Ma Yu’s Story: How Family Planning Empowers Women and Transforms Vulnerable Communities

“I work hard every day for my children. I was trying to set aside money to attend to many family needs, but food comes first every day. I just couldn´t afford to look after myself. Then I became pregnant again,” said Ma Yu*, 38, a mother of nine children from Kayin State.

For families living in conflict-affected communities in Kayin State, rising prices have pushed basic needs, and choices, out of reach. Cooking oil gets more expensive, rice supplies deplete quicker, and visits to the clinic —if and when accessible—often require transport costs that most households cannot afford. Free contraceptive services are scarce. Without them, the consequences fall heaviest on women.

Women in these communities speak about birth spacing only by hunger and worry. Ma Yu lives in challenging conditions. Her home, patched with bamboo and tarpaulin, could barely hold her family. “I thought about family planning, but I couldn’t afford it.” Ma Yu had reached her ninth delivery without any savings for safe childbirth or for contraception after childbirth.

During a community outreach visit by Marie Stopes, the field team learned about Ma Yu’s situation. They arranged emergency maternal support so she could deliver her baby safely. Right after childbirth, the mobile team provided her with the family planning method of her choice—a contraceptive implant—free of charge. For Ma Yu, the support did more than cover clinic fees. The financial assistance she had during her delivery helped her reinforce a fragile hut so the newborn and siblings could sleep in better conditions while she recovered.

She had an immense sense of relief. Using the method of her choice, May Yu no longer had to juggle savings for her own reproductive health against food and school costs. “I’m not afraid of another pregnancy,” she says. “For the very first time in my life, I feel like I can control my life and plan for my future.” Stress eased; family routines returned. The change was simple but profound: a safe delivery, a trusted conversation, a reliable method—all at the right time. “

On World Contraception Day, UNFPA, the UN Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency, reaffirms that reproductive rights are human rights—but for women like Ma Yu, crises and financial barriers make them out of reach. Every woman deserves accurate information and access to affordable, quality family planning methods of their choice without fear or judgment. Contraception saves lives, especially in emergencies, and women-centred care must be there for them, precisely in these dire circumstances, respecting her choices.

UNFPA gratefully acknowledges the generous, sustained support for family planning commodities—including Inter-Agency Reproductive Health Kits for emergencies—from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Government of Australia (DFAT), the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

Name changed for privacy.

*This story was originally published on the UNFPA Myanmar website.