MEETING BIRTH SPACING NEEDS OF THE UNDESERVED IN PUNJAB DISTRICT

The Operations Research project “Meeting Birth Spacing Needs of the Underserved in Punjab Districts” is a 3 year quasi-experimental (with control) study to determine whether an established low cost service model providing quality services, when complemented with provision of vouchers for free services for extremely poor women, increases demand, access and utilization of modern contraceptives for healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies in the rural and urban locations of three Punjab districts (Chakwal, Mianwali, and Bhakkar). The former two districts will be intervention sites and the latter, the control site.

The processes and impact of the services will be measured by a series of surveys and on-going data collection that will compare the change in attitudes, knowledge, practices and uptake of family planning and related services in intervention areas. These will be compared based on the results from baseline to those at the end of project and with a control community. The analysis will provide details on project implementation modalities, changes in contraception use, method mix and the costs of service delivery and uptake of family planning among the communities.

MSS plans to stimulate political will and improve policy through dissemination of best practice/innovations through findings of this research.