The commercial sectors role in providing long-acting and permanent methods.

The report provides information about the use of long-acting and permanent methods (LAPMs) and the role of the commercial sector in their provision. It examines changes in the use of LAPMs and the sources for acquiring them. Data from a few countries are used to examine how ability to pay affects the use of LAPMs in the commercial sector. We obtained information on the use of LAPMs from 63 of the most recent reproductive health survey reports. Where possible we divided the sources into commercial nongovernmental organization (NGO) and public source categories. We also analyzed trends in method and source use for countries where we could obtain information on the use of the commercial sector. Lastly we analyzed LAPM use and source by wealth quintiles. LAPMs are used less often in sub-Saharan Africa than in other developing country regions worldwide although there were large variations in the composition of LAPMs used in these different regions. In the Central Asia/West Asia/North Africa/Europeregion use of intrauterine devices (IUD) was high but sterilization use was low. In contrast use of sterilization was high in Latin America but some countries in this region also had high usage of IUDs. In only one sub-Saharan African country was use of sterilization high (South Africa). Three South and Southeast Asian countries had high use of sterilization; only Vietnam had high use of the IUD. (excerpt)