Report Assesses Cost and Impact of Scaling Up Family Planning in Zambia

MSH and the Population Council have published an assessment of the Scaling Up Family Planning Initiative, a DfID-funded project that ran in Zambia from 2012 to 2016. The assessment was conducted as part of USAID’s Evidence Project.

The Scaling Up Family Planning Initiative aimed to strengthen the public sector’s ability to expand access to contraception and family planning services. MSH studied the initiative’s implementation cost and impact and found that the annual cost of providing the project’s package of expanded services and community outreach is approximately US$13 per woman of reproductive age. The study also found that the project’s package of activities appears to have been successful in contributing to increased service utilization within and across districts.

Challenges included attrition of community-based distributors of contraceptives, lack of equipment and space in some facilities, staff shortages, and irregular access to supplies. The sustainability of these interventions after the project’s conclusion has been a major concern, with doubts about the government’s ability to cover the costs that had been funded by the project.

The findings from the qualitative assessment showed that respondents had a positive view of the Scaling Up Family Planning Initiative’s contribution to Zambia’s health system, though barriers to family planning service delivery in the country remain.