Document Type

Brief

Publication Date

2002

Abstract

In September 1999, the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) and the Population Council initiated a one-year study to assess the performance of ZNFPC’s community-based distribution (CBD) program. A continual decline in the program’s productivity, combined with the expanding HIV/AIDS epidemic, indicated a need to reconsider ZNFPC’s objectives and revise the roles and responsibilities of its full-time, salaried CBD agents. The study examined the productivity, costs, and potential sustainability of the CBD program. Researchers gathered information by reviewing program documents through 1999. They also interviewed program managers, district and community nurses, and community leaders and CBD agents from eight regions. They assessed community views through focus group discussions with female CBD clients, male and female users and nonusers of family planning, and youth. As noted in this brief, the study revealed a need to reorient the program to fit the country’s changing reproductive health needs—specifically the country’s growing HIV/AIDS crisis. The organization incorporated the study findings in a pilot program to improve organizational efficiency while focusing agents’ efforts on the HIV/AIDS crisis.

DOI

10.31899/rh2002.1015

Language

English

Project

Frontiers in Reproductive Health

Download

Share

COinS