Technical Guidance

The ACQUIRE Project’s mandate had two dimensions: technical leadership in facility-based reproductive health (RH) and family planning (FP) service delivery programs, with a focus on long-acting and permanent methods of contraception (LAPMs), at the global level; and support to RH/FP service delivery programs, at the country level. ACQUIRE exerted global leadership by generating, disseminating, and using technical and programmatic guidance based on the latest medical and epidemiological evidence and program field experience. At the country level, ACQUIRE supported the use of this technical guidance to inform and improve RH/FP policies and practices.

ACQUIRE generated method-specific, programmatically-oriented technical briefs on female sterilization, vasectomy, and hormonal implants. ACQUIRE helped lead The IUD Subcommittee of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Maximizing Access and Quality (MAQ) Initiative, which produced the MAQ IUD Toolkit, the definitive electronic resource for the latest scientific, technical, and programmatic knowledge about the IUD. ACQUIRE also co-authored a technical brief on client-provider interaction (CPI) that underscores the centrality of CPI to RH/FP service delivery—hence its central position in the ACQUIRE Program Model—and generated new guidance on pain management for female sterilization (updated from guidance issued by EngenderHealth in the 1990s, when it was known as the Association for Voluntary Surgical Contraception adn as AVSC International).

ACQUIRE’s medical and clinical staff presented numerous contraceptive technology updates (CTUs) in international and country-level settings. Presentation of the latest scientific knowledge and technical guidance via CTUs can be helpful, especially if it is done in conjunction with ongoing programmatic initiatives to improve RH/FP policies, change practices, and increase services. Three of these CTUs are included in this section of the archive: an IUD-specific CTU presented as part of ACQUIRE’s effort to standardize IUD training and services in West Africa; an LAPM-focused CTU presented at the USAID Latin American and Caribbean Regional State-of-the-Art meeting; and a general FP CTU that was co-presented with USAID to the White Ribbon Alliance of Nongovernmental Organizations. Also included are guidance documents for assessing and meeting men’s needs with respect to HIV and AIDS, and to RH more generally, in conflict settings.