INTRODUCTION Female sterilization has long been the most popular method of family planning (FP) in Pakistan, and yet most public health experts feel it contributes little to controlling family size or to population welfare. We used Pakistan Demographic Health Survey (PDHS) data to understand the role female sterilization plays in the overall context of FP in Pakistan. METHODS We performed a s...

Iran's significant success in implementing Family Planning (FP) during the past 25 years, has made it a role model in the world. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in Iran has dropped from 6.5 in 1960 to 1.6 in 2012, which is well below the targeted value of 2.2 for the country. Iran's success story, however, did not merely root in the implementation of FP programs. In other words, families' strong...

OBJECTIVE To compare strategies for management of women with vaginal discharge in genitourinary medicine (GUM) and family planning (FP) settings. METHODS The setting was a centre housing both FP and GUM departments within a primary care trust in Scotland. The study participants were 200 women presenting with vaginal discharge. A randomised, controlled, crossover design was employed. Strategie...

BACKGROUND Uganda has one of the highest total fertility rates (TFR) worldwide. We compared the effects of antiretroviral (ARV) prophylaxis for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) to that of existing family planning (FP) use and estimated the burden of pediatric HIV disease due to unwanted fertility. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Using the demographic software Spectrum...

BACKGROUND The last two decades have seen an increase in literature reporting an increase in knowledge and use of contraceptives among individuals and couples in Kenya, as in the rest of Africa, but there is a dearth of information regarding knowledge about benefits of family planning (FP) in Kenya. OBJECTIVES To assess the factors associated with knowledge about the benefits of FP for women ...

The practice of family planning (FP) has been used since time immemorial to solve community, individual, and familial problems. There are Biblical references to incest being used to ensure the conception of children and to coitus interruptus being used to prevent conception. Pastoralists used cessation of breastfeeding of male calves to promote the conception and birth of more desirable femal...

OBJECTIVES Recent programmatic and research efforts on addressing gaps in health systems of low-income countries increasingly see task shifting, i.e. the provision of healthcare by non-medically trained personnel, as a possible solution to increase the availability of specific services and commodities. In Kinshasa, private-sector pharmacies are the primary and preferred provider of family plann...

Background Family Planning (FP) program in Pakistan has been struggling to achieve the desired indicators. Despite a well-timed initiation of the program in late 50s, fertility decline has been sparingly slow. As a result, rapid population growth is impeding economic development in the country. A high population growth rate, the current fertility rate, a stagnant contraceptive prevalence rate a...

INTRODUCTION Fishing communities (FCs) in Uganda have high HIV infection rates but poor access to health services including family planning (FP). Although FP is a cost-effective public health intervention, there is a paucity of data on knowledge and use of modern FP in FCs. This study determined knowledge and use of modern FP methods in FCs of Uganda. METHODS Data were accrued from a 12-month...

Background: Unmet need for family planning (FP), which refers to the condition in which there is the desire to avoid or post-pone child bearing, without the use of any means of contraception, has been a core concept in the field of international population for more than three decades. The concept of unmet need points to the gap between these women’s reproductive intentions and contraceptive beh...