Task sharing for family planning
This might be an area that adolescent health portals and school |PHSE services might enter into? Guidance on planning, implementing and scaling up task sharing for contraceptive services https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/381723
Expanding access to contraceptive services
Among the 1.9 billion women of reproductive age (15–49 years) worldwide in 2021, 164 million were not currently using a modern contraceptive despite an expressed desire to prevent a future pregnancy (2). This unmet need for family planning is greatest in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and is often skewed towards rural areas, among those with less education and among adolescents (3,4). A critical barrier to accessing high-quality contraceptives in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is a shortage of trained health care providers. WHO advises a workforce density of 44.5 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10 000 people. However, there is an estimated global needs-based shortage of over 17 million health professionals, with the greatest shortages in rural areas, which are frequently those with a high unmet need for contraception (5).
Contribution of task sharing to universal health coverage (UHC) WHO and the international community have set critical goals for achieving UHC. This means that everyone should have access to the full range of quality health services when and where they need them, without financial hardship (6). Task sharing for contraceptive services contributes to UHC by expanding coverage to underserved populations. By delegating specific tasks away from doctors and nurses to a broader range of health care providers, such as CHWs, midwives, and other non-specialist health workers, task sharing expands the reach, affordability and availability of family planning services. This approach allows more people, especially those in remote or marginalized communities, to access a wide range of contraceptive methods (7). Task sharing also contributes to the demedicalization of health services by enabling community-based services where women may feel more comfortable and less stigmatized.
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HIFA profile: Richard Fitton is a retired family doctor - GP. Professional interests: Health literacy, patient partnership of trust and implementation of healthcare with professionals, family and public involvement in the prevention of modern lifestyle diseases, patients using access to professional records to overcome confidentiality barriers to care, patients as part of the policing of the use of their patient data Email address: richardpeterfitton7 AT gmail.com