Tag Archives: postpartum family planning

Can 223 million women be wrong? A reflection on the status of voluntary sterilization programs

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Guest post by Lynn Bakamjian

Tanzanian couple receiving family planning counselling (Photo credit: Sala Lewis)

Tanzanian couple receiving family planning counselling (Photo credit: Sala Lewis)

Today, as family planning (FP) programs are receiving renewed attention and resources as a result of FP2020, several important issues have risen to the top of the investment agenda. These include increasing access to quality long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods; task-shifting FP information and services to lower level health workers to address provider shortages; and scaling- up approaches that extend services, such as postpartum FP , mobile services, and increased engagement of the private sector. As programs strive to make more contraceptive choices available to reach more than 200 million women with an unmet need for FP, there is one topic that receives little attention—how to expand access, availability, acceptability and quality of permanent methods (PMs) (voluntary female sterilization and vasectomy). Continue reading →

MCHIP and PSI Promote Postpartum IUD to Expand Access to Family Planning for More Women

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Guest post by Holly Blanchard, Senior Reproductive Health/Family Planning Advisor, Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP)

Access to a wide range of safe and effective contraceptive options is every woman’s human right, including those who have just given birth. Access to family planning (FP) not only enables a woman to achieve her and her partner’s desired family size, but also contributes to improved health outcomes for both women and children. However, in many low resource settings, postpartum women are offered a limited range of FP methods, if they are counseled on postpartum FP (PPFP) at all. With increasing numbers of women delivering in health facilities, the opportunity to offer the option of immediate postpartum intrauterine device (PPIUD) services should be maximized.

Participants gather for a demonstration of PPIUD insertion using anatomic models at a West Africa regional postpartum family planning workshop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso this past February. Photo credit: Jhpiego

Participants at the PPIUD meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso gather for a demonstration of method insertion using anatomic models. Photo credit: Anne Pfitzer

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Meeting the Reproductive Needs and Rights of Women and Girls: The Legacy of ICPD is in the Details

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Guest post by Mary Beth Hastings, Vice President of Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE)

The task of translating the International Conference on Population and Development’s (ICPD) Programme of Action (PoA) into meaningful change for women and girls globally includes some important detail work. Several years ago, my organization – the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) – set out to better define the meaning of key PoA terms. Our guiding question was: “What constitutes comprehensive, rights-based sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care?” We found some useful literature and human rights documents to point us in the right direction, but most importantly, we wanted to make sure our answer was grounded in the lived experiences of women and girls.

Field research in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Photo by M.B. Hastings/CHANGE

Community-based health workers in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia met with CHANGE to share their comprehensive approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Photo by S. Sippel/CHANGE

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