FRONTIERS Projects | Disseminating Information on the IUD in Rural Honduras

FRONTIERS PROJECT
Disseminating Information on the IUD in Rural Honduras

FRONTIERS worked with the Ministry of Health and the Honduran Family Planning Association (ASHONPLAFA) to test a strategy to inform communities about the availability and use of the IUD. The project provided training to teach providers how to conduct IUD informational activities in rural and semiurban health centers and posts.

Providing information on the IUD did not curtail the ability of users to make free and informed choices regarding alternative methods of family planning. The number of IUDs delivered by health centers in the experimental group doubled and in the control group decreased by half. The communication strategy attracted the target audiences of family planning programs: those who lived farther from medical centers, had less education, had more children, and had never used a contraceptive before. Nearly 85 percent of women who requested the IUD were comfortable with the method, and 65 percent of them recommended it to friends or family members.

Location

Honduras

Duration

December 2004–July 2006

Population Council researcher

Ricardo Vernon

Non-Council collaborators

Honduran Family Planning Association (ASHONPLAFA)

Ministry of Health

Donor

US Agency for International Development

Publications/Resources
Council researchers' names appear in boldface type.

2007
Flores, Ivo Flores, Élida Rosa Aguilar Fonseca, Rosa Merlen Flores, Ricardo Vernon, Jorge Solorzano, Suyapa Pavón, Marco Tulio Falck, and Alba Lidia Sánchez. "Increasing use of the IUD through community and clinic based education activities in rural Honduras," FRONTIERS Final Report. Washington, DC: Population Council. (PDF, 614 KB) (PDF en español, 167 KB)