Family Planning

The integration of family planning (FP) and HIV services improves sexual and reproductive health outcomes by providing both services under one programmatic umbrella. This type of integration refers to the delivery of health services, and it is a subset of closely related but broader linkages between family planning and HIV policies, funding, programs, and advocacy. [from authors]

WHO policy brief that includes recommended policy and program actions for expanding access to Family Planning.

[T]oday, more than 222 million women in developing countries want to delay or stop childbearing but lack access to an effective method of contraception. For these women and their families, FHWs could serve as an invaluable resource, providing education, counseling, and other essential family planning services within their local communities. [adapted from introduction]

This report presents the findings from a qualitative study conducted in January 2014 in Lango and Teso regions of Uganda among Arise Project beneficiaries and service providers. The purpose of the study was to elicit in-depth perspectives and
experiences about the effectiveness of Arise interventions and suggest ways for improving future interventions in the target districts. [from summary]

Sub-Saharan Africa is burdened by high rates of unintended pregnancy and HIV. Yet little is known about the relationship between these two health risks in the region. Understanding the associations between HIV status and pregnancy decision making may benefit strategies to reduce unintended pregnancy. [from abstract]

The purpose of this program guide is to assist readers in thinking through a successful and efficient plan for [Family Planning and Antiretroviral Therapy] service integration, but the principles apply for integrating core and additional services, whatever they may be.[adapted from background]

A facility-based endline survey was conducted as part of a program evaluation to assess the Arise—Enhancing HIV Prevention for At-Risk-Populations project in Uganda. The base
line and endline surveys used the same approach, interviewing women aged 15–49 years who
sought HIV care and treatment at a sample of health facilities covered by Arise. [adapted from summary]

After providing a brief introduction about the outcomes of the pilot phase as well as goals and outcomes of national scale up, this article provides lessons learned about how to successfully scale up health interventions. [from introduction]

This article describes the value of applying modern [Quality Improvement] methods to improve service quality and to facilitate the integration of health services in a resource-constrained setting. [from introduction]

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of serving physicians and midwives on the quantity and quality of family planning services in the healthcare centers of Iran. [from abstract]

This study evaluated the effect of a program that trained community health nurses and relocated them to the community to provide door-to-door services on the level of male involvement in family planning services. [adapted from author]

This article documents the intervention package and evaluation design of a study conducted in a rural district of Bangladesh to evaluate the effects of an integrated, community-based maternal and neonatal health and postpartum family planning program on contraceptive use and birth-interval lengths.

The authors evaluated the effectiveness of a training for facility-based health care providers, managers, and medical college faculty members that offered client-centered family planning services, including a module to explain the Islamic viewpoint on family planning. [adapted from abstract]

High levels of unmet need for family planning and high contraceptive discontinuation rates persist in Jordan, prompting the initiation a client-centered family planning service program with community-based activities to encourage women with unmet need to visit health centers, which was evaluated in this study. [adapted from abstract]

This study investigated the reasons for poor implementation of the legal abortion policy in Ghana using Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucracy to better understand how providers shape and implement policy and how provider-level barriers might be overcome. [from abstract]

This study aimed to determine whether training of providers participating in franchise clinic networks is associated with increased family planning service use among low-income urban families in Pakistan.

This technical brief presents findings from a study that explored if and how health workforce measures differ between eastern and western Africa, in an effort to identify factors that may have helped some countries to achieve important gains in contraceptive prevalence while other countries have not.

This interview with Shaheen Hussain of Pakistan tells the story of how she became a field-based health educator with a social franchise of private reproductive health care providers and is a testimony of how this program not only touches the lives of the women who receive the reproductive health services but also of the health educators themselves.

This toolkit contains resources to help policy makers, program managers, service providers, and other audiences improve access to and quality of community-based family planning services. [from publisher]

This paper from the International Conference on ICT for Africa reports on a mobile phone application designed to support community health workers in providing family planning counseling to their clients. [from abstract]

The objective of this study was to determine if, with appropriate training, volunteers known as community-based reproductive health agents can administer injectable contraceptives to women in a rural region of Ethiopia with the same effectiveness, safety and acceptability as health extension workers. [from author]

This resource contains curriculum components and tools needed to design, implement, and evaluate training. It offers essential resources for family planning and reproductive health trainers, supervisors, and program managers. The entire package is designed to support up-to-date training on family planning and reproductive health.

Focusing on the demand-side (governments and donors) of contracting out with the private sector, the primer describes the concept of contracting out, discusses its rationale and process, and summarizes three cases of contracting out programs. [from summary]

This primer aims to provide clear lessons and recommendations to help service delivery organizations
and program managers establish, implement, and strengthen contracting arrangements. The primer draws on Marie
Stopes International’s experience of delivering government-contracted services in Bangladesh, India, and South
Africa. [from summary]

Lack of access to quality reproductive health services is the main contributor to the high maternal mortality and morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa. This is partly due to a shortage of qualified and experienced health care providers. However this article explores conscientious objection amongst the available few as a hitherto undocumented potential factor influencing access to health care. [from abstract]

Governments and the global health community are increasingly paying attention to maximizing and measuring impact through service delivery integration efforts in family planning/HIV service integration. This technical brief assesses the evidence on the role of health workers in the integration of family planning and HIV services and discusses key health worker considerations when integrating these services. [from publisher]

This technical brief presents a project in Ethiopia focused on scaling-up efforts in underserved rural communities to enable access to long-acting family planning at the village level through task-shifting to Ethiopia’s health extension worker cadre. [adapted from author]

This literature review attempted to evaluate the evidence base on the use of task-shifting between community health workers and mid-level providers to increase access to family planning and reproductive health. [adapted from author]

This presentation introduces the Africa Christian Health Association (CHA) Platform, CHA health service coverage; challenges to family planning services; and opportunities and strategies for scaling up family planning and reproductive health services through CHA health workers. [adapted from author]

This brief outlines collaborations with Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faith-based organizations (FBOs) to expand family planning options to underserved populations while helping FBOs increase services to their communities. [from author]