The 1970s saw an increase in the number of facilities providing family planning services. The FPs opened several clinics throughout urban areas of Zimbabwe, more Ministry of Health institutions were providing family planning services, the private sector was also actively involved in family planning provision by giving the Association grants or facilities where they could provide family planning services. Commercial farmers were also involved and assisted in building clinics in the commercial farming areas where family planning services could be provided. A scheme where farmers' wives provided contraceptive services to workers on their farms, was also instituted. To increase family planning coverage of the FPA introduced mobile clinics to underserved areas in 1973, a group of lay men and women were recruited to motivate and educate people in different communities in family planning issues. Because of the success of this educational/motivational project in 1976 the government agreed to allow the Association motivators to distribute contraceptives.<sup>2</sup> During the latter part of the 1970s, the Association was given the responsibilities of procuring and distributing contraceptives to the public sector and also of collecting family planning data from all providers of family planning services.

Zimbabwe gained its independence from Britain in 1980 after a protracted sixteen years liberation war. The new Government made major policy changes to address some imbalances in the health sector. In 1981, the Ministry of Health adopted the Primary Health Care concept. Soon after, a Maternal Child Health/Family Planning (MCH/FP) Unit was established in the Ministry itself. The government also directed all MCH/FP units and rural health centers to provide family planning services as an integral part of their MCH services.

To be able to effectively integrate the family planning programme into the Primary Health Care approach and national development initiatives, the government took over the running of the Family Planning Association in September 1981. According to the National Development Plan, 1981-1985 Zimbabwe was "committed to the Primary Health Care concept and Family Planning should be part of the Maternal and Child Health programme. Family Planning should be tackled as a developmental package which aims at raising the socio-economic conditions of all Zimbabweans." The Family Planning Association was placed under the Ministry of Health and in protest, the entire white management body resigned. An all black but inexperienced management team (both senior and middle management) was appointed to run the family planning programme. The task of reestablishing the programme was no mean task. The family planning programme had to be consolidated and integrated into both MCH and development. This was made more difficult by the fact that during the war of liberation, the now ruling party had been vehemently against family planning accusing the then government and the Association of the genocide. Both the white government and the FAP have promoted family planning aggressively among the Black population to arrest what they termed an alarming growth rate among the 2The motivators were allowed to distribute oral pills and condoms only.