MSH at the 2018 International Conference on Family Planning

 

Access to safe and effective family planning is a fundamental human right. With scarce resources for health, it is critical that family planning services are efficient, cost effective, and sustainable.

To reach these goals, MSH partners with countries and communities to build responsive health systems that include family planning and reproductive health services as core elements of health programming. We develop tools that help countries plan and budget family planning costs into their health service packages, and we support the effective management of essential family planning supplies and other health commodities.

This year at the 5th International Conference on Family Planning, join us as we share our work to advance long-term investment in reproductive health and family planning.

Follow us at the conference on Twitter at @MSHHealthImpact using the hashtag #ICFP2018 and join the Virtual Conference Program during ICFP to stay up to date on key information and events.

Tuesday, November 13

11:55 AM–1:15 PM | Location: AD9

Improving the Linkages to Family Planning for Survivors of Sexual and Gender-based Violence

Presented by: Jill Keesbury, Senior Director, MSH, and Dr. Jeanne Patrick, Deputy Head, Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Program Manager, Reproductive and Maternal Health Services Unit, Kenyan Ministry of Health

Oral Session Description: Although family planning is an element of sexual and gender-based violence guidelines and vice versa, linkages are not always prioritized where women seek services. Following unprotected sex, including rape, women and girls do not routinely have access to emergency contraception. It is not offered at the same rate as HIV prophylaxis, and it may be dispensed at an FP clinic that is closed late at night and on weekends. With high levels of violence, including among children, and an unmet need for FP, improving the integration of family planning and sexual and gender-based violence services will allow better outcomes for women and girls.

One goal of the Kenya delegation’s Plan of Action was to increase access to emergency contraception by producing a Ministerial Circular to target high-level health stakeholders to reorganize the distribution of emergency contraception pills within public health facilities and clinics to improve access to and uptake by sexual violence survivors, 24 hours/7 days a week, free of charge, and as quickly as possible. The Kenyan experience of creating a Ministerial Circular for improved emergency contraception access highlights one approach to high-level stakeholder advocacy; make them aware of the key barriers that survivors face and solutions to those barriers.

Wednesday, November 14

3:00 PM–6:00 PM | Auditorium/Terrace

Tailoring and Targeting Postpartum Family Planning Interventions Based on Health Facility Assessment, DHS, and Routinely Collected Data in Malawi (6.114) 

Presented by: Jill Keesbury, Senior Director, MSH

Good Governance Enables Quality Care: A Governance Roadmap to Help Reach Family Planning Goals (6.105) 

Presented by: Randy Wilson, Senior Principal Technical Advisor, MSH

 

Thursday, November 15

10:25 AM–11:45 AM | Location: MH 4

Estimating Coverage of Family Planning Services Using Routine Service Data in Rwanda

Presented by: Randy Wilson, Senior Principal Technical Advisor, MSH

Oral Session Description: Many countries use the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR), often disaggregated for married women or women in union, as a key performance indicator for monitoring their family planning programs. However, most countries can only afford to conduct household surveys to estimate CPR once every two to five years.

While data from household surveys and facility reports are not comparable for a number of reasons, most countries track family planning data, as a proxy for CPR, through their routine health management information systems. Rwanda calculates family planning service coverage by analyzing routine data on the number of continuing users at the end of the month.

 

Thursday, November 15

10:25 AM–11:45 AM | Location: AD10

Implementing Best Practices (IBP) initiative Session 7: Dollars and $ense: Strategies for Advocacy and Financing for Family Planning

Speaker: Jill Keesbury, Senior Director, MSH

Workshop Description: With today’s evolving landscape for family planning financing, advocates and champions must be nimble and seize emerging opportunities to secure dedicated resources. This session will feature an opening panel of “lightning talks” showcasing successful, country-led advocacy efforts to mobilize domestic funds for family planning—leveraging platforms such as the Global Financing Facility, universal health coverage, and costed implementation plans. Participants will then have the chance to shape an interactive Q&A with panelists and crowdsource topics for small group discussions flowing from these talks. Finally, participants will be equipped with advocacy and accountability tools to put new knowledge into action through a dynamic activity featuring speed-dating-like pitches, including MSH’s costing tools. The session will be offered in English.

 

Thursday, November 15

11:55 AM–1:15 PM | Location: Auditorium Club 3 (Includes French translation)

Reach every household with family planning: Door-to-door mini-campaigns promote contraceptive methods inIHPplus-supported health zones in the Democratic Republic of the Congo / Mini-campagnes de porte-à-porte pour la promotion et l’offre de services de planification familiale dans les zones appuyées par PROSANIplus-USAID en RDC (3.2.14.3)

Presented by: Dr. Rachel Yodi, Ministère De La Santé Publique De RDC

Oral Session Description: The fertility rate among women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is very high, at 6.6 births per woman. This can partially be explained by the low use of modern contraceptive methods (8%). While 27.7% of women of reproductive age have an unmet need for modern contraceptive methods, DRC faces a significant challenge in ensuring access to family planning services.

The DRC National Strategic Plan 2014–2020 outlines a multisectoral vision that aims to increase the modern contraceptive prevalence to 19% and ensure that at least 2.1 million women can access and use modern contraceptive methods by 2020. To rapidly increase access to and information about family planning services, the Ministry of Health introduced a community-based distribution approach that engages at least three community-based distributors (CBDs) of family planning methods per health area. Even in health areas with at least three CBDs, with an average of only one CBD per 700 women of reproductive age, coverage is low. The limited numbers of CBDs per population, coupled with their low motivation, contributes to poor family planning service coverage in villages and households.