60, 000 abortions recorded in Jan-Jul 2009 - Director of National Maternity and Childhood Center

"Every third woman in Kazakhstan uses contraceptives. Every tenth couple uses inefficient methods of contraception. The main reason of this is women's low awareness of contraception. In regions the index of awareness of the contraception makes 23%-32%", she said. 

For instance, the level of people's awareness of contraception in Poland is around 19%, while in Great Britain this index comprises 81%.

About 80 000 000 women face the problem of unwanted pregnancy worldwide due to ineffective or improperly used contraception or no contraception at all. 20 000 000 of them make abortions, experts say.

As for the situation in Kazakhstan, 123, 000 abortions were recorded in 2008. In Jan-July 2009 this figure made 60, 000. Earlier the number of abortions in Kazakhstan hit 133 000 per year. However, in comparison with the European countries, the number of women of reproductive age in Kazakhstan is 4-5 times higher.

"The issues of contraception to date should be considered as an alternative to abortions and unplanned pregnancy", T. Ukybassova noted.

The World Contraception Day has been marked worldwide since 2007. This is an annual multi-national global campaign initiated by the coalition of international non-governmental organizations. 70 countries are expected to take part in the campaign this year.