Population Council Research that makes a difference

The United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) 2008–2011 Strategic Plan seeks to provide "universal access to reproductive health by 2015 and universal access to comprehensive HIV prevention by 2010 for improved quality of life."  In 2009, the Population Council, in response to a request from UNFPA, undertook an extensive search of the published literature and collated unpublished literature on programmatic experiences with developing and implementing integrated packages of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services with other primary health services. This literature review provided the evidence for developing a guidance document (PDF) that can be used by UNFPA and its national partners when developing and scaling up integrated packages of SRH services.

This document comprises three sections: the introduction explains and justifies why the development and implementation of an integrated package of essential SRH services should be planned and framed within the World Health Organization’s (WHO) six Building Blocks of Health Systems. The second section presents "how-to" steps and provides a checklist tool for planning, implementing, and scaling up an essential SRH package. The third section provides the evidence base supporting the recommendations and action items proposed in the tool. 

The guidance provides a framework for developing any package of SRH services. For illustrative purposes, two essential packages are considered in the guidance document: (1) integrating family planning into maternal and newborn care services; and (2) integrating services for preventing and managing sexually transmitted infections (STIs)/reproductive tract infections (RTIs) into primary health care services.

Project impact

UNFPA is using this guidance document to develop an online training tool for its staff and national counterparts in developing countries globally. Upon its testing and evaluation, this tool may be utilized throughout UNFPA programming and potentially will improve development, implementation, and scale-up of integrated services across the globe.

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Williams, Katherine, Charlotte Warren, and Ian Askew. 2010. "Planning and implementing an essential package of sexual and reproductive health services: Guidance for integrating family planning and STI/RTI with other reproductive health and primary health services." Washington, DC: Population Council. (PDF)