Evaluation of a pilot program for task sharing short and long-acting contraceptive methods in Burkina Faso

Background: The Family Health Directorate of the Ministry of Health and Marie Stopes Burkina Faso, with implementing partners, Association Burkinabè pour le Bien-être Familial and Equilibres & Populations collaboratively conducted a pilot project in Burkina Faso focused on “increasing access to family planning (FP) services through task-sharing short- and long-acting family planning methods to primary care cadres.” Four cadres of providers provided intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, while community health workers (CHWs) provided pills and subcutaneous injectables. FHI 360 and the Institut Supérieur des Sciences de la Population evaluated the project’s impact on method uptake, client satisfaction, safety, acceptability and the feasibility of task sharing. Methods: The evaluation employed FP service statistics on new users and conducted 425 client exit interviews and 27 in-depth interviews . New FP clients, community representatives, MoH officials, and pilot project-trained FP providers from Dandé and Tougan districts participated in these interviews. Results: Providers, community representatives and government officials all spoke favorably of the pilot project and considered it a boon to women and the communities in which they lived. FP clients were satisfied with their methods and the services they received from their respective providers, and they reported no safety concerns. However, service statistics did not show a clear and steady increase in method uptake for the four methods beyond spikes coinciding with pre-existing free contraceptive weeks. Conclusions: A scale-up plan for 2020-2022 is in place and will purposefully implement sensitization and demand generation activities to improve FP uptake beyond free contraceptive weeks.