 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Pape Gaye, MBA, Sara Stratton, MPH, and Boniface Sebikali, MD, MPH. Intrah, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 8100, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8100, 919-962-6846, dnelson@intrah.org
After a quarter-century of international assistance, contraceptive prevalence rates in sub-Saharan Africa still lag behind other regions of the world. Deeply ingrained cultural beliefs about fertility behavior, client and provider biases, inadequate facilities and supplies, and political and economic instability contribute to low usage of family planning services. In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, unmet need for family planning and a high rate of HIV/AIDS are exacerbated by the decimated public-sector health care system, a legacy of eight years of military rule during which government spending on public health was severely curtailed. With the return of a relatively stable political climate, USAID/Nigeria’s VISION project is working to develop a strategic framework for strengthening family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) services. VISION focuses on building public- and private-sector partnerships to establish replicable models of high-impact, high-performing FP/RH service delivery. A partner in the three-year project with special expertise in Performance Improvement, Intrah has provided technical assistance in conducting performance needs assessments in three states to identify gaps in service delivery. Drawing on results from those studies, Intrah is helping the Federal Ministry of Health to update the national standards of practice (SOPs) used by trainers and FP/RH providers, validate the SOPs with project stakeholders, and connect the SOPs with revised training curricula. Detailing results from a field test of the updated SOPs in six states, this presentation will explore the key links between developing protocols, disseminating them to providers, and improving provider performance and service quality.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Standards, Family Planning
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.