FPwatch: Facility-based Survey Data for Family Planning Market Analysis in Five FP2020-focus Countries.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Demography
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Facility-based family planning surveys are crucial for understanding service delivery.
• Previous surveys often lacked comprehensive scope or standardized methodology across diverse settings.
• The FPwatch Project aimed to address these gaps by collecting detailed data on family planning services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the datasets generated by the FPwatch Project, a facility-based family planning survey.
• To detail the research design, methodology, sampling, data collection, and quality assurance of the FPwatch surveys.
• To highlight the unique features and suitability of the FPwatch data for informing global family planning efforts.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a comprehensive, facility-based family planning survey across five countries in Africa and Asia (2015-2017).
• Employed a large-scale, standardized methodology with a comprehensive sampling approach.
• Included both public and private healthcare facilities in data collection for most countries.

Main Results:

• Generated datasets from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India, Myanmar, and Nigeria.
• Ensured data quality through rigorous assurance measures.
• Collected data offering a complete picture of the family planning supply environment by including diverse facility types.

Conclusions:

• The FPwatch datasets are a valuable resource for family planning research and programming.
• The standardized, large-scale, and comprehensive nature of the data enhances its utility for global family planning efforts.
• These datasets provide critical insights into the family planning supply landscape, supporting evidence-based decision-making.