title: Couple years protection lost, a new tool for family planning programs to prioritize stockout interventions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop and evaluate a new measure--couple years protection lost (CYPL)--to identify facilities with the most damaging contraceptive stockouts and therefore direct program response.
  
  
  METHODS
  As part of a prospective descriptive study, data were gathered on stocks of contraceptives (oral contraceptive pill, intrauterine device, and two types of implant) at 10 family planning facilities in Abuja, Nigeria, between January and August 2012. CYPL values-a summation of average client volume across contraceptive methods multiplied by the number of stockouts and the USAID couple years of protection value for each method-were calculated for each facility.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over the 8-month study period, the 10 facilities had CYPL values ranging from 15.7 to 588.7. Two facilities had a similarly high number of stockouts (9 vs 8), but completely different CYPL values (462.1 vs 15.7).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  By utilizing the CYPL measure, health programs can target family planning facilities with the most damaging stockouts first and thus strategically reduce the negative impact of contraceptive stockouts.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs, Baltimore, MD, USA; Fairhaven College, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA. Electronic address: hilary.schwandt@wwu.edu.
authors.forename: Hilary M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Schwandt
authors.affiliation: Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative, Abuja, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Abudulmumin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saad
mesh_terms: D003271:Contraceptive Agents, Female / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007434:Intrauterine Devices / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D009549:Nigeria; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D003271:Contraceptive Agents, Female; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral
keywords: Contraception; Couple years of protection (CYP); Nigeria; Stockout