Training, Mentorship, and Repurposed Equipment Expand Family Planning Use in Tanzania

March 18, 2019By repurposing unused surplus medical equipment, health facilities in Tanzania have addressed a crucial shortage of health workers who are certified to provide intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUDs) to clients in 22 districts throughout the country.As part of theTanzania Family Planning Outreach program, which is funded by the UK Department for International Development,IntraHealth International trained 300 public-sector health workers to deliver long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) in 165 health facilities in 22 districts during 2014 –2016. But during follow-up sessions of mentorship and supportive supervision, project staff found that only 27% (44) of those facilities had IUD insertion and removal kits in stock.This meant that not only were clients at those facilities unable to choose IUDs as a contraceptive method, but also that 71% (212) of the health workers who ’d been trained to provide IUDS could not demonstrate their skills to receive certification.This low-cost innovation made LARCs more accessible to poor women in rural Tanzania.An IntraHealth assessment also found, though, that the 165 health facilities had a surplus of unused equipment from maternity and delivery trays. In Tanzania, districts prioritize these delivery kits during medical equipment procurement processes, which often leads to a surplus of supplies. These supplies, project staff found, can be safely sterilized and reassembled into IUD kits by trained health facility sta...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Tanzania Tanzania Family Planning Outreach Education & Performance Health Workforce Systems Source Type: news