141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

292464
Contraceptive logistics management system in Georgia

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Guram Machabeli , USAID SUSTAIN, John Snow Inc., Tbilisi, Georgia
Philippe LeMay, MBA , USAID SUSTAIN Project, John Snow Inc., Tbilisi, Georgia
Nino Lomia, MD, MPH , USAID SUSTAIN Project, John Snow Inc., Tbilisi, Georgia
Kartlos Kankadze, MD, PhD , USAID SUSTAIN project, John Snow Inc, Tbilisi, Georgia
Lia Umikashvili, MD, MPH , USAID SUSTAIN Project, John Snow Inc, Tbilisi, Georgia
To response the high abortion and low contraceptive prevalence rate in Georgia, two JSI projects, funded by USAID, introduced and maintained contraceptive logistics management system (CLMS), focusing on improving contraceptive availability through public sector provision of contraceptives and ongoing policy dialog with the private sector. An extensive contraceptive security and availability assessment of both public and private sectors found that about 40% of women especially in rural areas could not afford commercially-available contraceptives. The Ministry of Labor Health and Social Affairs (MoLHSA) had extremely week contraceptive logistics system (CLS). A waver was secured from MoLHSA to liberalize provision of family planning services at the primary health care level. CLMS focused on training in basic concepts of CLS - a major weakness in Georgian Health System. A simple CLS working on central, rayon and village level is put into place. USAID donated contraceptives are distributed to about 800 sites in Georgia. Since 2003, over 2000 providers and 1500 pharmacies have been trained to counsel and provide clients on modern contraceptive options. Georgia Reproductive Health Survey 2010 demonstrated unprecedented reduction of abortion rate from 3.4 to 1.6 and increase in modern contraceptive prevalence from 20% to 35% among married women. CLMS plays a key role for distributing free contraceptive in targeted areas and controlling product samples and demand creation material for socially marketed contraceptives. This facilitates a smooth transition away from free distribution of contraceptives for providers and continuing/new users who will gradually seek to obtain their contraceptive of choice in pharmacies.

Learning Areas:
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Define the importance of well-designed logistics system on contraceptive access improvement.

Keywords: Contraceptives, Family Planning

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: As a Logistics manager, I have been involved in implementation and maintenance of Cotraception Logistics Management System including training of family planning providers and district coordinators in basic CLS, distribution of donated contraceptives and monitoring of contraceptive supply.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.