This brief discusses the following points:

• Postpartum women have a high unmet need for family planning (FP).
• Health services often pay little attention to postpartum care, including FP.
• Women who are breastfeeding have special needs when selecting a FP method; however, in the right circumstances, all methods of modern contraception may be used.
• The goals of a postpartum FP program are to: reduce unmet need; improve contraceptive choice; promote optimum health for both mother and baby through breastfeeding; encourage birth spacing of three to five years; and integrate FP with other maternal health and newborn services.
• Contraception is the primary method of reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV.