Expanding Access to Family Planning Services at the Community Level

Expanding access to family planning (FP) at the community level has been a priority strategy for accelerating progress toward achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and more specifically, emphasis on community access to FP has emerged as a major goal in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2009 the Uganda Ministry of Health (MOH) launched a coordinated Village Health Team approach where village level health workers could provide multiple health care services, including basic FP information and some services, including referrals. Then, in December 2010, the MOH amended its national health policy to enable community health workers (CHWs) to provide injectable contraceptives.

This review of the programs reaches the following recommendations:

1. Build and sustain awareness for community FP services at national and local levels
2. Continue to build a supportive policy environment
3. Strengthen service delivery systems
4. Enhance motivation, retention, and capacity of VHTs
5. Integrate FP with MCH services and with non-health sectors, and explore the potential of integrating FP services with drug shops
6. Address financing issues to enhance FP services in underserved communities

Source: Uganda Ministry of Health

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019