RESEARCH SUMMARY

December 2003

Family Planning and PMTCT Services:
Examining Interrelationships,
Strengthening Linkages

Program Implications

Family planning services are being offered at PMTCT sites sometimes using the same workers who provide PMTCT services; however, there is considerable room for improvement. Programs should strive to eliminate missed opportunities to address client needs for both family planning and PMTCT. Group talks in the ANC/MCH setting should include information on how women can prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV by avoiding unintended pregnancies.

Counseling sessions on family planning should be offered to more women, with better integration of HIV issues. During individual PMTCT contacts, staff should assess family planning preferences and discuss appropriate methods. Postpartum infant feeding counseling is another important chance to discuss family planning needs and methods. The PMTCT program should ensure that the counselors and mothers’ groups that counsel and support women during their first few months of infant feeding also address the risks of pregnancy associated with the different infant feeding choices. Such counseling should also help women avoid closely spaced births that raise the health risk for themselves and their infants.

HIV-positive women need specific information and counseling to help them address health and sexuality concerns, as well as their reproductive needs and rights. Taking into consideration a woman’s HIV status as well as her reproductive health goals may lead to more comprehensive family planning counseling and services.

Further operations research is needed at more sites to explore the family planning needs of women at PMTCT sites and the best way to meet these needs.

Finally, wherever women seek family planning services, health workers should give information about the risk of HIV from unprotected intercourse, offer at least a referral to HIV counseling and testing, and promote dual protection from sexually transmitted infections and an unintended pregnancy.

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See Also

• Population Council – Gender, Family, and Development Program
• Population Council – HIV/AIDS
• Robert H. Ebert Program on Critical Issues in Reproductive Health

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For additional information please contact: 
Horizons 
Population Council 
4301 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 280 
Washington, DC 20008
Telephone: +1 202 237 9400 
Facsimile: +1 202 237 8410 
E-mail: horizons@popcouncil.org 

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This page updated
19 October 2007