ACCESS, QUALITY OF CARE AND MEDICAL BARRIERS IN FAMILY-PLANNING PROGRAMS

Access to family planning, quality of care and medical barriers to ser vices are key factors in the adoption of contraceptive use. Access hel ps determine whether the individual makes contact with the family plan ning provider, while quality of care greatly affects the client's deci sion to accept a method and the motivation to continue using it. Medic al barriers are scientifically unjustifiable policies or practices, ba sed at least in part on a medical rationale, that inappropriately prev ent clients from receiving the contraceptive method of their choice or impose unnecessary process barriers to access to family planning serv ices. In the past, international family planning efforts have been cri ticized as placing too much emphasis on issues of access and the quant ity of contraceptives distributed. The climate now exists for pursuing improvements in quality and access simultaneously and for exploring t hrough research the linkages between access, quality and medical barri ers.