Family Planning and Reproductive Health
- Implementation and Scale-Up of the Standard Days Method of Family Planning: A Landscape Analysis
Pilot introductions of the Standard Days Method (SDM) of family planning demonstrated its potential to meet unmet contraceptive needs in key populations, strengthen male involvement, and increase overall contraceptive uptake. Few countries had implemented national scale-up due to barriers, such as competing resource priorities and uneven stakeholder engagement. Demand-side user barriers, including insufficient fertility awareness knowledge, were also constraints. Policy makers should determine the SDM's added value to the contraceptive method mix and identify potential barriers to its implementation.
- Unmet Need for Family Planning and Experience of Unintended Pregnancy Among Female Sex Workers in Urban Cameroon: Results From a National Cross-Sectional Study
Female sex workers (FSWs) in Cameroon have unmet need for effective contraception, and experience of unintended pregnancy and pregnancy termination is common. Reducing barriers to accessing high-quality, voluntary family planning services in FSW-focused community services is a key strategy to promote client-centered care, promote informed choice, reduce unintended pregnancies, and improve quality of life for FSWs.
- Using Digital Technology for Sexual and Reproductive Health: Are Programs Adequately Considering Risk?
Digital technologies provide opportunities for advancing sexual and reproductive health and services but also present potential risks. We propose 4 steps to reducing potential harms: (1) consider potential harms during intervention design, (2) mitigate or minimize potential harms during the design phase, (3) measure adverse outcomes during implementation, and (4) plan how to support those reporting adverse outcomes.
- Provider-Initiated Family Planning Within HIV Services in Malawi: Did Policy Make It Into Practice?
Four years after Malawi embraced a policy of provider-initiated family planning (PIFP) within its HIV Clinical Guidelines, this policy remained largely unimplemented at the health facility level. Strengthening PIFP in Malawi’s public and private health facilities will require targeted and comprehensive systems changes.
- Standardizing Measurement of Contraceptive Use Among Unmarried Women
Because contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for family planning estimates for unmarried women vary widely depending on the chosen sexual recency inclusion factor, all data platforms should adopt a 1-month window in these calculations to have comparable and actionable estimates.
- The Open Birth Interval: A Resource for Reproductive Health Programs and Women's Empowerment
The open birth interval is the time since a woman's last birth. It reflects not only desire for contraception and child health services but also freedom for outside activities, employment, and personal autonomy. It merits attention from policy makers, program managers, and service providers.
- Provider Bias in Family Planning Services: A Review of Its Meaning and Manifestations
Provider bias, including bias regarding client age, parity, and marital status, persists as an important barrier to contraceptive choice and access. Newer approaches to mitigate bias that have moved beyond training and guideline development to more fundamental behavior change show promise.
- Unintended Consequences of mHealth Interactive Voice Messages Promoting Contraceptive Use After Menstrual Regulation in Bangladesh: Intimate Partner Violence Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial
Automated interactive voice messages about post-menstrual regulation contraception delivered to women in Bangladesh via mobile phone were associated with increased reports of intimate partner violence. This finding highlights the importance of taking steps to minimize risk when delivering phone messages on sensitive topics and the need for assessing violence in such situations.
- Operationalizing Integrated Immunization and Family Planning Services in Rural Liberia: Lessons Learned From Evaluating Service Quality and Utilization
Providers, managers, and clients valued the integrated service delivery model. Trends indicated slightly higher family planning uptake in intervention facilities, but that difference was not statistically significant. Intrafacility referrals by postpartum women did not negatively affect immunization utilization rates.