The ICPD on Quality of Care

At the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development all members of the international community agreed on standards for quality of care in reproductive health and family-planning programmes. The ICPD Programme of Action says (para 7.23): Among other measures, programmes should:

• Recognize that appropriate family planning methods for couples and individuals vary according to their age, parity, family size preference and other factors, and ensure that women and men have information and access to the widest possible range of safe and effective methods in order to enable them to exercise free and informed choice;
• Provide accessible, complete and accurate information about various family-planning methods, including their health risks and benefits, possible side effects and their effectiveness in the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases;
• Make services safer, affordable, more convenient and accessible for clients and ensure, through strengthened logistical systems, a sufficient and continuous supply of essential high-quality contraceptives. Privacy and confidentiality should be ensured;
• Expand and upgrade formal and informal training in sexual and reproductive health care and family planning for all health-care providers, health educators and managers, including training in interpersonal communications and counselling;
• Ensure appropriate follow-up care, including treatment for side effects of contraceptive use;
• Ensure availability of reproductive health services on site or through a strong referral mechanism;
• In addition to quantitative measures of performance, give more emphasis to qualitative ones that take into account the perspectives of current and potential users of services, through means including effective management information systems and survey techniques for the timely evaluation of services;
• Emphasize breast-feeding education and support services, which can simultaneously contribute to birth spacing, better maternal and child health and higher child survival.