Project Highlights

Catalyzing the revitalization of IUDs within the Kenyan national program: Using a holistic approach, simultaneously addressing supply and demand issues, ACQUIRE conducted a campaign to improve the access, quality, and use of IUDs in Kisii District. Based on the campaign-s positive results, USAID/Kenya and the government of Kenya will invest in IUD revitalization efforts throughout Kenya.

Putting family planning back on the map and informing national scale up efforts: The need to reinvigorate the family planning in the face of competing health and development priorities is widely recognized. ACQUIRE is providing technical assistance to USAID-s Repositioning Family Planning Initiative and is producing a series of case studies of both countries that have been successful in increasing contraceptive prevalence and lowering fertility rates, as well as countries that have reached a plateau or made a minimal progress in achieving these goals.

Scaling up family planning in Uganda: ACQUIRE is working with Uganda-s MOH in four districts to strengthen the capacity of district health management teams to more effectively support the provision of long-acting and permanent methods, while also improving and increasing the provision of short-term contraceptive methods.

Strengthening IUD services in Ethiopia, Mali, and Nigeria: ACQUIRE is integrating best practices to catalyze and sustain efforts to reintroduce the IUD through bilateral programs in these three countries through USAID-s Maximizing Access and Quality Initiative.

Establishing partnerships to meet the family planning needs of HIV-positive women and men: In Ghana, ACQUIRE implemented a pilot project to integrate family planning into HIV care and treatment services in two public sector sites. A second pilot project offering integrated services is underway in Uganda, in collaboration with The AIDS Support Organization (TASO). ACQUIRE is also collaborating with TASO and others on a new initiative, -Positive Prevention,- on the integration of family planning information, counseling, method provision, and referral with HIV counseling and services.

Undertaking a campaign to prevent and treat fistula: In Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, the ACQUIRE Project is providing technical assistance to increase the capacity of health care providers to treat fistula and make referrals to other RH services. ACQUIRE is also engaged in activities at the regional level in East and West Africa to support fistula repair. Simultaneously, ACQUIRE is working at the community level to support prevention efforts.

Increasing access to and use of vasectomy services in Ghana: ACQUIRE developed a communications campaign, including radio and television ads, posters, IEC materials, and public relations events, to educate men about vasectomy in several regions of Ghana. The project demonstrated the value of strategic communications/marketing campaigns to increase interest in and use of the method. Results suggest the campaign was very successful: in 2004, service volume was 6.6 times higher than the average number of procedures provided in the 10 years prior to the project (1994-2003).

Strengthening the capacity of regional institutions in East Africa to incorporate gender into their training courses: With funding from USAID's Regional Economic Development Services Office (REDSO) for East and Southern Africa, ACQUIRE is providing training and other technical assistance to the Commonwealth Regional Health Community Secretariat, the Regional Centre for African Family Studies, and the Regional Center for Quality of Health Care on gender integration and male involvement. This project is being done in collaboration with USAID's Interagency Working Group on Gender and the POLICY Project.

Changing attitudes related to child marriage and reproductive health in Nepal: Early marriage and dowry systems contribute to poor health outcomes, including early childbirth. ACQUIRE is implementing a project in Nepal to support the special reproductive health needs of young, married couples and has instituted a successful youth-friendly services program in the project communities. Over the past year, ACQUIRE has mobilized over 1,000 peer educators to conduct rallies, lead talk programs, and organize street dramas to disseminate messages on the advantages of delaying marriage-successfully raising community awareness about this issue.

Standardizing postabortion care in Cambodia: ACQUIRE works at the national level in Cambodia to produce postabortion care (PAC) protocols and training materials, develop the skills of trainers, and support local nongovernmental organizations to work at the health facility level. Over the past year, ACQUIRE collaborated with local partners to develop a national PAC protocol to standardize services and promote greater integration of family planning into PAC services.

Photo credit: K. Beattie/EngenderHealth

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