Evidence of international FP best practices incorporated into national health standards Evidence of international FP best practices incorporated into national health standards Definition: Evidence of international family planning (FP) best practices incorporated into national health standards. National health standards are any official standards of care or protocols for providing health care and treatment for health issues. Although there is no standardized or universal definition of a “best practice”, it is defined here as a specific action or set of actions with proven evidence of success in multiple applications and the potential for replication or adaption. Evidence of success is demonstrated through qualitative and quantitative information. Practice(s) refers either to a single action such as implementing a technique or tool, or to a thematically interrelated set of activities, a ”package” of elements that form a cohesive set of actions that can be implemented to improve already existing programs that enhance FP. General criteria for an FP best practice include: the potential for high impact on increasing contraceptive prevalence rate, increasing uptake of contraceptive use or decreasing contraceptive discontinuation; and available, solid evidence of its value. Data Requirement(s): Document review or policy analysis for evidence that FP best practices have been incorporated into national health standards Data Source(s): FP guidelines, protocols, or standards of practice; national health standards. For this framework, to identify the best practices in FP, USAID’s High Impact Practices and best practices identified by the Implementing Best Practices initiatives (IBP) housed at WHO should be used. Purpose: This indicator measures the degree to which FP programming in a country is evidence or data informed. It reflects a country’s recognition of and commitment to global and country best practices. It also reflects efforts to provide efficient, effective and high-quality FP care, as well as a reliance on evidence and data in decision making. Issue(s): Not all countries have formalized health care standards so the inclusion of FP may be difficult to capture. There may be other measures of evidence based programming and planning that will not be captured by this indicator. In the absence of a complete, central repository of internationally accepted best practices, it is difficult to objectively verify the degree to which national standards of care include international best practices. Keywords: quality, family planning Related content Quality of Care in Sexual and Reproductive Health Services Family Planning (Core) Filed under: Family Planning, FP, FP/RH, Indicators, quality, Reproductive Health, RH
