MEASURE Evaluation PRH at 2011 Int'l Family Planning Conference
MEASURE Evaluation PRH will present four abstracts and moderate one panel at the 2011 International Conference on Family Planning in Dakar, Senegal.
MEASURE Evaluation PRH will have a strong presence at the 2011 International Conference on Family Planning, which will take place November 29-December 2 in Dakar, Senegal. Four abstracts and one panel submitted by MEASURE Evaluation PRH were accepted for presentation.
The submitted abstracts and panel offer insights, lessons and tools to improve the monitoring and evaluation of family planning efforts. MEASURE Evaluation PRH’s abstracts and panel cover a variety of populations and situations in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southern Asia. In so doing, MEASURE Evaluation PRH will improve countries’ capacity to effectively use their resources to improve family planning, and help USAID achieve its goals of maximizing the health benefits of dollars invested.
In addition to the accepted abstracts, MEASURE Evaluation PRH will announce the Family Planning/Reproductive Health Indicators Database, a new online indicator compendium that provides core indicators, guidance frameworks, and links to additional resources for more than 35 technical areas. MEASURE Evaluation PRH Director Janine Barden-O’Fallon will moderate the panel, which will focus on achieving equity in family planning.
“These abstracts address a number of priority areas within USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health,” said Barden-O’Fallon. “Our presence at the conference will exemplify that MEASURE Evaluation PRH remains at the forefront for providing useful M&E tools, guidance, and information.”
The needs for family planning and for making sure resources are used effectively remain high around the world. However, the people most at risk, and the most efficient methods of using resources vary. MEASURE Evaluation PRH staff investigated these problems in a variety of regions and circumstances.
In South Asian countries such as Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, for example, the prevalence of child marriage remains high, and girls and women at young ages are a vulnerable and underserved population. In his submitted abstract, MEASURE Evaluation PRH's David Hotchkiss investigates the relationship between child marriage and reproductive health outcomes in these countries.
Meanwhile, in Bolivia, where progress toward addressing MDG 5 to improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality has been slow, MEASURE Evaluation PRH and the International Planned Parenthood Federation developed and tested a questionnaire to measure the level of poverty and vulnerability among sexual and reproductive health clientele.
Other topics covered by the accepted abstracts include:
- Relationships between maternal health care and post-partum modern contraceptive use in Kenya and Zambia
- Using a collaborative, participatory approach to develop and apply a framework for measuring success in repositioning family planning
- Disentangling poverty and place of residency for family planning strategic planning
The 2011 International Conference on Family Planning is the second of its kind, the first taking place in Kampala, Uganda in 2009. The 2011 conference will bring participants together to share research, best practices, and progress on national strategies to deliver family planning services, to ultimately bring universal access to family planning.
MEASURE Evaluation has worked on a variety of family planning publications, projects and tools over the past decade, including:
