Quality in Health (Calidad en Salud)

Overview

URC worked in partnership with the Ministry of Health’s National Reproductive Health Program to provide family planning services. Calidad en Salud helped the Ministry increase access to family planning services and contraceptives, especially in rural areas, which tend to have high fertility rates. The project built national capacity to provide an integrated and holistic approach to strengthen the health system, focusing in particular on maternal, neonatal, child, and reproductive health. Calidad worked to increase family planning services, create demand for contraceptives through communication strategies, and address cultural and institutional barriers to family planning service use.

Achievements

• Helped to build a workforce of trained and skilled personnel, introduce equipment for IUD insertion and sterilization procedures, and develop national norms for family planning care
• As a result of projects like this one:
  • Family planning services are offered at no charge at over 1200 health delivery points within the Ministry’s network of services
  • Average fertility declined from five children per woman in 1999 to 3.6 in 2009; the national decline in fertility parallels project efforts
  • Contraceptive prevalence increased from 38% in 1999 to 54% in 2009; users doubled from 2004–2009, climbing from 270,000 to 570,000 
  • URC’s role in the fertility decline was two pronged: 
    • We helped create the National Reproductive Health Program in 2001 and then worked with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to address fertility by increasing access to family planning services, especially among indigenous couples. 
    • We worked nationally with the MOH to strengthen its capacity to provide information, services, and supplies; increase the use of family planning services; and reduce barriers to their use.