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

Abstract #116182

Teresa De Vargas¹, Arsene Binanga, MD², Candide E. Dahoun-Agobobatinkpo, MPH³, James R. Foreit, PhD⁴, and Claudia Velasquez, MPH⁴. (1) CEMOPLAF, Av. 10 de Agosto y Cuero y Caicedo, 258, Quito, Ecuador, 011-953-22-230-519, cv38@georgetown.edu, (2) Institute for Reproductive health/DRC Awareness, Georgetown University, Association de sante Familiale (ASF), Immeuble Socir, No. 232 de L'Avenir Tombalbaye, Kinshasa, Commune de la Gombe, Congo-Kinshasa, (3) Institute for Reproductive Health/Benin Awareness, Georgetown University, 02BP 1054, Voie pavée derriére le stade de l'Amité, Carré No. 2022, Cotonou, Zogbohorie, Benin, (4) 4301 Connecticut Avenue, Population Council, Suite 280, Washington, DC 20008

Many countries continue to have high unmet need for family planning. Programs are challenged by shrinking resources and the need to expand family planning options and access to increasing numbers of women. Including the Standard Days Method (SDM), a fertility-awareness approach to family planning in programs, could contribute to efforts to address unmet need.

The SDM has been introduced on a small-scale through public and private sector programs in Ecuador, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Benin. Positive results from studies and demand from other organizations prompted the development of a social marketing strategy to scale-up awareness and access to the method. This paper presents the scaling up models used in the three countries, including: behavior communication change campaigns; training of providers and pharmacists; and monitoring and evaluation. Evaluation includes community surveys to assess changes in awareness, service statistics and sales, simulated client visits, and follow-up interviews with pharmacy and clinic users.

Results suggest that a carefully planned and implemented social marketing effort is a feasible and effective strategy for scaling up new methods. Service statistics demonstrate rapid acceptance of the method, particularly among first-time users. Data show that increasing awareness and generating demand for the method is critical. Preliminary data assessing the quality of care provided by pharmacists, suggest that pharmacy provision of a knowledge-based method is possible if they are accompanied by effective user instructions. Experiences and lessons learned from the introduction of a fertility-awareness based method through pharmacies and other social marketing strategies will be discussed.

Learning Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will be able to

(
• recognize reasons for expanding family planning options and accessibility; (
• identify social marketing strategies for new methods; and (
• identify programmatic implications of marketing and providing a method through a pharmacy.

Keywords: Family Planning, Social Marketing

Related Web page: www.irh.org

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 commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation