Contraceptive Security in Romania: Using evidence to change policy and design a program to increase availability to poor families


Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

4155.0: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 1:30 PM

Abstract #114086

Contraceptive Security in Romania: Using evidence to change policy and design a program to increase availability to poor families

Anthony A. Hudgins, MAS, DELIVER Project, John Snow, Inc., 1616 N. Fort Myer Drive, JSI, 11th Floow, Arlington, VA 22209, (703) 528-7474, tony_hudgins@jsi.com, Alin N. Stanescu, MD, Minsitry of Health, Romania, 1-3 Cristian Popisteanu, Sector 1, Bucharest, Romania, Laurentiu Stan, MD, JSI Romania, 13, George Calinescu, Sector 1, Bucharest, Romania, and Merce Gasco, MD, JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., 13, George Calinescu, Sector 1, Bucharest, Romania.

Romania, typical of many Eastern European countries, has a history of low contraception use and a high rate of abortion. An effective collaboration of major stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health, UNFPA, a local family planning NGO, and a private contractor resulted in a carefully designed and targeted project that trained selected family doctors to expand access, particularly in rural, underserved areas, provided culturally appropriate educational material to expand knowledge and acceptance, and free contraceptives to those who were unable to pay.

Decisions were heavily influenced by existing survey data. In particular, DHS survey data was used to show that three-quarters of the poor women in the country lived in rural areas, where access to either OB/GYN services or pharmacies was extremely limited. The project was subsequently targeted to rural family doctors. This has resulted in a significantly higher use of free contraceptives, while protecting the private sector market in the cities, with their wealthier populations. Recent survey data has shown a significant increase in the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate, including a rise in rural areas from 20.9% of women in union in 1999 to 33.0% in 2004, an astounding 12.1 percentage point increase in only 5 years.

Learning Objectives:

Learning Objectives

1) Describe the policy decisions necessary in Romania to increase access to family planning services.
2) List the three components of a successful service delivery expansion project.
3) Use survey data to target interventions and free contraceptives to a population at greatest need.

Keywords: Access and Services, Family Planning

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commertial supporters WITH THE EXCEPTION OF I am an employee of John Snow, Inc., the implementing agency..

Recorded presentation

Improving and Monitoring Reproductive Health Commodity Security

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA