Our Work

REASONS TO ACT

Our Reasons To Act

The most effective proven family planning solutions are not reaching the women they were designed for.

There are 164 million women in the world who want to delay or avoid pregnancy but don’t have the information or contraceptives they need to do so (UNDESA, 2022). Many of them live in rural and hard-to-reach areas. 

Lack of choice extinguishes young women’s plans and dreams and can even be a death sentence: Every third maternal death in the world happens in Nigeria (WHO, 2023). Nigerian women are risking death because they can’t choose when to give life.

A Nigerian mother wearing a brown headscarf holds a young child in her arms while looking at the camera, surrounded by other women outdoors.
24%
40,000
200x
8.8 mil
3M
24%
40,000
200x
8.8 mil
3M
of married Nigerian women want contraception but cannot access it
Nigerian women die from pregnancy-related issues each year
How likely a woman in Nigeria is to die in pregnancy or childbirth than a woman in Sweden
Nigerian women with an unmet need for family planning
Unintended pregnancies annually
of married Nigerian women want contraception but cannot access it
Nigerian women die from pregnancy-related issues each year
How likely a woman in Nigeria is to die in pregnancy or childbirth than a woman in Sweden
Nigerian women with an unmet need for family planning
Unintended pregnancies annually

The tragedy is greater because a solution already exists: It’s contraception. There is a range of effective contraceptive options, including DMPA-SC, a modern injectable contraceptive that was introduced over 10 years ago. No one has figured out how to get it to all the women who need it, particularly those living in remote rural areas where the risks and consequences of pregnancy are the highest due to limited healthcare and misconceptions about family planning.

A person holding DMPA-SC, a modern injectable contraceptive

Why Family Planning Matters

Family planning use has a wealth of advantages. 

Economic empowerment

In Nigeria, women’s use of contraception led to a 10–12% increase in doing paid work the following year and a nearly 15% increase in control over use of wages (Guttmacher Institute, 2025).

Icon symbolizing Economic Empowerment

Maternal health

Full provision of contraceptive services and high-quality pregnancy and newborn care can decrease the maternal death rate by 68% in Nigeria (Guttmacher Institute, 2019).

Icon of a pregnant woman symbolizing Maternal Health

Societal benefits

Addressing the unmet need for contraceptives generates on average $120 in annual benefits, including $30-$50 from reduced infant and maternal mortality, and $60-$100 in long-term benefits from economic growth (FP2030, 2018).

Icon symbolizing Societal benefits

Child wellbeing

Reducing unintended pregnancies frees household resources, increasing per-child spending by up to 15 percent. More working mothers, more disposable income, better cared-for children.

Icon symbolizing child wellbeing

More efficient healthcare expenditure

Every $1 invested in modern contraception in LMIC saves $2.48 in maternal, newborn, and abortion care costs (Guttmacher, 2025). 

Icon symbolizing more efficient healthcare expenditure

Family planning saves lives. It is our vision to ensure that every woman and girl has the knowledge, ability and power to choose and use high quality family planning services. 

OUR MODEL

Our Model

We identify left-behind communities with a high unmet need for family planning.

Map of Nigeria with regions marked to represent Lafiya working where there is the most unmet need.
A horizontal bar graph illustrating the level of unmet need, with segments ranging from high to low, where the high end is dark purple and the low end is light pink.

Our Model

We train and supervise governmental health workers called ‘Lafiya Sisters’ in family planning counselling for those communities.

A group photograph of government health workers we call Lafiya Sisters after days of training.
Map of Nigeria with various regions shaded in different shades of gray and white, and white dots concentrated in the northern part of the country.
Lafiya Sisters sitting around a conference table, with some reading pamphlets and others listening to a speaker at the front of the room in a meeting or seminar setting.
A Lafiya Sister holding a microphone and child, sitting on a chair, facing another woman in a training room.
Lafiya Sister in a rural village talking to women, holding diagrams about contraception options.

“Why I like working with Lafiya is that it gives me the opportunity to share awareness of the benefits of family planning with the women in the community even at their homes.”

Ikhlas Yusuf Yakub

Portrait of a Lafiya Sister
Lafiya Sister speaking to a group of women and girls gathered outdoors.
A Lafiya Sister gesturing during a meeting or discussion during Training with other women seated at a table.
A Lafiya Sister giving a presentation in training, with a slide projected behind her titled 'Provide Information to Address Client's Needs and Concerns', showing a list of discussion points.

Our Model

We procure and provide modern contraceptives free of charge.

Lafiya Sisters provide proactive outreach and comprehensive counselling on the full range of contraceptive methods, and access to self-care options such as DMPA-SC. The self-injectable DMPA-SC it is uniquely suited for the cultural and economic context in which we work.

Effective

>99% if used correctly (injections are timely and done in the right part of the body) and 94% effective with typical use.

Context appropriate

Specifically designed for remote, low-resource settings. Doses are compact, discreet, and require no refrigeration.

Long-acting

Each dose prevents pregnancy for three months, which aligns with women’s family spacing preferences.

Our Model

We share data with the government to inform more accurate national projections of contraception demand.

A person's hand writing on a large, printed facility sheet with a blue pen.

In Nigeria, healthcare records are often logged by hand, which keeps helpful data just out of reach.

Lafiya Sisters record healthcare data with our internal digital tool. This way, we can better measure our impact, unmet need, and look for patterns that could help the government or other organisations better support family planning.

A person holding a smartphone displaying a medical questionnaire form about child spacing products, with options including IUD, Implant, SayanaPress, Depo-Provera, Noristerat, Pill, Condom, and None.
line
PATH TO SCALE

OUR PATH TO SCALE

We scale by working with governments to execute, pay and take ownership of the model.

We get states to commit budget to family planning by matching with philanthropy, increasing the available budget for family planning commodities.

IMPACT

Our Impact

Rapid impact with Government Engagement

In just four years since our founding, we have achieved early wins and milestones that validate our model and impact.

We have signed two cost-sharing agreements with Sokoto and Kebbi state governments, where they start co-paying for contraceptive products. This is a huge step towards sustainable health financing! In 2026, we target to launch more cost-sharing partnerships with state governments.

*updated as of March 2026

Number of Doses Distributed Per Quarter, 2023-2025

Field Study

Lafiya increased uptake of modern contraception from 2% to 56% in only 8 months, and to 72% at 18-month follow up

Line graph showing contraceptive uptake increase in Lafiya program areas with treatment and comparison groups over baseline, midline, and endline. Lafiya treatment group shows higher increase.

This was based on an evaluation with a difference-in-differences design conducted in Sokoto state from 2024-2025. This represents a statistically significant 39 percentage point increase over the counterfactual (what we can assume would happen without Lafiya if other health system activities continued).

Our data shows that we are reaching women whom the health system was not, and changing their behaviour:

A pie chart

83%

of women report
continuous usage

A pie chart

48%

of users are first time ever contraceptive users

Impact Stories

  • Gambo, from Kano, is dressed in a pink hijab and braiding the hair of her child.

    Gambo (33), Kano

    Gambo (33) told the Lafiya Sister in her community: ‘I'm good at braiding hair and wanted to open a salon. Because I was often pregnant, I couldn't focus on work.” She states: “My husband advised me against family planning because he was afraid of the high recurring costs of the injections. Thanks to the Lafiya Sisters, I was able to convince him to try it. I finally started my own home salon and already have regular clients. I can take better care of my children without worrying about them not having enough to eat.’’

  • Hauwa'u

    Hauwa’u (21), Kebbi

    Hauwa’u already has six children. She gave birth to her first child at age 15. She told Amina, the Lafiya Sister: “During my sixth pregnancy, I became very weak, sick, and tired of life. My parents live far away in another community, so I had no family support. I usually gave birth at home; during my sixth birth, the placenta did not come out. The traditional birth attendant gave me herbs, believing it would help, but nothing worked. My situation became critical. When Amina came to my village, my life changed. For the first time in my life, I am no longer afraid of getting pregnant every year. My body is resting, and my health is getting better. I became friends with Amina, and she taught me how to knit local Hausa caps to earn some extra income for my family.”

  • Group of women laughing together while handling crops.

    Bilkisu (47), Halima (37), and Zuwaire (30), Jigawa State

    When Malam got increasingly worried about feeding his 21 children, he asked the Lafiya Sister in his community for help. Bilkisu (47), Halima (37), and Zuwaire (30) live in Jigawa State. They are Malam’s co-wives. Between them, they have 21 children. Upon learning that the Lafiya Sister could distribute contraceptives for free, he called his three wives to join the conversation. All three women shared that they used to become pregnant again before their newborn had even stopped breastfeeding, and it took a toll on their bodies.

    Bilkisu, Halima, and Zuwaire were excited to try out the injectable DMPA-SC and adopted it immediately during the visit. Zuwaire says: “We now have a chance to focus more on our small business: making brooms to sell to families for their households.”

Contraceptive is cost-effective

Family planning is an extremely cost-effective way to save lives (GiveWell). Lafiya’s model of delivering this solution is $7/year, well-below the cost-effectiveness benchmark of $20/year stated in this report.

Analysis shows that our model could reach 42x the cost-effectiveness of cash transfers by late 2026.

In more Detail

Theory of Change

Theory of Change graphic
REPORTS

Our Reports

Our 2024 Annual Report

2024 Annual Report Cover

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Past Reports