Boosting Contraceptive Uptake in Urban Uganda: Older Women Benefit When Layering Adolescent and Youth Interventions Onto Existing Family Planning Programming

Abstract

Layering interventions designed to increase access to contraceptive uptake for adolescents and youth onto existing family planning programming resulted in boosting uptake for older women as well as adolescents and youth.

The Challenge Initiative: Lessons on Rapid Scale-Up of Family Planning and Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health Services

“…The AY-focused articles in this supplement recognize the need for tailored programming that responds to the specific sensitivities and requirements of AY. Bwire et al 26 present a program strategy that supplemented general FP programming in Uganda by “layering” AYSRH services onto the structures and processes already implemented for women of reproductive age (WRA). The article details how program implementers paired facility-level changes with community-level sensitization activities to constitute a multipronged approach, addressing various systems that influence AY’s access to SRH information and services.…”

“…Consequently, AY can access services with greater discretion than if they were attending youth-only services, and youth’s trust in public health state services can grow over time as they transition to adulthood. These implications all make for a strong investment case for AY in resource-constrained settings because these integrated approaches are economically efficient and, as shown by Bwire et al, 26 can enhance contraceptive access among non-youth populations as well.…”