title: Family Planning Counseling in Your Pocket: A Mobile Job Aid for Community Health Workers in Tanzania.
abstract: To address low contraceptive use in Tanzania, a pilot intervention using a mobile job aid was developed to guide community health workers (CHWs) to deliver integrated counseling on family planning, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). In this article, we describe the process of developing the family planning algorithms and implementation of the mobile job aid, discuss how the job aid supported collection of real-time data for decision making, and present the cost of the overall system based on an evaluation of the pilot. The family planning algorithm was developed, beginning in June 2011, in partnership with the Tanzania Ministry of Health and Social Welfare based on a combination of evidence-based tools such as the Balanced Counseling Strategy Plus Toolkit. The pilot intervention and study was implemented with 25 CHWs in 3 wards in Ilala district in Dar es Salaam between January 2013 and July 2013. A total of 710 family planning users (455 continuing users and 255 new users) were registered and counseled using the mobile job aid over the 6-month intervention period. All users were screened for current pregnancy, questioned on partner support for contraceptive use, counseled on a range of contraceptives, and screened for HIV/STI risk. Most new and continuing family planning users chose pills and male condoms (59% and 73%, respectively). Pills and condoms were provided by the CHW at the community level. Referrals were made to the health facility for pregnancy confirmation, injectable contraceptives, long-acting reversible contraceptives and HIV/STI testing. Follow-up visits with clients were planned to confirm completion of the health facility referral. The financial cost of implementing this intervention with 25 CHWs and 3 supervisors are estimated to be US$26,000 for the first year. For subsequent years, the financial costs are estimated to be 73% lower at $7,100. Challenges such as limited client follow-up by CHWs and use of data by supervisors identified during the pilot are currently being addressed during the scale-up phase by developing accountability and incentive mechanisms for CHWs and dashboards for data access and use.
authors.affiliation: FHI 360, Durham, NC, USA University of North Carolina, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Smisha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.affiliation: FHI 360, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lasway
authors.affiliation: FHI 360, Durham, NC, USA University of San Francisco, School of Nursing and Health Professions, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: L'Engle
authors.affiliation: FHI 360, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Homan
authors.affiliation: D-tree International, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Layer
authors.affiliation: D-tree International, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ollis
authors.affiliation: FHI 360, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.affiliation: D-tree International, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Silas
authors.affiliation: Pathfinder International, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mwakibete
authors.affiliation: Pathfinder International, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kudrati
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D040421:Cell Phone; D003150:Community Health Workers; D003267:Contraception / Q000379:methods*; D003270:Contraceptive Agents; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D003625:Data Collection; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D000075523:Long-Acting Reversible Contraception; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012736:Sex Education / Q000379:methods*; D013636:Tanzania; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003270:Contraceptive Agents