Data
How might we encourage the FP/RH workforce to share knowledge with each other? Particularly when it comes to sharing failures, people are hesitant. This post summarizes Knowledge SUCCESS’s recent assessment to capture and measure information-sharing behavior and intention among a sample of FP/RH and other global health professionals based in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Earlier this year, the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC) and Mann Global Health published “Landscaping Supply Side Factors to Menstrual Health Access.” This post breaks down the key findings and recommendations in the report. It talks about ways that donors, governments, and others can ensure access to menstrual health supplies for all who need them.
IBP partners are using StoryMaps to visualize and share family planning program adaptations driven by COVID-19.
Addressing obstacles to contraceptive continuation: The PACE project’s policy brief, Best Practices for Sustaining Youth Contraceptive Use, explores the unique patterns and drivers of contraceptive discontinuation among youth based on a new analysis of Demographic and Health Survey and Service Provision Assessment data. Key findings and recommendations include policy and program strategies to address obstacles to contraceptive continuation among young women who wish to prevent, delay, or space pregnancies.
Although there are more than 60 million additional users of modern contraception in the FP2020 focus countries as compared to 2012, our agenda remains unfinished, with quality family planning information and services not yet reaching many of those with the greatest need. To reach women, girls, and their partners equitably, we need to know who faces the greatest disadvantage.
Community health workers (CHWs) used digital health technology to advance access to family planning care at the community level. CHWs are a critical component of any strategy to bring health services closer to people. The piece calls on policy makers and technical advisors to sustain investments in the digitization of community health programs to reduce unmet need for family planning.
Injectables are the most popular family planning method in Uganda but, until recently, were offered only by community health workers and at health facilities and hospitals. In contrast, the country’s 10,000 drug shops, which provide greater access in hard-to-reach rural areas, were authorized to supply only short-acting, nonprescription methods. FHI 360 supported the government of Uganda in training drug shop operators to offer injectables as well.
This article features key insights from one of the authors of a recent study, which examined standardizing measurement of contraceptive use among unmarried women. The study found that sexual recency (the last time women report being sexually active) is an important indicator to determine unmet need and contraceptive prevalence among unmarried women, but not among married women.
The open birth interval reveals a pattern that varies by a woman’s age, the number of living children she has, her residence, and her socioeconomic level. More importantly, the open interval could reveal a lot about her reproductive behavior, status, and contraceptive needs.
On the supply side, we may be able to monitor availability of family counselors and contraceptives to meet needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. But what of the demand side? How can we monitor shifts in women’s family planning needs and preferences in light of the social and economic shocks they are facing due to the pandemic?
Listen to “Inside the FP Story”
Grab a cup of coffee or tea and listen in on honest conversations with family planning program experts around the world as they share what has worked in their settings — and what to avoid — in our podcast series, Inside the FP Story.
Click on the image above to visit the podcast page or on your preferred provider below to listen to Inside the FP Story.
