REVIEW Open Access Preconception care: promoting reproductive planning

Introduction: Preconception care recognizes that many adolescent girls and young women will be thrust into motherhood without the knowledge, skills or support they need. Sixty million adolescents give birth each year worldwide, even though pregnancy in adolescence has mortality rates at least twice as high as pregnancy in women aged 20-29 years. Reproductive planning and contraceptive use can prevent unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and sexually-transmitted infections in adolescent girls and women. Smaller families also mea