Elements of Family Planning Success

Family Health International (FHI) is pleased to announce publication of a supplement of the journal AIDS that addresses critical gaps in the evidence base on family planning and HIV service integration. The supplement covers research being conducted in three broad areas:

1) Behavioral research examining contraceptive practices and fertility desires of HIV-positive women and couples
2) Biomedical research addressing the safety and effectiveness of contraceptive methods for HIV-positive women

The World Health Organization, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Family Health International have produced this document to help leaders of international public health programs integrate family planning (FP) and HIV services in a strategic and systematic manner.

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.

This paper focuses specifically on the prevention of unintended pregnancies in HIV-infected women who do not wish to become pregnant as an effective strategy for reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV

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.

Funding for international family planning programs in developing countries has declined by 30% since the mid-1990s. Decisions by policymakers and donors to reduce investments in contraceptive services and supplies were based on plausible-sounding—but misguided—arguments. “Donor fatigue” and persistent opposition from conservative governments and institutions contribute this decline.

This Population Council news release exposes some common myths about family planning, and reveals the facts.

Funding for international family planning programs in developing countries has declined by 30% since the mid-1990s. Decisions by policymakers and donors to reduce investments in contraceptive services and supplies were based on plausible-sounding—but misguided—arguments. In this article, the Population Council’s John Bongaarts and co-author Steven W. Sinding aim to set the record straight and to urge that family planning become a higher priority on the international development agenda.

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.

The Assessing Integration Methodology (AIM) was developed by the Population Council to guide decisions regarding the feasibility, quality, and effectiveness of specific service combinations. The AIM handbook covers integration of family planning with the following services:

HIV counseling and testing
Postabortion care
Antenatal care
Detection and management of sexually transmitted infections
Postpartum care

To draw attention to the significant contribution of family planning to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the USAID | Health Policy Initiative, Task Order 1, has completed and updated analyses for more than 30 countries. The analyses demonstrate how family planning can help countries achieve the MDGs by improving health outcomes (e.g., fewer maternal and child deaths) and by reducing costs for meeting the goals (by reducing the size of the target populations in need of services).