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Contraceptive Security

HP+ More recent Contraceptive Security publications are available.

  • In December 2012, the Health Policy Project (HPP) supported the ARC Coalition to bring together 20 consortium members and project partners to develop a common advocacy plan. Facilitators from HPP and the Advance Planning Project led the process by building focus, commitment, and consensus among consortium partners on a common advocacy issue. At the end of two days, the consortium members had identified key areas for policy advocacy that have the highest probability of success for ARC in the next year, identified the relevant key stakeholders, and began to develop action plans. Within the broader goal of contraceptive choices being expanded, the key areas identified included expanding the mix of spacing methods and increasing access to current methods of spacing.

  • The USAID-funded Health Policy Project supported partners at Gondar University to use the FamPlan model to analyze the demographic and family planning program implications of meeting Ethiopia’s Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) targets. The projections show that, if Ethiopia achieves a contraceptive prevalence rate of 73.3 percent by 2020 (the target set by the Federal Ministry of Health), the total fertility rate would fall to less than two children per woman in 2020 and the annual population growth rate would slow to less than 1 percent by 2020. In addition, under-five and infant mortality rates would drop significantly due to increased use of family planning. The model projection also estimated the number of contraceptive commodities required to achieve the target, which can be used to ensure contraceptive security.  

  • This report covers an evaluation of the collaboration between the Ministry of Health of the Indian State of Jharkhand and the Health Policy Project to conduct a program (Nov. 2012-July 2013) to strengthen capacities at state, district, and sub-district levels to effectively implement the 2010 family planning  strategy.  It included training, mentoring, and supportive supervision. A State Resource Group of master trainers from government and civil society supported the 4-person Family Planning Cell. A pre/post-implementation quantitative and qualitative assessment highlighted that although the implementation period was short, systems were strengthened and laid a solid basis for achieving  Jharkhand’s FP goals.  The assessment highlighted improvements in timely data updates (from 27% to 91%),  increased stocks of FP commodities and IEC materials, and wider availability of doctors trained in clinical services. Budget allocations for spacing methods increased and the FP Cell invested in training health staff on counseling and  IUD skills. Staff reported an improved attitude toward information sharing and joint problem solving.  The 3-district pilot program has been scaled up in 11 additional high-need districts.  

  • Injectable contraception has been available in the private sector in India since 1986, but is not accessible to public sector clients. With support from the USAID-funded Health Policy Project, the Policy Unit of the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare conducted a stakeholder analyses to understand the barriers to introducing injectables in the package of methods available through the public sector. This descriptive brief combines primary and secondary data to provide a status update and policy analysis to stakeholders advocating for policy change to expand the basket of contraception in the public sector.

  • This policy brief highlights the USAID-funded Health Policy Project's in-depth analysis of fertility and family planning trends in the Amhara Region, based on the Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) 2011. The findings demonstrate that early marriage is pervasive in Amhara (leading to earlier childbearing), and that 22 percent of married women in the region have an unmet need for family planning. There are disparities in the uptake of family planning, with rural women and those with no formal education being particularly difficult to reach. The quality of family planning services was also found to be a barrier to family planning use, with many women receiving inadequate counseling about available contraceptive methods or side effects. Based on the study's findings, crucial actions are recommended for expanding and improving family planning services and reducing fertility in the Amhara Region, which can inform family planning policy development and advocacy in the region.

  • This report describes two pilot technical assistance programs implemented by the USAID-funded Health Policy Project to strengthen policy development and implementation related to contraceptive security at decentralized levels in Peru and the Dominican Republic. Over a two-year period, three regional and municipal committees engaged a multisectoral group of political leaders, technocrats, civil society representatives, and healthcare providers to collaboratively assess policy and funding barriers related to family planning and design and implement solutions. The compilation of experience and results is intended to inform programs to strengthen contraceptive security at the decentralized level in other settings, whether through committees or other mechanisms. As decentralization continues to evolve in Latin America and other regions, it is critical to strengthen subnational capacity in the public sector and civil society to ensure that high-quality and equitable services are demanded, delivered, and monitored at all levels of the health system in a manner that promotes sustainability and local ownership.

  • Since 2003, the U.S. Agency for International Development's Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Contraceptive Security (CS) Initiative has fostered country ownership through CS committees established in eight priority countries. Among the countries in the LAC region, Paraguay’s experience establishing and strengthening a national CS committee serves as a success story for the improvement of reproductive health indicators in a context of increased country ownership. This brief documents the steps taken to ensure that in less than a decade, the CS Committee in Paraguay successfully fostered an enabling policy environment that led to increased financing and political commitment to making contraceptive supplies more easily available.

    This brief is based on the following report (only available in Spanish): Sistemitización de la Experiencia del Comité DAIA Paraguay.

  • This policy brief highlights the USAID-funded Health Policy Project's application of the RAPID model to forecast integrated data and evidence on population and socioeconomic projections for the Amhara region. The analysis can support experts and policymakers to engage in data-driven decision making, planning, budgeting, and monitoring and evaluation of regional population issues linked with related factors such as the economy, education, health, agriculture, and urbanization. The projections were made according to the Central Statistical Agency 2012 Intercensal Population Survey’s low and high variants for 2007 to 2037.

  • La graduación de USAID fue un proceso planificado que permitió enfocar acciones hacia cuestiones estratégicas, sin embargo también se constituyó en una oportunidad de mejora y crecimiento que fue identificada por el gobierno de Paraguay y sustentada por su voluntad y compromiso político hacia la planificación familiar. Este documento recopila la experiencia del Comité para la Disponibilidad Asegurada de Insumos Anticonceptivos (DAIA) en Paraguay para comprender cómo su desempeño desembocó en resultados exitosos y describe cuáles fueron los factores clave y su interacción, para obtener tales resultados. Los logros alcanzados reforzaron la confianza de los integrantes del Comité DAIA y naturalmente trascendieron el ámbito de trabajo del mismo. Obteniendo el reconocimiento de las autoridades e incluso traspasando las fronteras, puesto que hoy en día el caso de Paraguay está considerado como un modelo para los demás países que impulsan la DAIA en la región.

    Un sumario de este informe en ingles, está disponible en: Promoting Country Ownership through Latin American Contraceptive Security Committees: Paraguay Case Study.

  • Ministries of health are largely responsible for achieving the commitments that their national governments have made as part of the FP2020 initiative. As stewards, ministries of health are responsible for fostering effective policy implementation. Yet, putting policies into practice is challenging, and all too often policy implementation is weak. This brief identifies three ways for ministries of health to address barriers to policy implementation and strengthen their role as stewards of national FP2020 efforts. It is part of a series of three briefs produced by the USAID-funded Health Policy Project to provide guidance to MOH officials and members of parliament (MPs) on three different approaches to strengthen MOHs’ stewardship functions for FP2020. The other briefs in the series are Stewardship for FP2020 Goals: The Role of Parliamentarians, and Stewardship for FP2020 Goals: Working with the Private Sector.

  • The GAP Tool (Gather, Analyze, and Plan) is a simple Excel-based tool designed to help policymakers, ministry officials, health officials, and advocates understand and plan for the costs associated with expanding family planning (FP) to achieve their country's contraceptive prevalence or fertility goals. This PowerPoint presentation provides a brief overview of the benefits of and major steps for applying the GAP Tool and includes highlights from a pilot application of the tool in Ethiopia and Nigeria.  

  • The GAP Tool (Gather, Analyze, and Plan) is a simple Excel-based tool designed to help policymakers, ministry officials, health officials, and advocates understand and plan for the costs associated with expanding family planning (FP) to achieve their country's contraceptive prevalence or fertility goals. This brief provides a brief overview of the benefits of and major steps for applying the GAP Tool and includes highlights from a pilot application of the tool in Ethiopia and Nigeria.  

  • This manual provides the user with step-by-step instructions to apply the GAP Tool (Gather, Analyze, and Plan). The GAP Tool is a simple Excel-based tool to help policymakers, ministry officials, health officials, and advocates understand and plan for the costs associated with expanding family planning to achieve their country's contraceptive prevalence or fertility goals. The two main outputs produced by the tool are the country’s funding gaps for a national family planning program and for family planning commodities. 

    The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) supported development of the GAP Tool through the USAID | Health Policy Initiative, Task Order 1, and continues to support work on the tool, as well as this manual, through the Health Policy Project.