KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — A new report says more women in the poorest countries are using modern contraception, signifying progress in efforts to involve women in family planning.

But the report, launched Monday by the U.N.-backed advocacy group FP2020, says many others who want to delay or prevent pregnancy are unable to access contraception, often due to lack of information.

The report says access to modern contraception helped prevent over 119 million unintended pregnancies from July 2017 to July 2018.

Beth Schlachter, executive director of FP2020, told The Associated Press that for poor families to feed themselves and recover from poverty women and girls must be able to decide how many children they want to have.

The report says contraceptive use is growing fastest in Africa even though the region's fertility rates remain high.