Health Workers’ Manual on Family Planning Options

A spiral-bound manual accompanied by a quick reference booklet for use in the day-to-day counseling of women and couples interested in planning their families.

Addressed to health workers in family planning services, the manual uses simple text and abundant full-color illustrations to communicate essential information about 16 different family planning options. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the importance of helping clients select a family planning option that is safe, effective, acceptable and affordable.

The manual has two parts. The first offers a practical guide to the daily operation of family planning services. Information ranges from advice on when and how to initiate discussions about family planning, through a list of sample replies to common misconceptions about birth control methods, to charts indicating the appropriateness of different methods according to a woman’s age and reproductive stage. The second and most extensive part provides detailed, yet straightforward information about 16 family planning methods. Each is presented in terms of its mode of action, advantages and disadvantages, contraindications and the exact steps that the health worker should follow when a client is either considering the method or has selected it as the first-choice option. A glossary of terms commonly used in family planning concludes the manual.

The manual is accompanied by a 33-page quick reference booklet that repeats, in a convenient format, the information and illustrations for each of the 16 family planning options.