Until a few months ago, many health facilities across the country faced a critical shortage of family planning products, especially Depo-Provera, a birth control shot, intrauterine devices (IUDs), and condoms, among other things. Health authorities had requested the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for those commodities to address the critical shortage.

Although there is currently no shortage of contraceptives at present in health facilities, officials say existing stocks may not last long since both major aid agencies and the government are reducing the budget for the family planning programmes.

“The Ministry of Health and Population used to allocate Rs250 million to purchase contraceptives, but the ceiling for the next fiscal year [2026-27] has been brought down to Rs170 million,” said Sarmila Dahal, chief of the Family Planning and Reproductive Health Section at the Family Welfare Division under the Department of Health Services.

“Likewise, the UNFPA, which used to provide $3.2 million a year to Nepal, has reduced its budget to $1.06 million for 2026.”

Officials say that the suspension of USAID grants, both to the Health Ministry and to the UN agency, was responsible for the previous shortfall in family planning commodities.

“The UN agency may have other priorities and countries to focus on, which forced it to cut funding,” an official at the Family Welfare Division said, asking not to be named, as he is not authorised to speak on issues related to development partners.”

Officials say they have informed officials at the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Finance about the looming shortage of contraceptives and urged them to allocate more budget. They say that the previous shortage was due to the failure of federal government agencies to purchase them for about 2 years, the appreciation of the US dollar against the Nepali rupee, and inadequate funding.

“We have to purchase family planning funds through multi-year bidding,” said Dahal. “If the budget is not increased, there will be a shortage.”

Experts say that the shortage of family planning commodities and instruments for a long time leads to a rise in unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions.

In Nepal, nearly half of all pregnancies are unintended, and close to two-thirds of them end in abortion, according to a report by the UNFPA.

The UNFPA’s ‘State of World Population 2022’ report, titled “Seeing the Unseen”, says half of the 1.2 million pregnancies in 2017 in Nepal were unintended, and nearly 359,000 ended in abortion.

The report stated that the toll of unintended pregnancies is—and has long been—unseen.

“Although we can estimate healthcare costs, monitor school dropout rates and project levels of workforce attrition due to unintended pregnancies, these only scratch the surface,” the report says. “No number could adequately represent the loss of life, agency and human capital that result from unintended pregnancies.”

Every year, around 100,000 women undergo abortions in Nepal at legally authorised clinics and health facilities. Gynaecologists, however, say the actual number of abortions could be several times the government figure, as many abortions, especially medical ones, go unreported.

The National Demographic Health Survey-2022 shows that 21 percent of currently married women in Nepal have an unmet need for family planning services. Officials said that the demand for contraceptives, including birth control shots in the state-run health facilities, has risen after the USAID funding to private organisations was suspended in January last year.

The government has a commitment to provide contraceptives, including birth control shots, IUDs, and implants free of cost, but its own budget is limited.