ECP Handbook: Introducing and Mainstreaming the Provision of Emergency Contraceptive Pills in Developing Countries

Abstract

For many women, emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) offer an opportunity to prevent unintended pregnancy following contraceptive method failure, rape, or unprotected sex. Access to this safe, effective option remains an essential element of women's quality reproductive health care. However, ECPs remain inaccessible across much of the world, particularly in developing countries where limited commodity supplies, provider competency, public awareness, and misinformation routinely coalesce to restrict availability. While ECPs have been introduced on a pilot basis in many countries, their effective integration into both the public and private sectors has lagged. Successful interventions are guided by the principle that provision of ECPs is not exclusively the responsibility of government family planning programs, and so seek to mainstream delivery of ECPs by developing links with private sector providers and pharmacies, the HIV/AIDS sector, and sexual assault services. Successfully introducing ECPs into a country's health-care system is a complex undertaking. This handbook provides comprehensive guidance to reproductive health program managers and policymakers on introducing and mainstreaming ECPs, including needs assessments and operations research, drug registration, training and logistics, and introduction of ECP scale-up.