Integrating health services into an MCH-FP program in Matlab, Bangladesh: an analytical update

This is a follow-up to a 1984 study that analyzed the relationship between areal variation in the contraceptive prevalence time series and in the intensity of maternal and child health (MCH) services of the Matlab Family Planning Health Services Project. Results based on 69 months of observation suggested that the addition of MCH components to a program with basic MCH and comprehensive family planning services had no incremental impact on family planning efficacy. However, basic MCH services, involving clinical back-up to family planning and child care since the beginning of the program in Matlab, may have contributed to clients' faith in the clinic staff and the overall efficacy of the Matlab program. In the 18 months that followed the cut-off date for this analysis, contraceptive prevalence increased markedly in the study areas. The present analysis repeats the earlier one for the extended time series to determine if the intensification of health services in Matlab contributed to this secondary increase in prevalence, and to ascertain whether the MCH service regimes have long-run differential impacts. Results for the 87-month time series are similar to those of the previous analysis, suggesting that the introduction of additional MCH inputs in the Matlab service area over the 1982-83 period had no incremental impact on the contraceptive prevalence rate time trend.