This instruction sheet is intended for health care providers who are learning to administer DMPA-SC.

By leveraging digital training tools, family planning programs can integrate new approaches that help reduce the costs, time, and inconvenience associated with traditional classroom training. The Access Collaborative has developed digital training resources for health workers and clients learning to administer DMPA-SC.

A 10-lesson DMPA-SC eLearning course for health workers is available for free in English and French and can be taken on computer or mobile device with internet access. Content includes informed choice counseling, calculating the injection date, conducting follow-up visits, and training clients to self-inject.

In addition to the eLearning course, PATH and JSI have developed short 5- to 7-minute DMPA-SC training videos for both self-injection clients and health workers. Currently available in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, the videos can be translated or adapted to fit your program context.

If you are interested in introducing DMPA-SC digital training approaches in your program, please contact the Access Collaborative at FPoptions@path.org.

The DMPA/NET-EN checklist consists of questions designed to identify medical conditions that would prevent safe DMPA/NET-EN use or require further screening and assess whether a client might be pregnant. It also provides guidance and directions based on clients’ responses.

PATH developed this fact sheet in response to questions about the recommended time frame or “window” for reinjection of subcutaneous DMPA (DMPA-SC). It summarizes the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for reinjection timing. The brief also explains why clients living with HIV, including those using antiretroviral therapies, can use DMPA on the same schedule as any other client.

This training module is part of a World Health Organization series of modules on immunization training. Supportive supervision involves supervisors and health workers working together to solve problems and improve performance. The module outlines key steps and practical implementation strategies.

This 32-page publication outlines the GATHER model of family planning counseling, which has been successfully used for nearly two decades and is based on the elements described including tips, illustrations, techniques, technical information, and charts.

This WHO Academy online learning course was created for pharmacists and pharmacy staff to support wider access to contraception, particularly in low-resource settings. Pharmacies and drug shops play an important role in helping people manage their sexual health and family planning needs. These locations are typically easily accessible within communities, with staff providing critical information that helps people make informed decisions about their health.

Through studies and practice exercises in this course, participants learn how to provide best-practice contraception counselling, about different contraceptive methods, and about follow-up care. It includes a module on counselling and prescribing self-injectable contraception with DMPA-SC. The course is available on the WHO Academy website in English, French, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese.

Using eLearning to train health workers on family planning counseling can be an effective training approach, particularly when carefully planned and coordinated to maximize the benefits. On August 26, 2021, the DMPA-SC Access Collaborative hosted this webinar on eLearning for health workers learning to counsel clients on DMPA-SC including self-injection in Senegal and Uganda. During 2019-2020, this approach was launched and evaluated in four regions of Senegal and four districts in Uganda.

The findings and recommendations from the experiences in Senegal and Uganda may offer lessons for other countries wishing to implement digital learning approaches. The webinar presenters raised important considerations about stakeholder coordination, internet and technology access, eLearning platforms, establishing training targets, training content, and the important role of post-training supervision.

With growing evidence that technologies can yield time and resource efficiencies and improve quality of care—resulting in better patient outcomes—in 2019 the World Health Organization (WHO) issued recommendations for digital interventions for health systems strengthening. This brief uses the WHO definition of digital health from the draft Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020-2024: “the field of knowledge and practice associated with the development and use of digital technologies to improve health.” The recommendations include interventions in mHealth (medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices) and eHealth (the use of information and communication technologies for health), with the most recent evidence largely focused on mHealth.

With funding from the Catalytic Opportunity Fund (COF), JSI, Inc. evaluated the feasibility of using a low-cost training mechanism, known as OAS or “Orientation, Aide par Fiche Technique (job aid)”, to facilitate DMPA-SC scale-up among injection-experienced providers. It was piloted in four pilot districts in Madagascar, covering 76 basic health facilities.

Respondents had a very positive view of the OAS strategy and agreed it was a good alternative to more traditional training that can be scaled up in areas with injection experienced providers. The most significant impact of the OAS strategy has been correcting errors to ensure proper administration of DMPA-SC, thereby eliminating rumors and previous complaints.

This report covers the background, pilot and evaluation, results, and next steps relating to the OAS strategy in Madagascar.