Now Available: Achieving Positive Policy Changes for Family Planning in Bangladesh

Contraceptive prevalence in Bangladesh has increased nearly eight-fold over the past 30 years, from just 8% in 1975 to 61% in 2011, and the total fertility rate has fallen from 6.3 to 2.3 lifetime births per woman. Yet policy barriers and outdated medical eligibility criteria still sometimes impede clients' access to the method of their choice-particularly long-acting and permanent methods (LA/PMs), which represent only about 13% of all family planning use there.

Using EngenderHealth's Supply-Enabling Environment-Demand (SEED) programming model, the RESPOND/ Mayer Hashi project worked hand in hand with the Directorate General of Family Planning to improve the policy environment around LA/PM use. Mayer Hashi implemented a careful, structured process that relied heavily on consultation with local partners about critical obstacles in the field. Discussions about how to program in response to these challenges were considered in light of the SEED model. As a result, significant policy changes took place. For example:

• Regulations on access to tubal sterilization were loosened, and provision of implants to nulliparous women was permitted.
• Clinic registration procedures were streamlined, to encourage greater private-sector involvement in LA/PM and postpartum family planning service delivery.
• Postpartum family planning services were introduced into private facilities where they previously had not been available.

We invite you to learn more about how RESPOND and Mayer Hashi achieved these positive changes. Please dowload the brief below:

Achieving Positive Policy Changes for Family Planning in Bangladesh
Project Brief No. 8
September 2012 (PDF, 3MB)