PRESENTATIONS

Scaling Up Community-based Access to Injectable Contraceptives in Uganda: Lessons Learned from Private and Public-sector Implementation

Injectable contraception is a popular family planning method that is safe, effective, easy to use, unobtrusive, and convenient. However, most women in sub-saharan Africa do not have access to it because it is available only through clinics. Especially for rural women, the time, cost, and distance associated with travelling to a clinic are often insurmountable obstacles. In 2003–05, Family Health International (FHI), Save the Children, and the Uganda Ministry of Health (MOH) collaborated on a pilot study that demonstrated that properly trained community health workers (CHWs) can safely and feasibly provide injectable contraceptives in their communities. This evidence, combined with the service’s potential in Uganda to increase women’s access to injectables and alleviate critical shortages of health workers, led to a phased scale-up of the program tested in the pilot study...
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