The INFO Project Blog

Our good friends at the Communication Initiative have written a feature review of the INFO Project’s Elements of Family Planning Success Web project. The review, which details the project from start to finish can be found here.

Thanks to former INFO Project Program Specialist and blogger extraordinaire Rose Reis for contacting the Communication Initiative to provide them information about the project.

The INFO Project is proud to announce its three latest publications - Population Reports: New Findings on Contraceptives , Population Reports: Vasectomy: Reaching Out to New Users and INFO Reports: Vasectomy: Tools for Providers.

The New Findings on Contraceptives Report summarizes new research findings on contraceptive methods, interprets these findings in the context of previous research, and suggests implications for practice.  The vasectomy reports provide the latest research on safety and effectiveness of vasectomy techniques and discuss how program managers can increase uptake of the vasectomy.  vasectomy is quick, cost-effective  and patients suffer relatively few complications.

Hurrah to all staff writers and research for producing such high quality publications!!!!!

Laili Irani, a program specialist at the INFO Project, was recently tasked with researching new findings in reproductive health that came out since the publication of Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers. After going through hundreds of pages of research she had this to say about a recently released literature synthesis from the Cochrane Review.

One of the best sythesis I found on emergency contraception–a hot topic in reproductive health–was the recently published literature review from the Cochrane Review.

The review showed that mifepristone and levonorgestrel are very effective methods of emergency contraception with few adverse effects. Emergency contraception (EC) is a method of preventing pregnancy after unprotected sex. 81 randomized controlled clinical trials with 45,842 women were included in the Cochrane Review summary, with most trials conducted in China (70 out of 81 studies). The report notes that copper intrauterine devices can also be used 5 days after unprotected intercourse to prevent pregnancy , along with providing ongoing protection against future pregnancy if left in place. Read the rest of this entry »

If there’s ever a Mount Rushmore memorial built to honor heroes of family planning, the granite rock faces should be chisled with the features of community health workers like the women in pink, at left.

This woman, who works in a remote village in Rajasthan, India, promotes the use of family planning, educates families about HIV/AIDS, and encourages girls to go to school. The Veerni Project, a women’s empowerment group, trained her and other mostly-volunteer ”promoters” in each village.

I was reminded of these brave women, whose energetic work I observed while working with the Veerni Project a few years ago, in doing research for the upcoming issue of Population Reports, Elements of Successful Family Planning Programs. One key element of many successful programs? A mix of contraceptive service delivery points, facilitated by community agents like Veerni’s promoters.

In the case of CARE’s Extra Mile Initiative (EMI), which took place in eastern Madagascar–dubbed “the eight continent” for its rich biodiversity–community health agents overcame obstacles including flooded rivers and roadless districts to teach community members about methods to space their childrens’ births and limit family size. They were also tasked with training health center staff and local politicians. According to the Case Study, “the project’s very name indicated the additional effort CARE would need to invest just to reach the six communes–by motocycle, canoe and, mostly, on foot.” Luckily, the agents were cheerfully good-humored about the challenges, recounting storise like Mr. Boutobé’s:

In roadless Ambahoabe commune… the SDC [Social Development Committee] organized residents of the commune seat to smooth out nearly five miles of trail so that field agent Sebastian Boutobé could reach them by motorcycle, rather than on foot… “[My motorcycle] made such an impression,” [Sebastian] says, “that some people named their babies Sebastian in honor of the event.”

Others crossed flooded rivers, like Mac Samuel, who remembered at one point, while he was trying to reach a remote area, ”we were up to our necks.”
Read the rest of this entry »