Integrating Family Planning into HIV Services in Uganda

June 29, 2016

APC Uganda is helping 16 health facilities integrate family planning (FP) into their HIV services. The project has provided health center staff with gender, FP, and FP/HIV integration training and conducted an inital assessment in each facility. The assessment found that clinics were providing “one-stop service point,” “intra-facility referral,” or both models of integration. The project is mentoring staff and collecting integration data at each site to determine if training and targeted mentoring on the one-stop service point model can improve access to FP services for HIV-positive clients, as compared to the intra-facility referral model.  Please see below for results from the inital assessment. 

Trends of FP/HIV Integration service delivery

Trends between January 2015 and March 2016
Proportion of clients served by metehod

The results to the right suggest that the one-stop service point model has a higher potential of increasing access to FP services to HIV-positive clients than intra-facility referral model does. Results also indicate that FP/HIV service integration can increase access and utilization of FP services among HIV-positive clients who are on antiretroviral therapy.

The assessment also found that 45 percent of clients used injectable contraceptives; 37 percent used condoms; and 10 percent implants. This suggests that the majority of clients prefer short-term methods to long-term methods.

To support providers with the integration of FP and HIV services, APC Uganda developed and distributed supportive materials, such as a FP/HIV integration client flow chart and a Q&A guide for providers to respond to frequently asked questions.