Elements of Family Planning Success

The Ministry of Health and its cooperating partners have embarked on a major effort to strengthen the supply chain for essential drugs (ED). This project is implemented by the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) with support from the World Bankfunded Medical Stores Limited (MSL), JSI Logistics Services, and the USG-funded USAID | DELIVER PROJECT.

The Private Sector Partnerships-One (PSP-One) project and the World Health Organization’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research (WHO/RHR) continue to work together in support of increasing access to reproductive health and family planning (RH/FP) through the private health sector in Africa. In December 2006, PSP-One and WHO/RHR co-sponsored a consultation meeting on Public Policy and Reproductive Health Franchising and produced a joint guidance note on the evidence and future direction of private provider networks and franchising of RH/FP services.

In the fall of 2007, the Ministry of Health in Bangladesh faced a severe shortage of condoms in the public sector; countrywide stockouts were very likely. A shipment was underway, but despite negotiated contracts, the supplier made some last minute changes that were unacceptable to the Government of Bangladesh (GoB). While the GoB and the supplier continued to negotiate, the condom supply dwindled.

The intended audience for this handbook includes reproductive health (RH) program managers and government and NGO policy makers. It can be used in countries where ECPs are not currently available, as well as in contexts where the intention is to expand or mainstream access to existing ECP services. The handbook:

- Recognizes the different needs of diverse segments of the population, and places additional emphasis on targeting ECP services to “special groups,” which include rape survivors and adolescents.

This archive constitutes legacy of The ACQUIRE Project and has been designed as a searchable knowledge resource for the reproductive health and family planning (RH/FP) community. It contains a wide range of resources that were developed over the life of the project, at both the global and the country (field) levels. This content reflects the experience of programs from all regions and the outcomes of an extended global-field partnership dedicated to delivering more services to more people in more places.

This paper demonstrates a methodology that Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) ministries of health can easily use to geographically identify and target scarce resources to improve access to family planning. Guatemala was chosen as a case study for implementing the methodology, in large part because of the disparities that exist between its different subpopulations. The results highlight the potential for applying this methodology in other countries in the LAC region.

Contraceptive security is achieved when individuals have the ability to choose, obtain, and use quality contraceptives whenever they need them. The success story, "A Strong Supply Chain Responds to Increased Demand for Contraceptives in Rwanda," highlights how, during the last 10 years, the many changes made by the Rwandan Ministry of Health and its partners (including the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT) led to an increased demand for family planning at the local level.

This Population Reports issue is the flagship publication of the "Elements of Family Planning Success" initiative that identified the top 10 elements most important to the success of family planning programs in coordination with health care professionals from around the world. The report synthesizes online discussions about these elements and highlights program experiences, best practices, and evidence-based guidance derived from nearly six decades in international family planning.

This short publication offers clear suggestions for programme managers to address unmet need for family planning in the face of current political, financial, and health-systems challenges. It also comprises the 25th anniversary issue of Outlook, which since 1983, has synthesized the latest scientific research and evidence on effective reproductive health programming and made it available to programme managers, policymakers, health care providers, researchers, and educators around the world.

The Medical eligibility criteria for contraceptive use – one of the four cornerstones of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) evidence-based family planning guidance – provides evidence-based recommendations on whether an individual can safely use a contraceptive method. This guideline is intended for use by policy-makers, programme managers, and the scientific community in the preparation of national family planning/sexual and reproductive health programmes for delivery of contraceptives.