Postpartum quality improvement strategy for increasing long-acting contraception uptake at a University Hospital in Haiti.

ABSTRACT

To address the gap in the uptake of long-acting contraception (LAC) methods among high-risk postpartum women who fail to return for a family planning method at HôpitalUniversitaire de Mirebalais in the Central Plateau Department of Haiti, contraceptive implant trainings were held for providers on the Labour and Delivery, Post-Partum and Internal Medicine inpatient wards. A very high maternal mortality rate affects large numbers of women in Haiti; however, contraceptive use can reduce maternal mortality significantly. A quality improvement strategy to offer LAC methods to immediate postpartum women at a University Hospital in rural Haiti was initiated in March 2016. This new strategy produced an average improvement from 5% to 32% of women delivering at the hospital, accepting a long-acting method (including bilateral tubal ligations) by the end of the project and which has proved sustainable at an average of 20% to date.