Transforming Family Planning Outlook and Practice in Egypt : A Rights-Based Approach

Rabie, Tamer ; Boehmova, Zuzana ; Hawkins, Loraine ; Tawab, Nahla Abdel ; Saher, Sally ; El Shitany, Atef

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: FAMILY PLANNING;    FERTILITY RATE;    HUMAN RIGHTS;    INFANT AND MATERNAL MORTALITY;    LEGAL AND ETHICAL CODES;   

RP-ID  :  90596

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Family planning (FP) programcontributed to Egypt s progress in reducing infant andmaternal mortality and the total fertility and populationgrowth rates. The Arab spring has brought to the forefrontlong-held aspirations, which can only be fulfilled by aclear shift to a rights-based and person-centered familyplanning approach and away from an imposed top-down programwith targets for family size and fertility rate. The essenceof a rights-based approach to FP is interacting with peopleas individuals with rights to control ones lives, not as atarget of a particular program. The FP program also needs todetermine and mitigate the factors that make it difficultfor the poor, young, and marginalized groups to exerciserights to receive the services needed. The authors of thisreport examined the challenges facing Egypt s FP programthrough a human rights lens, exploring whether individualsand couples are able to exercise their rights to financialand physical access to good quality FP services. Theresearch also investigated whether client demand forservices, and the acceptability of those services, is guidedby human rights aspects of service delivery, such as therights to information, privacy, confidentiality, methodchoice, and the autonomy to choose the number and spacing ofbirths. This report synthesizes the findings from threesources: (i) an analysis of legal and ethical codes andinstitutions for upholding reproductive rights in Egypt;(ii) a literature review of past studies and surveys inEgypt; and (iii) a field study in four governorates, usingquantitative and qualitative methods to assess theaccessibility and quality of FP services in family healthunits; the views of clients through in exit interviews; andthe views of community members in focus group discussionswith married women, husbands, and mothers-in-law onperception of FP, the quality of services, and serviceresponsiveness to their needs. This study reconfirmed theneed to focus on redressing staff turnover in rural primaryhealth care (PHC) facilities, as well as improving thequalifications and skills of existing staff, both keyconstraints to quality improvement.