Background
Abortion is illegal in Sri Lanka, but the number of women having unsafe abortions has increased over the last few decades. These are mostly married women in rural areas, who might have become pregnant too quickly after their last baby or who might not want any more children. There is clearly an unmet need for family planning services among women in Sri Lanka. This does not always mean that the services don’t exist – sometimes the women need more information about how and where to access them. In some cases, the low quality of family planning services can also prevent women from trusting the providers.

About the project
This project was created to improve family planning services and increase the number of married women of reproductive age using family planning methods in Aluthgama and Beruwela II. The project team trained midwives working in the areas on family planning and counselling methods, and supervised them as they delivered these services to their communities. Group discussions were held with religious leaders and community leaders, to sensitize them on the importance of family planning. In addition to this, the project team created educational wall posters on family planning in order to spread the information to more people in the area.

Results
By the end of the project, the number of family planning users increased from 50.3% to 55.7% in Aluthgama and from 47.5% to 48% in Beruwela II. The midwives’ knowledge of family planning and reproductive health increased from 47% to 82% after their training. The community leaders and religious leaders gave valuable input on the project and suggested that there was a need for educational material in the local languages, which the project team addressed by creating posters in Sinhalese and Tamil. Overall, the project led to an improved family planning knowledge in both communities and a reduced unmet need for contraceptive services.

Year: 2009