“New Users” Are Confusing Our Counting: Reaching Consensus on How to Measure “Additional Users” of Family Planning

Track20 was established to track progress of the global Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) initiative, support national efforts to improve family planning monitoring, and use this monitoring to inform effective program strategies and plans. Central to Track20’s work is developing and improving methodologies that allow for tracking progress on an annual basis. Historically most countries have had to rely on tracking increases in the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) through population-based surveys that are conducted only on a periodic basis. The Family Planning Estimation Tool (FPET), adapted from a model used by the United Nations Population Division,1 allows for estimates of mCPR to be informed by historic survey data, services statistics, and regional and global patterns of change.