Advocacy Briefs

Save Lives, Alleviate Poverty, Spur Development: Invest in Long-Acting and Permanent Methods of Contraception
This advocacy brief looks at the continued need for effective, modern family planning, specifically long-acting and permanent methods of contraception (LAPMs), within the context of individual health and well-being as well as international development. It presents LAPMs as vital options for clients and programs and outlines key actions that can be taken by national policy makers and public health personnel in developing countries, along with leaders in the international donor and multilateral communities to invest in and sustain support for FP in general and for LAPMs in particular. (No. 1, 2008) 
Available as a PDF: download (1.2MB)

Fragile, Threatened, and Still Greatly Needed: Family Planning Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa
This advocacy brief is intended to help inform efforts to secure greater programmatic attention to family planning (FP) in Sub-Saharan Africa. It presents evidence that many FP programs in Sub-Saharan Africa are fragile (performance has fallen off), threatened (future program performance is challenged), and still greatly needed to meet health, equity, poverty alleviation, and economic development goals. (No. 2, 2008) 
Available as a PDF: download (378KB)

Long-Acting and Permanent Methods of Contraception: Without Them, a Country's Development Will Be Low and Slow
No, the job is not done yet—far from it: Although a number of Sub-Saharan African countries have made good progress in family planning (FP), success is fragile. Today, fewer than one of every seven Sub-Saharan African women (14%) use any modern method of contraception (PRB, 2006), while in almost every country there is still a large unmet need for FP, both for delaying the next birth for two or more years and for limiting further births. (No. 3, 2008) 
Available as a PDF: download (239KB)

Contraceptive Security: Incomplete without Long-Acting and Permanent Methods
Contraceptive security—when people have regular, reliable, and equitable access to a choice of contraceptive methods to meet their reproductive health needs—is of vital importance to family planning programs, and thus contraceptive security has properly been getting increased attention in international family planning circles. Yet few contraceptive security activities clearly articulate the requirements for meeting the needs of the four long-acting and permanent methods of family planning (LAPMs)—hormonal implants, IUDs, female sterilization, and vasectomy. (No.4, 2008)
Available as a PDF: download (609KB)

Vasectomy: Safe, Cost-Effective, and Underutilized
Vasectomy is safer, simpler, and less expensive than female sterilization—and is just as effective—yet it remains one of the least known and least used methods. Worldwide, an estimated 43 million couples rely on vasectomy; by comparison, nearly 210 million women rely on female sterilization. In this brief, the ACQUIRE Project looks at what is behind this relative neglect of vasectomy, the rationale for programs to pay attention to vasectomy, strategies for improving awareness and correct information about the method, and the need to create male-friendly services. (No.5, 2008) 
Available as a PDF: download  (337KB)