Strengthening Government Leadership in Family Planning Programming in Senegal: From Proof of Concept to Proof of Implementation in 2 Districts

ABSTRACT

Given Senegal's limited resources, the country receives substantial support from externally funded partner organizations to provide family planning and maternal and child health services. These organizations often take a strong and sometimes independent role in implementing interventions with their own structures and personnel, thereby bypassing the government district health system. This article presents findings from the Initiative Sénégalaise de Santé Urbaine (ISSU) (Senegal Urban Health Initiative) that assessed in 2 districts, Diamniadio and Rufisque, the extent to which it was feasible to create stronger government ownership and leadership in implementing a simplified package of family planning interventions from among those previously tested in other districts. The simplified package consisted of both supply- and demand-side interventions, introduced in October 2014 and concluding at the end of 2015. The interventions included ensuring adequate human resources and contraceptive supplies, contraceptive technology updates for providers, special free family planning service days to bring services closer to where people live, family planning integration into other routine services, household visits for family planning education, religious sermons to clarify Islam's position on family planning, and radio broadcasts. District leadership in Diamniadio and Rufisque were actively involved in guiding and implementing interventions, and they also contributed some of their own resources to the project. However, reliance on external funding continued because district budgets were extremely limited. Monitoring data on the number of contraceptive methods provided by district facilities supported by a sister project, the Informed Push Model project, indicate overall improvement in contraceptive provision during the intervention period. In Diamniadio, contraceptive provision increased by 43% between the 6-month period prior to the ISSU interventions (November 2013 through April 2014) and a 6-month intervention period (November 2014 through April 2015), from about 8,000 units to nearly 12,000 units. In Rufisque, contraceptive provision increased by 30%, from more than 17,000 units to more than 22,000 units. Couple-years of protection provided in Diamniadio increased by 82% and in Rufisque by 56%. The experience in these 2 districts in Senegal suggests that it is feasible for districts to play a leadership role in implementing family planning services and mobilizing some of their own resources and that international projects can facilitate capacity building and sustainability within public-sector systems.