Empty Handed: Responding to the Demand for Contraceptives

About the Project

Empty Handed tells the story of women’s lack of access to reproductive health supplies in sub-Saharan Africa, and its impact on their lives. The film documents the challenges at each level of the supply chain and identifies key areas for improvement. Empty Handed aims to provoke discussion and mobilize support for reproductive health supplies.

Around the world, millions of women and families do not have access to basic contraception. Ensuring consistent access to a wide range of modern contraceptives is central to improving the lives of women. In developing countries, a woman’s lifetime risk of dying due to pregnancy and childbirth is 1 in 75. In sub-Saharan Africa, where fertility rates are some of the highest in the world, the risk of dying is 1 in 22. Responding to the demand for family planning can reduce maternal death and injury, prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and prevent unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion – issues that are especially acute throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Through interviews with women, policymakers and health care workers in Uganda, this film explores the challenges and solutions to funding, procuring, and distributing contraceptives that ultimately impact women, their families and communities.

The Fledgling Fund Impact

The Fledgling Fund is pleased to support this project from Population Action International. The tragedy of lack of access to reproductive health services and supplies is a moral imperative for our generation. We hope that this film continues to move us in the right direction toward a just, safe and healthy world for women.