Population Council | Frontiers in Reproductive Health

FRONTIERS
Emergency Contraceptive Pills: South East Asia Regional Training Manual

This training manual is based on experiences gained during operations research conducted in Bangladesh by the Population Council in collaboration with the Directorate General of Family Planning to promote emergency contraceptive pills under the National Family Planning Program (more). Emergency contraception refers to any method of contraception that can be used by a woman to prevent an unwanted pregnancy within three days of unprotected intercourse or a contraceptive accident such as condom leakage. There are two methods of emergency contraception—taking a course of emergency contraceptive pills or using an intrauterine device (IUD). This manual discusses emergency contraceptive pills and the provision of related services. It does not cover IUDs.

This manual serves an important role in the introduction of the method. It aims to equip trainers with appropriate knowledge and skills on emergency contraceptive pills. Trainers will require one day of training in order to become fully acquainted with the idea of emergency contraception as well as the training materials. After training, trainers will have the knowledge and skills necessary to train service providers and workers on emergency contraceptive pills. Clinicians and program managers who wish to provide emergency contraception services or become acquainted with the method also will benefit from this manual. In addition, the manual provides details about service delivery and counseling guidelines.

The manual is divided into four sessions. The first session provides an overview of the demographic and reproductive health situation in South Asia and briefly discusses the role of emergency contraception as a reproductive health intervention. The second session defines emergency contraception and discusses details of when and how emergency contraceptive pills should be taken. The third covers service-delivery guidelines, particularly what users should do in case of method failure. The fourth session covers counseling on emergency contraceptive pills and frequently asked questions on emergency contraception.

Each session has a list of objectives that are detailed at the outset. Master trainers should aim to achieve these objectives when training service providers and workers. A set of transparencies is provided with the manual to the trainers, which can be used for each session.

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

2005
"Emergency contraception and emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs)," transparencies to accompany Emergency Contraceptive Pills: South East Asia Regional Training Manual. New Delhi: Population Council. (presentation) (presentation in PowerPoint)

Hossain, Sharif Mohammed Ismail, M.E. Khan, Moshiur Rahman, and Mary Philip Sebastian. "Emergency contraceptive pills: South East Asia regional training manual." New Delhi: Population Council. (PDF)

Hard copies of the manual and the transparencies are available free of charge upon request from f rontiers-india@popcouncil.org

For more information, please contact:

Population Council
Sangha Rachana
53 Lodi Estate, 3rd Floor
New Delhi - 110003 India
Telephone: +91 11 2469 9747/8
Facsimile: +91 11 2461 0912
E-mail: f rontiers-india@popcouncil.org