World Contraception Day is celebrated each year on September 26. Through global campaigns, partners raise awareness of the many forms of contraception that can meet users’ needs to enable young people to make informed reproductive health choices.

In Madagascar, where the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Improving Market Partnerships and Access to Commodities Together (IMPACT) program is working to improve the capacity of the Malagasy health system and help ensure that quality pharmaceuticals and health commodities are available and accessible to all Malagasy people on a sustainable basis, family planning and reproductive health remain a high priority. The 2018 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) revealed key data related to family planning in Madagascar, notably that women of childbearing age have on average four to five children (with fertility rates higher in rural areas than urban ones). Furthermore, two out of five women (aged 15-49) in union currently use a modern contraceptive method and among those, just 65 percent reported that their demand for modern contraception was met. In comparison, the most recent 2008-2009 Demographic Health Survey (DHS) found that 40 percent of women in Madagascar reported contraceptive use, with 29 percent using modern methods and favoring injectables and oral pills. Prior to the study’s findings, modern contraceptive use had seen an increase from five percent in 1992 to ten percent in 1997, and 18 percent in 2003-2004. A 2020 DHS is currently underway which will reveal new family planning evidence, highlighting progress on accessibility and utilization. 

This World Contraception Day, the IMPACT program is supporting family planning and informed reproductive health choices alongside the Ministry of Health’s efforts to promote the dissemination of the new family planning law through a series of family planning-focused messages targeted to different audiences. Specifically, IMPACT and partners are embarking on a mass media communication campaign across TV, radio, and social media (Facebook, YouTube, SMS) platforms to reach national and regional audiences including women, men, youth, pregnant women and girls, health providers, and contraceptive distributors with messages such as:

• Health commodity distributors provide critical products to community members. Keep doors open to reach all types of clients with key medications.
• People of all ages have the right to information and consultation in reproductive health and family planning products and services.
• Men, you have family planning options. Visit a health provider today to learn more and check your local pharmacy or drug shop to get your suitable method.
• Every woman has the right to decide freely the number of children she wishes to have and the space between births, independently of her partner.

The Banyan Global team, as the lead for IMPACT’s gender and social inclusion (GESI) work, was critical to the development of these messages. IMPACT’s GESI team coordinated with key partners Conseil National des Femmes de Madagascar (CNFM) and Entreprenariat Féminin Océan Indien (EFOI) to inform and validate messages that would resonate across diverse groups and reach key decision-makers and influencers in the family planning space. Malanto Rabary, Banyan Global’s GESI specialist on IMPACT, explained that the message she hopes people will take away from the campaign is, “Young people can use family planning to better understand and manage their futures.” CNFM and EFOI will also share the IMPACT campaign’s messages among their respective memberships to increase the campaign’s reach.  The mass communication campaign coincides with the IMPACT program’s celebration of World Contraception Day from September 26-October 3, 2020.