FRONTIERS
The Balanced Counseling Strategy:
A Toolkit for Family Planning Service Providers

Available in English, French, and Spanish, the Balanced Counseling Strategy (BCS) is a practical, interactive, client-friendly counseling strategy that uses three key job aids (visual memory aids) for counseling clients about family planning.

The BCS toolkit incorporates the latest international family planning norms and guidance as recommended by the World Health Organization, including the 2004 Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use and the 2007 Family Planning Global Handbook. The process, tested and refined in several countries, involves a set of steps to determine the method that best suits the client according to her/his preferences and reproductive health intentions. The BCS toolkit includes:

• User’s Guide (PDF);
• Trainer's Guide (PDF); and
• Three job aids or memory tools for use by the provider and client:

1. An algorithm that summarizes the 11 steps needed to implement the strategy (PDF);
2. Counseling cards with basic information about 15 family planning methods, plus a card with the checklist to be reasonably sure a woman is not pregnant; (PDF); and
3. Brochures on each of the methods for the client to take once a method is chosen;  (PDFs below):
    

   The Pill (combined oral contraceptives)	Emergency contraception (emergency contraceptive pills or ECP)	Female condoms
   Tubal ligation (female sterilization)	Hormonal implants	Intrauterine device (IUD)
   Progestin-only injectables (DMPA or NET-EN)	Monthly injectable (combined injectable contraceptives or CICs)	Spermicides (vaginal tablets, foam, film)
   Minipill (progestin-only oral contraceptives)	TwoDay Method®	Vasectomy (male sterilization)
   Standard Days Method® (SDM)	Male condoms	Lactational amenorrhea method (LAM)

The BCS approach is easy to adapt to local contexts, and the toolkit includes instructions for adaptation as well as a CD-ROM with electronic copies of the materials. The BCS tookit is available in English, French, and Spanish upon request from frontiers@popcouncil.org

The Balanced Counseling Strategy Plus: A Toolkit for Family Planning Service Providers Working in High HIV/STI Prevalence Settings

The Balanced Counseling Strategy was revised and tested in Kenya and South Africa to facilitate integration of counseling and testing (C&T) for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, in settings with high prevalence. The Balanced Counseling Strategy Plus (BCS+) is a tool to improve the quality of family planning services and to strengthen the integration HIV prevention, detection, and care into family planning, such as the risk assessment of STIs. The BCS+ toolkit will be available in English in September 2008 upon request from frontiers@popcouncil.org

May 2008

Related Projects

Related Publications

See Also

• General Quality of Care 
• Contraception 
• FRONTIERS Quality of Care Improvement
• FRONTIERS Contraception
• FRONTIERS FP/HIV Integration
• FRONTIERS Technical Assistance/Institution Building
• FRONTIERS Research Tools

For more information contact:
Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS)
Population Council
4301 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Suite 280
Washington, DC 20008 USA
Telephone: +1 202 237 9400
Facsimile: +1 202 237 8410
E-mail: frontiers@popcouncil.org

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This page updated 20 August 2008

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