New guidance document on integrating family planning and HIV/AIDS services

[Guest guest]

Greetings,

Family Health International is pleased to announce the availability of Strategic

Considerations for Strengthening the Linkages between Family Planning and

HIV/AIDS Policies, Programs, and Services. This document is designed to help

program planners, implementers, and managers-including government officials and

other country-level stakeholders-make appropriate decisions about whether to

pursue the integration of FP and HIV services. It also explains how to pursue

integration in a strategic and systematic manner, in order to achieve maximum

public health benefit.

To download a copy, go to

http://www.fhi.org/en/RH/Pubs/booksReports/FP-HIV_Strategic_Considerations.htm.

Many governmental and nongovernmental public health agencies are pursuing and,

in some cases, scaling up programs that integrate family planning (FP) and HIV

services. This document was developed by the World Health Organization, the U.S.

Agency for International Development, and Family Health International in

response to calls from public-health decision makers for guidance on FP/HIV

integration.

The partners drew from publications, the recommendations of more than 100

experts in FP and HIV/AIDS, and lessons learned from field experience. The

document places four questions at the center of FP/HIV integration policy:

* What type of service integration, if any, is needed?

* To what extent should services be integrated?

* What steps are needed to establish and sustain high-quality integrated

services?

* What information is needed to measure program success and inform

program/service delivery improvement, replication, and/or scale-up?

The document guides readers through the process of finding answers to these

questions that are appropriate to their countries' circumstances. Where

integration appears to be the right course of action, the document helps readers

identify action steps to establish or enhance integrated FP/HIV services. It

also provides links to resources that will support the implementation of those

action steps, such as facility assessment tools, training curricula, and job

aids.

To order a printed copy, please write to

publications@...<mailto:publications@...>.