A never-before opportunity to strengthen investment and action on adolescent contraception, and what we must do to make full use of it.

Background: Increasingly, the health and rights of adolescents are being recognized and prioritized on the global agenda. This presents us with a "never-before" opportunity to address adolescent contraception. This is timely, as there are enormous numbers of adolescents who are currently unable to obtain and use contraceptives.

Looking back and moving forward: can we accelerate progress on adolescent pregnancy in the Americas?

Adolescent fertility rates in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) remain unacceptably high, especially compared to the region's declining total fertility rates. The Region has experienced the slowest progress of all regions in the world, and shows major differences between countries and between subgroups in countries. In 2013, LAC was also noted as the only region with a rising trend in pregnancies in adolescents younger than 15 years.