Progress and Potential of Self-Care: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead

The momentum around self-care is building through an array of self-care practices, policies, and interventions worldwide. This report aims to take stock of the SRH self-care field and document its progress. It is intended to provide a resource for global and national advocacy, to inform implementation of self-care guidelines, and to link the reader to evidence and learning exchanges. It includes case examples describing the process of introducing and scaling up DMPA-SC self-injection in Malawi and Nigeria.

The Training Resource Package (TRP) for Family Planning’s Progestin-Only Injectable module includes sessions V and VI which are focused on DMPA-SC and self-injection, as well as a number of related handouts and resources. Developed in partnership with the Access Collaborative, these materials are intended for training health care providers who offer progestin-only injectable contraception (“injectables”) in the public or private sector.

The TRP website features training information and materials for a wide range of family planning methods. This includes curriculum components and tools for trainers to design, implement, and evaluate family planning and reproductive health training.

This webinar held on February 23, 2022 was hosted by Expanding Effective Contraceptive Options (EECO) led by WCG Cares with PSI and the DMPA-SC Access Collaborative led by PATH in partnership with JSI. The discussion focused on the introduction and scale up of self-care family planning methods in sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting lessons and best practices from DMPA-SC scale-up and Caya® diaphragm pilot introductions in French-speaking West Africa. Presenters from Benin, Niger, and Senegal shared successes and challenges. This webinar was offered in French.

PMA generates frequent, high-quality surveys monitoring key health indicators in nine countries in Africa and Asia. Data is available open-source for research, program planning, and policy-making. PMA family planning briefs provide a snapshot of select indicators through charts, graphs and tables. Key indicators for family planning include unmet need for family planning, modern contraceptive prevalence rate (​mCPR), and family planning access, equity, quality, and choice.

This list was curated by the Knowledge SUCCESS team by asking projects funded by USAID Population and Reproductive Health to submit resources that they have developed or used.

The purpose of the toolkit is to bring together existing learning and guidance as a starting point for stakeholders to begin SRH preparedness work. Within the SRH sector the field of preparedness is relatively new and growing. More collective effort is required to further evaluate the impact of preparedness efforts and push the field forward. This effort is a first attempt at synthesizing draft guidance for SRH preparedness, and is intended for field testing. The toolkit recognizes the longstanding work of the field of emergency and disaster risk management, and endeavors to bridge that work with the human rights-oriented and peoplecentered field of sexual and reproductive health.

This compendium aims to consolidate emerging information on applying digital technology in voluntary family planning programs to inform the adoption and scale-up of successful approaches, as well as encourage learning and adaptation from approaches that were less successful. The interactive website enables users to explore case studies across a range of digital health solutions to enhance voluntary family planning programs in low and middle-income countries.

In the publication, “Maintaining essential health services: operational guidance for the COVID-19 context” the WHO outlines strategies governments should take to ensure populations retain access to essential health services, including sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care, during and beyond the current COVID-19 pandemic. This document, developed with the input of international nongovernmental organizations and local civil society actors to support the implementation of the WHO guidance at the country level, recommends concrete policy, programmatic and budgetary decisions to optimize and implement the WHO guidance and other relevant SRH guidelines at the national and subnational levels. As a living document, the recommendations provide a snapshot of the current context. This document is designed to be updated with new evidence and advocacy recommendations by governments, technical experts, civil society and advocates worldwide with the COVID-19 response and through recovery.

This publication recommends practical actions that countries can take at national, subregional and local levels to reorganize and safely maintain access to high-quality, essential health services in the pandemic context. The guidance outlines strategies governments should take to ensure populations retain access to essential health services, including sexual and reproductive health care, during and beyond the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is intended for decision-makers and managers at the national and subnational levels.

The World Health Organization (WHO) convened a Guideline Development Group meeting from 29 to 31 July 2019 to review global guidance on contraceptive eligibility for women at high risk of HIV acquisition to and determine whether revisions to the fifth edition of the Medical eligibility criteria for contraceptive use (MEC) were needed. The issue was deemed critical, particularly for sub-Saharan Africa, given the high lifetime risk of acquiring HIV alongside the importance of hormonal contraception in offering women and adolescent girls’ choice and in reducing their risk of unintended pregnancy, a common threat to the health, well-being and lives of women and adolescent girls.