The impact of outreach on the continuity of contraceptive use in rural Bangladesh

In 1978, the Bangladesh family planning program launched a national program of outreach services that continues to the present. Young married women were hired and trained to visit women in their homes, offer contraceptive services, provide information, and support sustained use over time. This report uses data from two rural districts to assess the effect of the household visitation program on the continuity of contraceptive use. Results of a multivariate analysis show that household outreach has had a pronounced net effect on the continuity of contraceptive use throughout the study period and that the magnitude of this effect has increased with time. This finding suggests that sustained contraceptive use continues to benefit from home-based outreach even after a decade of service encounters. Policy implications of this finding are discussed.