Family Planning High Impact Practices Can Improve Outcomes for Population, Health, and Environment Programs
Experts in the family planning sector have developed a set of evidence-based practices—known as Family Planning High Impact Practices (HIPs)—that improve family planning and reproductive health program outcomes. HIPs can also be applied in development programs that integrate multiple sectors at the community level, including family planning. A promising opportunity exists to expand the use of HIPs within population, health, and environment (PHE) projects.
PHE projects are integrated community-based projects that reach populations in ecologically rich areas with activities that improve reproductive and other health services and support the sustainable use of natural resources. They are typically located in remote communities where unmet need for family planning is often high.
When PHE projects use HIPs in their work, they can direct their family planning resources more effectively to achieve greater impact. Strengthening the awareness of and knowledge base between HIPs and PHE projects allows for the sharing of family planning best practices. Using HIPs in remote areas also feeds information back to the HIPs evidence base to show how PHE projects help serve the family planning needs of rural communities.
This web feature illustrates how more robust and purposeful use of HIPs can lead to better family planning outcomes for PHE projects, and how PHE projects’ use of specific HIPs provides a valuable opportunity to enhance the HIP knowledge base.
WHAT ARE FAMILY PLANNING HIGH IMPACT PRACTICES?
Family Planning High Impact Practices (HIPs) are a set of evidence-based family planning practices developed by international family planning researchers and program experts that reflect consensus around what activities most effectively increase voluntary use of contraception. Each HIP is documented in an easy-to-use brief and has a corresponding suite of resources and tools that can be easily adapted to individual projects. HIPs briefs provide examples of successful family planning/reproductive health activities from multiple projects and tips on how to maximize family planning investments.
HIPs are organized into three categories:
Enabling Environment HIPs address systemic barriers that affect an individual’s ability to access family planning information and services.
Service Delivery HIPs improve the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of family planning services.
Social and Behavior Change HIPs influence knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, and social norms associated with the use of contraception.1
Additionally, technologies or practices that are typically implemented in conjunction with HIPs to improve impact are referred to as HIP Enhancements. One example of such an enhancement is Digital Health for Systems.