The lack of global specifications for safe and non-toxic personal lubricants led UNFPA and partners to develop guidance for professionals who produce, procure and distribute these products for reproductive health programmes.

This publication presents the World Health Organization/United Nations Population Fund specifications for plain lubricants to be used with male and female condoms, and addresses issues raised in the global consultation on personal lubricants convened by UNFPA, as well as key concepts and terminology.

An estimated 121 million pregnancies per year take place in the bodies of women who did not choose pregnancy or motherhood, who were not planning to have a child at that time, with that partner, in those circumstances. Nothing is more fundamental to bodily autonomy than the ability to decide whether or not to become pregnant. Yet for too many, the most life-altering reproductive choice is no choice at all.