Read These Incredible Stories Of How Contraception Is Changing The Lives Of Women In Tanzania & Uganda

Today marks the sixth International Day of the Girl, the initiative set up by the UN to address the issues around the world that are preventing girls from living "safe, educated and healthy lives".

"Girls have the potential to change the world," the UN says. "Both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, and political leaders."

To celebrate today, the UK Department for International Development has released some incredible photos of young women from Tanzania and Uganda who are sharing what the UK's commitment to getting contraception to 20 million vulnerable women around the world, every year, has meant to them.

“For millions of girls in the poorest countries, becoming a teenager means the end of freedom," says International Development Secretary Priti Patel. "Too often girls are taken out of school to be married and forced to have children while they are still children themselves. It should not be this way."

Read on to find out how getting access to contraception has changed the lives of six women.