Strengthening Contraceptive Security for Long-Acting and Permanent Methods :
Briefs
Improving and Sustaining Contraceptive Security in Tanzania (Project Brief No. 20)
For contraceptive security to exist (i.e., when people are able to choose, obtain, and use the contraceptive methods and services they desire from among a full range of methods), three basic elements are needed at a service delivery point: contraceptives themselves; necessary medical equipment, instruments, and supplies; and trained staff. EngenderHealth’s COPE® for Contraceptive Security was tested in Newala and Meru districts in Tanzania, to document its impact on districts’ and facilities’ capacity to forecast, budget, requisition, and manage their inventory and to test the tool’s effectiveness in increasing access to all family planning methods. The tool helped facility staff to identify and resolve challenges to contraceptive security. Its use both increased contraceptive availability at the participating facilities and boosted providers’ and clients’ confidence that methods would be available.
Available in
English (PDF, 3.3 MB)
Breaking Down Barriers to Contraceptive Choice in the Public Health Sector in Burkina Faso and Togo (Project Brief No. 19)
Married women in Burkina Faso and Togo have very low rates of contraceptive use (particularly long-acting methods) and comparatively high rates of unmet need for family planning. Between 2010 and 2013, the RESPOND Project worked to build public-sector capacity in Burkina Faso and Togo to overcome barriers to contraceptive choice. The Ministry of Health in each country received technical assistance to strengthen the supply of family planning services, foster an enabling environment, and cultivate demand for services. Access to a wide range of methods increased dramatically in the areas of the intervention. Clients came in large numbers for long-acting methods: By the end of the intervention, facilities in the two countries had provided more than twice as many implants per month as they had in the same month of the prior year.
Available in
English (PDF, 3.5 MB)
Using a Quality Improvement Approach to Improve Contraceptive Security in Tanzania (Project Brief No. 14)
The Tanzanian health ministry has made great strides toward achieving contraceptive security at the national and regional levels, but contraceptive security is weaker at lower-level health facilities, due to stock-outs of contraceptives and their related supplies, as well as human resource constraints. RESPOND developed a variation of EngenderHealth’s COPE® tools and approach focused on contraceptive security, with self-assessment guides and facility checklists to guide facility staff in thinking through all of the necessary elements to support contraceptive security. An assessment showed that COPE for Contraceptive Security was an effective and low-resource intervention to mobilize facility staff to identify and to begin to resolve challenges to contraceptive security.
Available in
English (PDF, 3.4 MB)
Building the Capacity of IPPF Affiliates in West Africa: Use of a New Tool for Program Assessment (Project Brief No. 5)
Although some African countries have seen substantial increases in family planning use, relatively few people in many francophone West African countries use modern methods. This project brief describes technical assistance provided by the RESPOND Project to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) member associations (MAs) in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Togo to strengthen their provision of long-acting family planning methods. Specifically, through the use of an Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool, the MAs appraised key programming components, systems, and functions at the organizational level and developed an overview of their organizational strengths and weaknesses that will serve as a starting point for planning to improve their capacity to offer access to a greater variety of family planning methods.
Available in
English (PDF, 3.2 MB) and French (PDF, 3.0 MB)
Kenyan Family Planning Providers Leverage Local Resources to Train Their Peers on Long-Acting and Permanent Methods (Project Brief No. 4)
In response to declining use of long-acting and permanent methods (LA/PMs) in Kenya, the Ministry of Health's Department of Reproductive Health asked the RESPOND Project to help them implement their strategy for improving the uptake of LA/PMs in the family planning program. RESPOND implemented an innovative approach designed to quickly and sustainably increase the number of providers prepared to offer LA/PMs, while fostering ownership and sustainability by leveraging local resources for training. As a result, at the facilities where providers were trained, family planning clients adopted 25 times more implants and seven times more IUDs in May 2011 than in May 2010.
Available in
English (PDF, 3.5 MB)