Family Health International (FHI) has conducted collaborative research, and programming and capacity-building workshops involving both governmental and non-governmental organizations in El Salvador to improve reproductive health and expand family planning options in the country. Working with local partners, we have studied the safety and effectiveness of various contraceptive methods and explored barriers to their use. Through our many training activities, we have worked to share knowledge of best medical practices with providers and policy-makers.
More Research Highlights
FHI conducted a multi-country, randomized controlled study to compare the safety and effectiveness of two vasectomy techniques: vas occlusion with fascial interposition and vas occlusion without fascial interposition. Study sites were in El Salvador, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Brazil, Panama, Mexico, and the United States. The study provided strong evidence that fascial interposition significantly improves vasectomy outcomes when ligation and excision is the method of vas occlusion.
An FHI study exploring reasons for low IUD use in El Salvador found three main barriers to use: persistent myths regarding the method's safety, limited provider training in IUD insertion and removal, and inadequate discussions about the method during client-provider interactions. As a result of this research, FHI helped develop an IUD reintroduction curriculum to train health care providers in IUD insertion and extraction techniques and to correct misinformation about the IUD's safety and efficacy.
FHI collaborated with the Nicaraguan non-governmental organization CANTERA to develop interactive training materials for workshops on domestic violence, gender and reproductive health that were then used in workshops to train representatives from non-governmental organizations in El Salvador, Haiti, Guatemala, and Honduras.
