Delivering postpartum family planning services in Nepal: are providers supportive?

Health service providers play a key role in addressing women's need for pregnancy prevention, especially during the postpartum period. Yet, in Nepal, little is known about their views on providing postpartum family planning (PPFP) services and postpartum contraceptive methods such as immediate postpartum intra-uterine devices (PPIUD). This paper explores the perspectives of different types of providers on PPFP including PPIUD, their confidence in providing PPFP services, and their willingness to share their knowledge and skills with colleagues after receiving PPFP and PPIUD training.

In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 obstetricians/gynecologists and nurses from six tertiary level public hospitals in Nepal after they received PPFP and PPIUD training as part of an intervention aimed at integrating PPFP counseling and insertion into routine maternity care services. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a thematic approach.

Providers identified several advantages of PPFP, supported the provision of such services, and were willing to transfer their newly acquired skills to colleagues in other facilities who had not received PPFP and PPIUD training. However, many providers identified several supply-side and training-related barriers to providing high quality PPFP services, such as, (i) lack of adequate human resources, particularly a FP counselor; (ii) work overload; (iii) lack of private space for counseling; (iv) lack of IUDs and information, education and counseling materials; and (v) lack of support from hospital management.

Providers appeared to be motivated to deliver quality PPFP services and transfer their knowledge to colleagues but identified several barriers which prevented them from doing so. Future efforts to improve provision of quality PPFP services should address the barriers identified by providers.