Expanding Services for Injectables

A provider gives a client an injection in Bangladesh, where use of injectables has doubled over the last decade. As more women choose injectable contraceptives, programs will need to offer more good-quality services. (Bangladesh/CCP)

Family planning services can meet the rising demand for injectables by:

• Keeping enough supplies on hand. Anticipating demand for injectables and placing accurate and timely orders helps programs maintain adequate supplies and avoid stockouts.
• Mobilizing a range of providers to offer injectables. With training, any health care worker can give contraceptive injections.
• Taking injectables into the community. Offering injectables in community programs increases access and can be as safe as clinic services.
• Organizing services efficiently. Programs can hold down cost increases by organizing work more efficiently, purchasing supplies at the lowest available prices, and encouraging staff to increase productivity.
• Informing the public. Communication programs can tailor messages to address women who know about injectables but hesitate to try them.

As services expand, maintaining good quality remains an obligation to clients for all family planning methods. For injectables, attention to quality includes:

• Giving injections safely. Applying safe injection technique and the universal precautions, including disposing of used syringes and needles properly, helps prevent infection.
• Helping clients decide about injectables. Good counseling helps women decide if an injectable contraceptive suits their preferences and their situation. Providers must tell women that injectables change bleeding patterns.
• Helping clients use injectables successfully. Women who choose injectables keep using them longer when they know that bleeding changes are normal and understand the importance of returning for injections on time.