A few facilities provided good access to and quality of family planning services, particularly urban, private, and higher-level facilities. Yet only one-third offered family planning services at all, and only 20% of these facilities met a basic measure of quality. Condoms, oral contraceptives, and injectables were most available, whereas long-acting, permanent methods, and emergency contraception were least available. Responding to the DRC's high unmet need for family planning calls for substantial expansion of services.

A series of facility-based surveys that mapped all sites providing family planning services and that assessed readiness to provide services, using mobile phones, was feasible in a low-resource setting, contributing to mobilization of partners and increased donor support. Between 2012 and 2013, readiness to provide services increased from 44% of sites to 63%. Three factors most associated with productivity: type of facility (clinics more than hospitals or health centers), more years in operation, and number of methods available.

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While geographic information systems (GIS) are frequently used to research accessibility issues for healthcare services around the world, sophisticated spatial analysis protocols and outputs often prove inappropriate and unsustainable to support evidence-based programme strategies in resource-constrained environments. This article examines how simple, open-source and interactive GIS tools have been used to locate family planning (FP) services delivery points in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and to identify underserved areas, determining the potential location of new service points, and to support advocacy for FP programmes. Using smartphone-based data collection applications (OpenDataKit), we conducted two surveys of FP facilities supported by partner organizations in 2012 and 2013 and used the results to assess gaps in FP services coverage, using both ratio of facilities per population and distance-based accessibility criteria. The cartographic outputs included both static analysis maps and interactive Google Earth displays, and sought to support advocacy and evidence-based planning for the placement of new service points. These maps, at the scale of Kinshasa or for each of the 35 health zones that cover the city, garnered a wide interest from the operational level of the health zones' Chief Medical Officers, who were consulted to contribute field knowledge on potential new service delivery points, to the FP programmes officers at the Ministry of Health, who could use the map to inform resources allocation decisions throughout the city.

<p><strong><em>Introduction:</em></strong><em> </em><em>HIV-Associated Nephropathy </em><em>may shorten the life expectancy of affected patients. Its </em><em>early detection is beneficial for the indication of treatment and hence prevention of progression to the end-stage of renal failure. The final diagnosis requires renal biopsy which may be difficult in some African area; clinical and ultrasound criteria may be helpful. The aim of this study was twofold: to characterize renal sonographic changes in HIV-positive patients with HIV associated Nephropathy and to investigate the correlation between renal sonographic changes and histological lesions in central Africa.</em></p><p><strong><em>Methods:</em></strong><em> A prospective and multi-center study conducted from January 2013 to July 2015 included, for renal ultrasound evaluation of the length, thickness and echogenicity, forty two of the 334 biologically confirmed HIV-positive patients who presented with significant proteinuria suggestive of HIV associated Nephropathy. And transcutaneous renal biopsy with histopathology has been performed in 16 patients of them. </em><em>Statistical analyzes were used.</em></p><p><strong><em>Results:</em></strong><em> There were 100 men and 234 women; proteinuria was positive in 42 patients, (12.6%). The average length of the kidneys was 111 ± 8 mm (normal), with 10% of patients with pathological values (5% with kidneys of reduced size and 5%, increased size). The kidneys had an average thickness of 44 ± 5 mm (normal), with 21% of patients presenting an increase in renal thickness. Quantitative echogenicity was calculated at 1.492 ± 0.793 (normal), with 79% of patients with increased quantitative echogenicity. Of the 16 patient</em><em>s</em><em> biopsied, all had tubulo-interstitial lesion</em><em>s</em><em>, and 75% of them associated with glomerular le</em><em>s</em><em>ion</em><em>s</em><em>.</em><em> </em><em>In simple correlation analysis, tubular dilatation was positively and significantly related to quantitative echogenicity (r = 0.67, p &lt; 0.01) and to renal parenchyma thickness (r = 0.67; 0.85, p ? 0.05). The relationship between the other parameters studied did not reach statistical significance. In multiple linear regression, glomerular hyalinosis, glomerular proliferation, tubular dilatation, tubular atrophy, interstitial fibrosis, and interstitial inflammation emerged as the main determinants of quantitative echogenicity; however, the relationship was statistically significant only for tubular dilatation (? = 0.305, p = 0.034).</em><em></em></p><strong><em>Conclusion:</em></strong><em> The present study showed the characteristic of renal change and the relation with histology found in central Africans patients.</em>