MEASURE Evaluation PRH at 2011 Int'l Family Planning Conference
MEASURE Evaluation PRH had a strong presence at the 2011 International Conference on Family Planning, which took place November 29-December 2 in Dakar, Senegal. Four abstracts and one panel submitted by MEASURE Evaluation PRH were presented.
The presentations and panel offered insights, lessons and tools to improve the monitoring and evaluation of family planning efforts, covering a variety of populations and situations in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southern Asia. In so doing, MEASURE Evaluation PRH will improve countries’ capacity to effectively use their resources to improve family planning, and help USAID achieve its goals of maximizing the health benefits of dollars invested.
In addition to the accepted abstracts, MEASURE Evaluation PRH announced the Family Planning/Reproductive Health Indicators Database, a new online indicator compendium that provides core indicators, guidance frameworks, and links to additional resources for more than 35 technical areas. Project Director Janine Barden-O’Fallon moderated the panel, which focused on achieving equity in family planning.
“These presentations addressed a number of priority areas within USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health,” said Barden-O’Fallon. “Our presence at the conference exemplified that MEASURE Evaluation PRH remains at the forefront for providing useful M&E tools, guidance, and information.”
The needs for family planning and for making sure resources are used effectively remain high around the world. However, the people most at risk, and the most efficient methods of using resources vary. MEASURE Evaluation PRH staff investigated these problems in a variety of regions and circumstances.
In South Asian countries such as Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, for example, the prevalence of child marriage remains high, and girls and women at young ages are a vulnerable and underserved population. In his presentation, MEASURE Evaluation PRH's David Hotchkiss investigated the relationship between child marriage and reproductive health outcomes in these countries.
Meanwhile, in Bolivia, where progress toward addressing MDG 5 to improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality has been slow, MEASURE Evaluation PRH and the International Planned Parenthood Federation developed and tested a questionnaire to measure the level of poverty and vulnerability among sexual and reproductive health clientele.
Other topics covered include:
- Relationships between maternal health care and post-partum modern contraceptive use in Kenya and Zambia
- Using a collaborative, participatory approach to develop and apply a framework for measuring success in repositioning family planning
- Disentangling poverty and place of residency for family planning strategic planning
The 2011 International Conference on Family Planning was the second of its kind, the first taking place in Kampala, Uganda in 2009. The 2011 conference brought over 2,000 participants together from 85 countries to share research, best practices, and progress on national strategies to deliver family planning services, to ultimately bring universal access to family planning.
MEASURE Evaluation has worked on a variety of family planning publications, projects and tools over the past decade, including:
