“Pressures resulting from unrestrained population growth put demands on the natural world that can overwhelm any efforts to achieve a sustainable future. If we are to halt the destruction of our environment, we must accept limits to that growth.”
-World Scientists' Warning to Humanity, signed by 1600 senior scientists from 70 countries, including 102 Nobel Prize laureates

Family Planning and Environmental Sustainability Hand-in-Hand

Making modern birth control methods accessible to all women who wish to avoid pregnancy would lead to 21 million fewer unplanned births, 46 million fewer abortions (of which more than half are unsafe) and 70,000 fewer pregnancy-related deaths each year.

CHAT's main focus is our unique initiative of holistic family planning, integrating a strong component of ecological awareness and sensitization (Population Health and Environment Approach). Our success in this area has dramatically improved the quality of life for thousands of Kenyan women and, by extension, their families, their communities, and their environment.  By reducing population pressures, indigenous flora and fauna are able to thrive, reducing risks to endangered and vulnerable species such as the African elephant, lion, cheetah, African wild dog, Black rhino, Grevy's zebra, and many kinds of birds and insects

Provision of accessible and affordable family planning is a true cost-saving intervention.  Its benefits include:

• Numbers of unskilled abortions and infanticides due to unwanted pregnancies decline; East Africa has the highest unskilled abortion rate per capita in the world*.

• Child/infant mortality declines; children born three to five years apart are 2.5 times more likely to survive than children born two years apart.
• Fewer girls drop out of school on account of unwanted pregnancies.
• Mitigates incidents of domestic violence and mental health issues
  
• Natural resources can be distributed more equitably; a smaller family puts less pressure on a country's resources and tillable land.
  
• Water sources are able to remain plentiful.

• Degraded environment is given a chance to recover.

• Human conflict over pasture reduces.
• Human-wildlife conflict eases.
• An overall healthier and wealthier socio-economic environment emerges, a win-win solution to poverty.

When women are empowered decision-makers in their families, they spend more resources on their children's nutrition, healthcare and education. Involving men in family planning can lead to changes in gender norms. Empowering women in many ways, including their ability to achieve their desired family size, is a key driver of modern development efforts.

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​Kenya’s population is increasing by approximately one million every year. Scary.