Disparities in access to family planning services in Jamaica.

ABSTRACT

PIP: Jamaica's National Family Planning Board's strategy to ensure the sustainability of its family planning program and improve its effectiveness involves getting users of contraception to use longer-acting methods and increasing the role of the private sector in service delivery. Before this approach was implemented, however, a study was conducted to secure a better understanding of the nature and scope of existing family planning services in Jamaica. The study looked at the distribution of family planning service delivery points in Jamaica and the services offered by the public and private sectors through an examination of records and questionnaire interviews. Private sector providers, the main sources of longer-acting methods, were found to be concentrated in urban areas. As such, longer-acting methods were hard to come by in rural areas. The public sector must recognize that private sector providers are not serving rural areas, and provide longer-acting methods to people who want them.