Since the mid-1990s, as growing numbers of Governments have expressed concern about adolescent fertility, the number of Governments with policies and programmes to reduce adolescent fertility has also risen in both more and less developed regions, as well as across major world regions, with the exception of Northern America where both Canada and the United States of America have had such policies and programmes since 1996. These developments have occurred in an environment of rapid technological innovation and societal change in which increasing availability of and access to a range of effective contraceptive methods have been critical in reducing fertility and improving reproductive and child health. Moreover, having information and access to safe and effective methods of family planning is part of reproductive rights.