Findings and Lessons Learned From Strengthening the Provision of Voluntary Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives With Postabortion Care in Guinea.

ABSTRACT

Integrating voluntary family planning into postabortion care (PAC) presents a critical opportunity to reduce future unintended pregnancies. Although Guinea has low contraceptive prevalence overall, acceptance of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) among PAC clients is higher than among interval LARC users and higher than the national average. In 2014, we assessed the extent of LARC provision within PAC services and the factors influencing integration. Primary and secondary data collected from 143 interviews, 75 provider assessments, and facility inventories and service statistics from all 38 public facilities providing PAC in Guinea allowed exploration of voluntary family planning uptake in the context of PAC. Study findings showed that 38 of 456 (8.3%) public health facilities or 38 of 122 (31.1%) facilities with a mandate to manage obstetric complications provided PAC services. Service statistics from 4,544 PAC clients in 2013 indicate that 95.2% received counseling and 73.0% voluntarily left the facility with contraception, with 29.6% of acceptors choosing a LARC. Family planning within PAC was emphasized in advocacy, policy and guidelines, quality improvement, and supervision, and the range of contraceptive options for postabortion clients was expanded to enable them to avoid a second unintended pregnancy. Factors that influenced provision of family planning within PAC included (1) the ability of champions both within and outside the Ministry of Public Health to advocate for PAC and leverage donor resources, (2) the incorporation of PAC with postabortion family planning into national policies, standards, and guidelines, (3) training of large numbers of providers in PAC and LARCs, and (4) integration of LARCs within PAC into quality improvement and supervision tools and performance standards. Guinea has gradually scaled up provision of PAC services nationwide and its experience may offer learning opportunities for other countries; however, continued advocacy for further expansion to more rural areas of the country and among private health facilities is necessary.