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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Elaine Menotti, MPH¹, James N. Gribble, ScD², Suneeta Sharma, PhD, MHA², and Veronica Siman Betancourt, PhD². (1) Global Health Fellow, Constella Futures/USAID Health Policy Initiative, One Thomas Circle, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005, 202-775-9680, emenotti@constellagroup.com, (2) Constella Futures/USAID Health Policy Initiative, Constella Group, One Thomas Circle, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005

El Salvador's Ministry of Health (MOH) has been the principal provider of family planning (FP) for decades. The MOH's dominance has been supported by internationally donated contraceptive commodities, provided free in MOH facilities. Private sector involvement in FP has been low, in part since it has found it difficult to compete with widespread distribution of subsidized contraceptives. Now, donated commodities are no longer arriving and the MOH's resources alone cannot meet the growing demand for contraceptives in El Salvador. The MOH will thus need to foster the involvement of other sectors in FP provision, targeting its resources to those whose access to FP relies on subsidized services while encouraging more involvement of the private sector to serve those with the ability to pay.

In 2004, El Salvador created a multisectoral contraceptive security committee to strategically plan how to ensure sustained access to quality contraceptives for all those who want them. The committee agreed that each sector (government, NGO, private) has a role to play in FP provision and discussed which population segment each sector is best positioned to serve. The committee's activities include information sharing, market segmentation analysis, public private dialogue, a private sector roundtable, and joint strategic planning. This presentation will present the strategies created and implemented by the multisectoral committee to target the scarce government resources to serve the poor and to increase private sector FP provision for those who can afford to pay.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, participants in this session will be able to
• Articulate the relevance of mobilizing both public and private sectors in order to foster equity in family planning provision.
• Describe public/private collaboration in Contraceptive Security planning and activity-implementation in El Salvador.

Keywords: Family Planning, Access

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation