Elements of Family Planning Success

Plan International implemented the Forest Region Sustainable Community-Based Reproductive and Sexual Health Project, a 3.5-year intervention to increase knowledge and use of family planning in five prefectures of Guinea's forest region. In partnership with the Association Guinenne pour le Bien-Etre Familiale (AGBEF), Plan International used a community-based approach that included recruiting and training nearly 800 community-based services agents to offer information, some modern methods, and referrals to women, men, and couples in the project zone.

This series is produced by the Health, Nutrition, and Population Family (HNP) of the World
Bank's Human Development Network. The papers in this series aim to provide a vehicle for
publishing preliminary and unpolished results on HNP topics to encourage discussion and
debate. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of
the author(s) and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, to its affiliated
organizations or to members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent.

We investigate the association between maternal mortality and demographic, programmatic, and socioeconomic factors using longitudinal data on nearly 143,000 pregnancy outcomes during 1982-2002 from the Matlab Demographic Surveillance System. Among the four “toos” that are commonly believed to increase maternal mortality risk – too young, too short an interval, too many children, and too old -- only too old is found to be a significant risk factor. Controlling for gravidity, women under age 25 have the lowest risk of maternal mortality, which then increases sharply with age.

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.

This new policy brief from the Population Reference Bureau highlights five “next generation” contraceptives, each of which offers one or more advantages over similar earlier methods. These innovations are among those expected to enter the market within five years and can assist country programs to make contraception more accessible and attractive to women and couples.

A new policy brief from the Population Reference Bureau looks at the effects of long-term investment in an integrated family planning and maternal and child health program. Drawing on research and data that spans more than 30 years, the evidence reinforces the importance of sustained investment in reproductive health programs, showing that families in communities where the program was implemented became wealthier and healthier than families who lived in other, similar communities.

The pilot was designed using ACQUIRE’s FP-ART integration framework, which outlines five levels of integrating FP into HIV services. Facilities can choose from the levels, and can add to them progressively, depending on their capabilities and resource (Farrell, 2007). TASO/M integrated to Level C. It provides four modern FP methods—condoms (already offered for HIV/STI prevention), oral contraceptives, injectables, and emergency contraceptive pills—along with referrals for long-acting and permanent methods (LAPMs) to the Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, located a few yards from TASO/M.

On May 12th, ACCESS-FP hosted a meeting on the topic of "Postpartum Family Planning: Sharing Experiences, Lessons Learned and Tools for Programming." Presentations from the meeting are now available on our website.

A report from the meeting will be available in the next month. Most of the documents distributed during the meeting as well as a number of other PPFP related tools are resources are available in our new "PPFP Toolkit" that can be accessed at http://www.ppfp-toolkit.org/: The toolkit will be continuously updated with new resources related to PPFP.

Announcement

*** French and Spanish translations are provided below following the English announcement.

*** Les traductions du texte en français et en espagnol suivent le texte en anglais.

*** A continuación del anuncio en inglés se proporcionan traducciones al español y al francés.

« Making Health Information Easy to Find, Easy to Use »

Dear Fellow Health Information User:

The USAID-funded Knowledge for Health (K4H) Project is collaborating with its partners on a new endeavor aimed at making health information easy-to-find and easy-to-use.

To better address the cost implications of investing in mothers and children, the report provides useful data on the cost-benefits of family planning programs. Long considered a "best buy" among health investments, family planning is even more important in today's financially strapped environment. As countries grapple with recession and search for better ways to stretch limited budgets, family planning stands out as one of the most cost-effective, high-yield interventions available.