����ֱ����Ƶ

Summary

As countries make significant progress towards improving access to family planning services, there remains a substantial unmet need for modern contraceptive methods in developing regions. In this MARCH seminar, we will hear from three speakers on projects, challenges and opportunities in family planning and reproductive health services in low- and middle- income settings.

Mardieh Dennis and Emma Radovich will provide a joint presentation on their research on family planning provision in LMICs, drawing on published work examining adolescent access to FP and unpublished findings on user fees for contraception in Kenya. This work was done as part of the secondary data analysis project (SAGE) in the Maternal healthcare markets Evaluation Team (MET), which investigates the role of the private sector in the provision of reproductive health services in LMICs. The speakers will draw on issues in measuring unmet need, coverage and market share for family planning and content of care provided.

Kathryn Church will present “In her hands: extending the reach of family planning beyond the health facility”. The presentation will describe how family planning programmes have moved beyond traditional static clinics to deliver services more directly to women and girls. Using examples and evidence from , the presentation will outline a range of strategies to promote and deliver family planning in some of the poorest and remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Speakers

Mardieh Dennis is a PhD candidate at LSHTM. Prior to joining the school, she worked at the Population Council in Zambia, where she coordinated a number of implementation research and evaluation projects related to family planning, abortion, sexual violence, and HIV.

Emma Radovich is a Research Fellow at LSHTM, where she also completed the MSc Demography & Health in 2015. Her background is in politics and reproductive health advocacy, primarily in the US.

Kathryn Church works at Marie Stopes International as the Senior Scientific Manager, where she oversees a portfolio of strategic studies on family planning and abortion. She is also an Honorary Assistant Professor at LSHTM in the Department of Population Health. She holds a PhD in Public Health Medicine from LSHTM, and previously worked at the World Health Organization in the Department of Reproductive Health and Research.