How Data and Information Contribute to Contraceptive Security

This 4-page report from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Health Policy Initiative, Task Order 1, examines strategies for securing contraceptive security (CS) in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. According to USAID, many countries in this region are experiencing the gradual phase-out of donated contraceptives. During the past decade, governments and donors have been working together to put in place sustainable mechanisms to ensure that countries have the capacity to ensure that people are able to choose, obtain, and use high-quality contraceptives whenever they want or need them.

As this brief explains, to continue moving forward toward full CS, interested parties from the public and private sectors in many of these countries have come together to form Contraceptive Security Committees with support from USAID cooperating agencies. The CS committees have assisted governments, donors, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in analysing markets and demand for family planning (FP), forecasting contraceptive needs, carrying out policy analyses, informing decisionmakers of important findings, advocating for policy reforms and greater access among the underserved, and helping implement new approaches for achieving contraceptive security.

The assertion made here is that these CS committees have been effective in large part due to the availability and use of more specific data, increasingly sophisticated analytic methods, and specific research focused on contraceptive supply and operational policies that have underpinned the successful efforts of the CS committees, according to USAID. Namely, "it is only in recent years that the level of detail, especially in the Demographic and Health Surveys, has allowed an analysis of contraceptive method use by different socioeconomic groups - more commonly known as quintile analysis or market segmentation analysis. This type of data analysis provides researchers and policymakers with a much clearer understanding of current needs, how well public sector providers are reaching their clients, who the private sector serves, and the characteristics of demand by method mix and income. In addition, improvements in simulation software now allow more detailed projections of demand and more robust pricing information..."

Here are some examples of how data and information have been used to improve the sustainability of contraceptive supplies in LAC countries:

1. Awareness raising and policy dialogue - example: In Nicaragua, market segmentation analysis revealed that a large proportion of the Social Security Institute (INSS) beneficiaries were obtaining contraceptives from the Ministry of Health (MOH) at no charge. Members of the CS Committee presented these data to the MOH and the INSS Director, who were unaware of this use pattern. The INSS agreed to increase provision of contraceptives to its beneficiaries via contracted private service providers.
2. Advocacy and policy change - example: Bolivian CS committee members, in collaboration with sympathetic parliamentarians, produced and disseminated a series of studies and recommendations for legislative and executive policymakers during 2003-2005. The data in these studies showed significant health benefits that would accrue to women of reproductive age by covering FP/RH services under the nation's Universal Maternal/Child Insurance plan. As a result, in 2005, the government of Bolivia passed Law No. 3250, which established expanded coverage of its health plan to include many additional FP/RH benefits for women of reproductive age, including greater availability of contraceptives and FP services.
3. Planning and programming - example: Until recently, many countries ordered contraceptives based on limited information about needs. A CS committee member in the Dominican Republic reports that the lack of data on the current and projected FP method mix meant that the government purchased more intrauterine devices than required. Thanks to the CS committee's work, this problem has been overcome.

As indicated in this report, one of the notable features of the CS committees is that they hold periodic national and regional meetings, interact frequently to share information and analyses, and conduct specific study tours from one country to another. "This robust interchange has stimulated and accelerated the pace of change and improvement with respect to" CS.