Implants Toolkit

"An effective implants program not only focuses on quality services, but also seeks to educate, raise awareness, and build stakeholder buy-in and client/community demand for implants services."

This toolkit for health policymakers, programme managers, and service providers contains information on 3 contraceptive implants - Implanon, Jadelle, and Sino-implant (II) - in the categories of: Essential Knowledge, Polices and Guidelines, Training, Logistics, Program Management, Service Delivery, Communication, and Country Experiences. (Hormonal implants consist of small, thin, flexible plastic rods, each about the size of a matchstick, that release a progestin hormone into the body).

Links to resources on these topics can be found in the navigation menu on the right side of this page on the K4Health website. Knowledge about these implants, in addition to resources on other long-acting and permanent methods (LA/PMs) and Job Aids/Tools are listed under the links below the main navigation tabs.

Resources from more than 50 publishers are included.

For example, under the Essential Knowledge drop-down menu, one of the items is a collection of key fact sheets and briefs on all types of implants, which can be used as "a source for concise, digestible, and medically accurate information about the effectiveness, safety, and benefits of implants as long-acting contraceptive methods. Several of the briefs discuss the importance of encouraging implant use among adolescents seeking a contraceptive method and among women who wish to space or limit their pregnancies."

To cite another example, the Communication section of the toolkit features information and tools to help policymakers, programme managers, and family planning promoters build a supportive environment for implants, including resources related to behaviour change communication (BCC) and advocacy. "Additionally, the resources and materials can help reach many women who are reluctant to try implants because they are misinformed or need a trusted source of information."

Under the Country Experiences tab, there is information on such topics as task sharing, introduction of implants, service delivery models, mobile services, social franchising, LA/PM providers, integrated service delivery, and training approaches. Experiences from Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya, Mali, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Zambia are highlighted.

Members of the K4Health Long-Acting and Permanent Methods (LA/PMs) Community of Practice developed this toolkit, under the leadership of EngenderHealth, FHI360, the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, and the United States Agency for International Development.

K4Health Toolkits are electronic libraries of information resources on particular family planning and related topics that are vetted and selected by technical experts. To facilitate access to Toolkits in areas with limited or no access to the internet, the K4Health Project offers offline CD-ROM versions free of charge to requesters in low- and middle-income countries. If this is applicable to your situation, click here to order.