These Pakistani Women Are Helping To Make Birth Control Much More Accessible

Women in rural Pakistan can't always find readily accessible birth control, so one organization is bringing the contraceptives to them. 

According to a recent piece by The Guardian, Pakistan's Health and Nutrition Development Society (HANDS), which heads the Marginalized Area Reproductive Health Viable Initiative, sends groups of women ages 18 to 40 to villages that lack access to government health care facilities.

The women, called Marvi workers, provide general health services and sell various types of contraceptives door-to-door. They also educate women about birth spacing, which emphasizes the importance of waiting between pregnancies for the health of the mother and has gained approval from some Islamic leaders.

Family planning among Pakistani women has not yet become widespread, due in part to cultural and religious obstacles. In 2012 and 2013 only about 26 percent of married women reported using a "modern method" of contraception, a statistic that is likely linked to the country's fertility rate of 3.8 births per woman.

But Pakistan's fertility rate is on the decline, and thanks to the diligence of HANDS' Marvi workers, accessing birth control just got a little easier. 

Check out the video above to learn more. 

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