Family planning science and practice lessons from the 2018 International Conference on Family Planning.

Since 2009, the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) has served as an opportunity for the global reproductive health community to share FP advances and practice lessons in the areas of research, programming, and advocacy. The purpose of this paper was to synthesize the key results and findings presented by members of the FP community at the 2018 ICFP Conference. More than 700 abstracts from all 15 conference tracks were reviewed and 64 abstracts total were selected for this paper based on the novelty and urgency of the findings. The content analysis of conference abstracts were grouped into six final thematic areas. 1 . FP continues to face a shortage of funding. Domestically based and locally owned funding models provide alternative financing solutions. 2) Various populations still face challenges in accessing FP. Youth-inclusive and user-centered programming show promise in addressing such challenges. 3) Unsafe abortions tend to be more common among younger, poor, uneducated and rural women. Legislation is still needed to facilitate a culture of safe abortions. 4) Couples who share equitable responsibility in decision-making processes are more likely to use contraceptives; couple disagreement influences women's decisions to covertly use FP. 5) Male champions can successfully promote uptake of FP. Gender-transformative programming promotes gender equity and impacts behavior change. 6) Recent advances include user-centered contraceptive technologies that allow for self-administration and information systems which optimize supply chain management. The research, advocacy, and programmatic abstracts at ICFP 2018 highlighted research advances, showcased implementation science wins, and provided evidence of critical knowledge gaps in global FP access and use.