Incorporation of Family Planning in CARE Programs in Western Honduras. Final report. CARE / Honduras Contract No. CI92.53A August 1992 - September 1994.

In 1991 in response to low levels of prenatal care hospital delivery and modern contraceptive use CARE initiated a child survival program in 90 communities in western Honduras. Initial program activities included training of Ministry of Health and CARE personnel in the provision of reproductive health services especially IUD insertion and removal Pap testing and counseling techniques; recruitment training and support of 116 reproductive health counselors; and community-level promotion of family planning services including contraceptive distribution. During the 17 months of program activities the counselors provided family planning methods to 2190 new and 2164 continuing acceptors and provided 696 educational talks to 8127 participants. At the time of the endline survey in 1994 CARE was providing one-third of contraceptive methods in the study area. The percentage of women aware of at least 1 family planning method increased from 35.3% at baseline to 86.1% and the percentage of women who stated their husbands supported use of a method rose from 42% to 62%. Contraceptive prevalence increased from 15.4% at baseline to 42.1% at the end of the project with most dramatic increases in the use of the IUD and tubal ligation. Finally the percentage of mothers exclusively breast feeding at 4 months rose from 40.5% to 87%. This intervention confirmed an unmet need for family planning services in this poor rural area.