commonality with the child development volume. The DCP3 evaluation of these conditions produced three key findings: 1. There is significant difficulty in measuring the burden of key conditions such as unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, nonsexually transmitted infections, infertility, and violence against women. 2. Investments in the continuum of care can have significant returns for improved and equitable access, health, poverty, and health systems. 3. There is a large difference in how RMNCH conditions affect different income groups; investments in RMNCH can lessen the disparity in terms of both health and financial risk.

Children are the foundation of the United States, and supporting them is a key component of building a successful future. However, millions of children face health inequities that compromise their development, well-being, and long-term outcomes, despite substantial scientific evidence about how those adversities contribute to poor health. Advancements in neurobiological and socio-behavioral science show that critical biological systems develop in the prenatal through early childhood periods, and neurobiological development is extremely responsive to environmental influences during these stages. Consequently, social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors significantly affect a child's health ecosystem and ability to thrive throughout adulthood. Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity builds upon and updates research from Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity (2017) and From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development (2000). This report provides a brief overview of stressors that affect childhood development and health, a framework for applying current brain and development science to the real world, a roadmap for implementing tailored interventions, and recommendations about improving systems to better align with our understanding of the significant impact of health equity.

The Clinical practice handbook for safe abortion care is intended to facilitate the practical application of the clinical recommendations from the second edition of Safe abortion: technical and policy guidance for health systems (World Health Organization [WHO] 2012). While legal, regulatory, policy and service-delivery contexts may vary from country to country, the recommendations and best practices described in both of these documents aim to enable evidence-based decision-making with respect to safe abortion care.