Locating family planning services and organizing to increase access in Kinshasa, DRC

Background. Kinshasa, DRC is a sprawling city of 10 million people with a modern contraceptive prevalence rate (MCPR) of 18%. Prior to 2012, there was no central listing of family planning services and little coordination among the few organizations working in FP in Kinshasa.

Research methods: the Kinshasa School of Public Health conducted a baseline study to identify every health facility and pharmacy that provided any type of contraception; the short survey asked about number of contraceptive methods available, persons trained in family planning, the existence of the basic information system, and volume of contraceptives distributed in a recent three-month period. The location of each site was also geocoded.

Results: 226 health facilities were visited, of which 190 reported to offer family planning services. Of these, only 42% received a “three star rating,” measured as having at least three contraceptive methods available, one person trained in family planning in the past three years, and a functional information system. Static maps were created to indicate the spatial distribution of sites, and interactive maps allowed the user to click on the specific site to learn the level of service available at the site.

Utilization of results: the research team worked in collaboration with the National Reproductive Health to create the Kinshasa Family Planning Coalition, consisting of 10 organizations working in FP service delivery and five donor organizations. This group set the goal of increasing the percent of three-star sites from 42% to an ambitious 80% within one year.