Time to Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptive Uptake Over Twelve Months Postpartum: Findings of the Yam Daabo Cluster Randomized-Controlled Trial in Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

PURPOSE: An earlier adoption of contraceptive methods during the postpartum period could help women to extend the inter-pregnancy interval. This article aimed to determine and compare the timing of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) use (ie, intrauterine device and implant) in Burkina Faso (BF) and DR Congo (DRC) between the intervention and control groups. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 1120 postpartum women were enrolled and followed up to 12 months postpartum. We used Yam-Daabo trial data which was a multi-intervention, single-blinded, cluster-randomised controlled trial done in primary health-care centres (clusters) in both countries. Centres were randomly allocated to receive the six-component intervention or standard antenatal and postnatal care in matched pairs (1:1). We did a secondary analysis using Royston-Parmar’s semi-parametric model to estimate the effect of the interventions on the median time of LARC uptake. RESULTS: Our analysis included 567 postpartum women in BF (284 in the intervention group and 283 in the control group) and 553 in the DRC (274 in the intervention group and 279 in the control group). After showing an increase in family planning use in these two African countries, Yam Daabo’s interventions showed a reduction of the median time of LARCs adoption in the intervention group compared to the control group in both countries (difference of 39 days in Burkina Faso; difference of 86 days in the DR Congo). CONCLUSION: The Yam Daabo intervention package resulted in increased and earlier adoption of LARC in rural settings in Burkina Faso and urban settings in DR Congo. Such an intervention could be relevant in similar contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa with very high fertility rates and high unmet needs for contraception.