Despite the success of the population program in Egypt, there is still an unmet need for family planning of 17.8%, according to the1997 Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey. Moreover, the current CPR is 54.5%, with a target of 71%. This means that the remaining non-practicing portion of the population is considered to be hard-to-reach. Hence, the Clinical Services Improvement (CSI) project has pursued several innovative approaches in responding to the unmet needs of clients living in underserved areas.
Reaching the hard-to-reach encompasses a dynamic mechanism of outreach activities that targets a sector of Egyptian community that does not have access to CSI or similar quality services. The approach includes educational sessions, community based marketing activities, and a mobile clinic system that can respond to immediate client demand by providing on-the-spot services and a referral system. CSI started this activity in July 1997 and has achieved the following results.
A total of 380 outreach activities were implemented by September 2000. All CSI centers, covering 19 of 26 governorates, participated in these activities. During this period, CSI reached 95,950 new clients in underserved areas; 45% of whom were family planning clients, and 54% of whom were clients of other services, representing 8.4% of all CSI clients during that period. On average, we were able to serve 52 clients per day with the numbers in certain areas reaching close to 200. CSI provided health education to about 1.5 million persons, with an average of 4,000 persons receiving health education during each event.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to: 1. Apply a comprehensive service delivery plan to reach the hard-to-reach sectors of the population for increasing the contraceptive prevalence rate. 2. Develop an out-reach plan for demand creation for family planning. 3. Discuss the successful experience of meeting the unmet need for family planning and lessons learned.
Keywords: Access to Care, Underserved Populations
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Clinical Services Improvement
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: employment