Family Planning and Reproductive Health
- Effects of a Community-Based Program on Voluntary Modern Contraceptive Uptake Among Young First-Time Parents in Cross River State, Nigeria
Among young first-time mothers, participation in a comprehensive, community-based program led to a 3-fold increase in voluntary modern contraceptive use and other positive changes. These results demonstrate the importance of investing in interventions for this youth population that ideally address a range of priorities across the first-time parent lifestage.
- Routine Family Planning Data in the Low- and Middle-Income Country Context: A Synthesis of Findings From 17 Small Research Grants
A review of 5 years of small grant-funded research highlighted overarching barriers to and opportunities for using family planning data in routine health information systems in low- and middle-income countries. We report on factors affecting data quality, analysis, and use, and suggest strategies to improve routine family planning data.
- Effectiveness of mHealth Interventions for Improving Contraceptive Use in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review
Do mHealth interventions help reduce unmet contraceptive needs in low- and middle-income countries by attempting to increase the uptake of modern contraceptive methods? Which mHealth features and behavior change communication components were used in these mHealth interventions? This review aimed to answer these questions and assess the impact of these interventions on contraceptive uptake outcomes.
- Factors Associated With Delayed Contraceptive Implant Removal in Ethiopia
Women receiving implant insertion at the community level were significantly more likely to report keeping their implant for more than 3 years. Even when a referral or back-up system for removals existed, efforts to task-shift the provision of contraceptive implants may have inadvertently led to extended implant use.
- Opportunities and Challenges of Delivering Postabortion Care and Postpartum Family Planning During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Devoting scarce health resources to meet the family planning needs of pregnant, postabortion, and postpartum women during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is an investment against higher health systems burdens during subsequent waves of the pandemic and a means to save lives and improve livelihoods.
- Measuring Service Quality and Assessing Its Relationship to Contraceptive Discontinuation: A Prospective Cohort Study in Pakistan and Uganda
The quality of services provided is likely to affect contraceptive continuation. However, findings are strongly influenced by the quality measurement tools used, emphasizing the need for standardization.
- Contraception in the Era of COVID-19
As global health systems and communities prepare to meet an unprecedented threat causing increased demands for the care of people with COVID-19, health care providers should strive to ensure continuity of reproductive health care to women and girls in the face of facility service disruption.
- Doing Things Differently: What It Would Take to Ensure Continued Access to Contraception During COVID-19
COVID-19 may fundamentally change women’s contraceptive use, meaning that the future we have been planning and procuring for, may not match these changes. In these unprecedented times, we must rethink how we link product and program in the short-term to ensure women’s changing needs are met.
- Scaling Up Access to Implants: A Summative Evaluation of the Implants Access Program
The Implants Access Program increased access to implants by addressing price, supply chain, service delivery, and knowledge and awareness barriers. Sustaining progress requires institutionalized mechanisms to continue global efforts and long-term assurances that implants’ low price will be maintained.
- What Goes In Must Come Out: A Mixed-Method Study of Access to Contraceptive Implant Removal Services in Ghana
Many Ghanaian women seeking implant removal are able to obtain services, but knowledge and access gaps exist.