In addition, some providers believe pregnant women may use contraceptives to induce abortion. While many providers believe that women know about menstruation requirements, data from Kenya and Cameroon show that clients do not. Denial of contraceptive methods to non-menstruating women is a serious obstacle to services, which could be reduced by using a simple checklist for pregnancy. Submitted for publication. Family Health International, 1999.
Checklists are an important tool for community-based health workers who provide contraceptives.
Checklists have long been used to determine a woman's eligibility for specific contraceptive methods. Family Health International developed new checklists for combined oral contraceptives and DMPA, based on criteria from the World Health Organization. FHI staff compared checklists now in use in four Latin American countries with WHO criteria and found that none completely reflected current WHO recommendations. FHI field-tested its new checklists and received suggestions for wording changes, to make the meanings clearer. However, even subtle word or phrase changes modified the intent of checklist questions.