Innovative ways to improve access to reproductive health care:
The Egyptian experience
M. Abou Nar, H. Hammad, R. Mostafa, M. Afifi
Pathfinder
International, Cairo, Egypt
This abstract describes a comprehensive and
integrated approach that improves the quality/availability of reproductive
health services and empowers community members to utilize available services.
The TAHSEEN Project is the last USAID-funded reproductive health project in
Egypt and employs a comprehensive approach emphasizing technical assistance to
host country institutions, community mobilization, improved quality of care and
sustainability. The Project works simultaneously with youth, literacy
facilitators, irrigation and agriculture extension workers, women’s groups,
service providers, drivers, communications professionals, religious and
community leaders, local and national government officials and the commercial
and NGO sectors to improve the quality of — and increase access to –reproductive
health services. As of January 2006, the Project is active in 68 communities in
5 governorates in Egypt. Initial results are very encouraging. Awareness of
family planning and reproductive health issues among several demographics has
increased. Within a year, caseload in the Project’s first five communities show
a five-fold increase (from 2,575 to 13,303), a doubling in couple-years
protection (CYP) (744.8 to 1696.9), an increase of 60 percent in the number of
pregnant women seeking care at these clinics (from 1575 to 2679) and a
noticeable shift to long-acting family planning methods illustrated by an
increase in the share of IUDs to the CYP from 50 percent in the fourth quarter
of 2003 to 71 percent. The key lessons learned during implementation include the
importance of adopting a participatory approach to development and the benefits
of pursuing a fully integrated and comprehensive model.