Using the 5C Vaccine Hesitancy Framework to Elucidate and Measure Contraceptive Acceptability in sub-Saharan Africa.

We draw lessons from immunization research by assessing the applicability of the 5C framework of vaccine hesitancy to contraceptive acceptability in sub-Saharan Africa.

Recognizing and Addressing the Contraceptive Hesitancy-Acceptability Continuum: Adopting Lessons Learned From the Immunization Field.

We propose a new framework that builds from vaccine hesitancy concepts and findings for the family planning community to better conceptualize, measure, and address the major drivers of contraceptive hesitancy and acceptability.

Family Planning, Reproductive Health, and Progress Toward the Sustainable Development Goals: Reflections and Directions on the 30th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development.

Investing in family planning and reproductive health—broadly defined as the services, policies, information, attitudes, practices, and commodities, including contraceptives, that help individuals achieve their fertility intentions—is integral to attaining many Sustainable Development Goals.

Another Best Practice: Leveraging User and Stakeholder Perspectives to Improve and Refine Existing Medical Products.

Refinement of existing medical products, which may already have an established evidence base, robust market, and experienced users, may better meet user and potential user needs, if feedback from key stakeholders is solicited and incorporated early in the refinement process.

Is the Decision Not to Use Contraception an Indicator of Reproductive Agency?

Women's engagement in the decision to use contraception, an indicator captured in the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), is frequently used to assess women's reproductive agency. In 2014, DHS added a corollary question to the women's questionnaire on decision-making not to use contraception. Study authors hypothesize that women's engagement in decision-making not to use contraception is also indicative of reproductive agency.

What Do We Demand? Responding to the Call for Precision and Definitional Agreement in Family Planning's "Demand" and "Need" Jargon.

This commentary offers a response to the call to improve family planning language that describes “need” and “demand” and proposes a set of recommendations to add precision, improve measurement, and foster shared understanding in family planning.

Multisectoral Policies and Programming: High-Income Countries Can and Should Be Learning From the Philippines and Other Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

The global health field will miss key learning opportunities if it continues to make a false distinction between research of relevance to lowand middle-income countries and research of relevance to high-income countries.

Standardizing Measurement of Contraceptive Use Among Unmarried Women.

Historically, the family planning practices and needs of married women have been monitored and reported uniformly. However, the same uniformity does not hold for unmarried women. Because key data and information platforms employ different measurement approaches-namely, different definitions of sexual recency-reports of contraceptive prevalence and unmet need among unmarried women are inconsistent.

Dynamic stagnation: reasons for contraceptive non-use in context of fertility stall.

While most countries have experienced reductions in the total fertility rate (TFR), there are countries where the fertility transition has not begun and others where the fertility transition has stalled with TFR still well above replacement level.  We use these contexts of "fertility stagnation" to explore reasons behind contraceptive non-use among women who desire to delay or avoid a future birth.  Specifically, we explore whether women's reasons for not using contraception are stagnant as the population-level indicator, TFR, suggests or are more dynamic.

Monitoring Progress in Equality for the Sustainable Development Goals: A Case Study of Meeting Demand for Family Planning.

Objectives: Equality is a central component of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We took one SDG indicator and benchmark-percent of family planning demand met with modern contraceptives, with a benchmark of at least 75% in all countries-as a case study to illuminate recommendations for monitoring equality. Specifically, we assessed levels, patterns, and trends in disparity by key background characteristics and identified disparity measures that are programmatically relevant and easy to interpret.

Measuring contraceptive prevalence among women who are at risk of pregnancy.

Objectives: The contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) is generally reported among in-union women ages 15-49. Here, union status and age serve as proxies for exposure to the risk of pregnancy. As a result of changing dynamics, age and union status proxies may be insufficient for determining the rate of contraceptive use among women at risk of pregnancy.

Response to Austad: Offering a Range of Methods, Including Fertility Awareness Methods, Facilitates Method Choice.

When selecting a contraceptive method, women and men consider various attributes in addition to effectiveness, such as side effects, return to fertility, level of medical intervention, and interference with sexual activity. Offering a range of methods, including fertility awareness methods that meet the standard to be considered modern, helps to address these considerations, facilitating method choice.

Measuring Access to Family Planning: Conceptual Frameworks and DHS Data.

Expanding access to family planning (FP) is a driving aim of global and national FP efforts. The definition and measurement of access, however, remain nebulous, largely due to complexity. This article aims to bring clarity to the measurement of FP access.

Fertility Awareness Methods: Distinctive Modern Contraceptives.

Fertility awareness methods—the Lactational Amenorrhea Method, the Standard Days Method, and the Two Day Method—are safe and effective, and they have important additional benefits that appeal to women and men. Including these modern contraceptives in the method mix expands contraceptive choice and helps women and men meet their reproductive intentions.

Meeting demand for family planning within a generation: prospects and implications at country level.

Background: In order to track progress towards the target of universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a measure (demand for family planning satisfied with modern contraceptive methods) and a benchmark (at least 75% by 2030 in all countries) have been recommended.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to assess the prospects of reaching the benchmark at the country level. Such information can facilitate strategic planning, including resource allocation at global and country levels.

Assessing the quality of data regarding use of the lactational amenorrhea method.

This study assesses the quality of Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data regarding self-reported current use of the lactational amenorrhea method (LAM). LAM is an important modern contraceptive method that, when practiced correctly, has a 98 percent effectiveness rate six-months postpartum. The objectives of this study are to examine the accuracy of self-reported LAM use, compared with the constructed correct-practice variable, and to explore differentials in accuracy measures by characteristics at the individual and survey level by analyzing data from 73 DHSs conducted in 45 countries between 1998 and 2011.

A systematic review of Demographic and Health Surveys: data availability and utilization for research.

Objective: To systematically review the public health literature to assess trends in the use of Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data for research from 1984 to 2010 and to describe the relationship between data availability and data utilization.

Methods: The MEASURE DHS web site was searched for information on all population-based surveys completed under the DHS project between 1984 and 2010. The information collected included the country, type of survey, survey design, fieldwork period and certain special features, such as inclusion of biomarkers.

Meeting the health information needs of health workers: what have we learned?

The information challenges facing health workers worldwide include lack of routine systems for seeking and sharing information, lack of high-quality and current health information, and lack of locally relevant materials and tools. This issue of Journal of Health Communication presents three studies of health information needs in India, Senegal, and Malawi that demonstrate these information challenges, provide additional insight, and describe innovative strategies to improve knowledge and information sharing. Results confirm that health workers' information needs differ on the basis of the level of the health system in which a health worker is located, regardless of country or cultural context.