Family Planning and Reproductive Health
- Menstrual Bleeding Changes Are NORMAL: Proposed Counseling Tool to Address Common Reasons for Non-Use and Discontinuation of Contraception
A new family planning counseling tool uses the simple mnemonic device “NORMAL” to help family planning counselors and providers communicate to their clients key messages about menstrual bleeding changes associated with use of hormonal contraception and the copper IUD.
- Engaging Men in Family Planning: Perspectives From Married Men in Lomé, Togo
Men in the study generally supported couples' use of contraception, especially citing socioeconomic reasons. Some had reservations stemming from perceptions that family planning could facilitate infidelity and promiscuity. They also thought family planning decisions should be made jointly. All men expressed interest in learning more about family planning, preferring dissemination from community health workers, trusted men, and current family planning users.
- Increasing Contraceptive Use Among Young Married Couples in Bihar, India: Evidence From a Decade of Implementation of the PRACHAR Project
Critical program elements to improving voluntary contraceptive use among married youth included: (1) use of a socioecological intervention model of behavior change; (2) engaging both women and men; and (3) calibrating interventions to different moments in the life cycle of adolescents and youth. Trade-offs between intensive NGO-led models and less intensive government-led models occurred in effectiveness, scale of interventions, and sustained behavior changes.
- Monitoring Progress in Equality for the Sustainable Development Goals: A Case Study of Meeting Demand for Family Planning
As demand for family planning has increasingly been satisfied, disparities between groups within a country have also generally declined but persist. To monitor disparity across countries and over time, we recommend comparing met demand by wealth quintile because it is most comparable to interpret and highly correlated with disparity by education, residence, and region. Within country, comparing disparity in met demand across geographic region can identify populations with greater need for programmatic purposes.
- Is It Time to Move Beyond Visual Inspection With Acetic Acid for Cervical Cancer Screening?
Newly emerging low-cost molecular assays and improved visual tests for cervical cancer screening call into question the role of visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA). VIA-based screening continues to offer a low-cost, single-visit approach for screening. However, VIA is highly rater-dependent and has problematic accuracy. RNA, DNA, and protein tests are now available. They offer greater accuracy and the option for self-sampling, but the testing kits are expensive. As these new options continue to improve, the time to move beyond VIA is fast approaching.
- Expanding the Single-Visit Approach for Cervical Cancer Prevention: Successes and Lessons From Burkina Faso
The single-visit approach was implemented with strong attention to systems in 14 health facilities. In the 2 largest facilities, nearly 14,000 women screened for cervical cancer over 4 years. Of approximately 9% who screened positive, about 66% received same-day cryotherapy. Attention is needed to ensure local technicians can repair cryotherapy equipment, supplies are consistently in stock, and user fees are not prohibitive to accessing care.
- The Coming-of-Age of Subcutaneous Injectable Contraception
DMPA-SC is a contraceptive injectable formulation that provides women and couples another important voluntary family planning option. It offers characteristics that many women like, including cost and time savings, and has the potential to be delivered by a range of health care cadres in a variety of service delivery channels.