Injectable Contraceptives: Tools for Providers

Coming Soon: “Injectables Toolkit” Web site. Go to www. injectablestoolkit.org for job aids and information about injectable contraceptives M than twice as many women are using injectable contraceptives today as a decade ago, and the numbers keep growing. Women choose injectables because they are highly effective, long-acting, reversible, and private. At the same time many women do not choose injectables or stop using them because of side effects—particularly irregular bleeding, no monthly bleeding, and weight gain—or because they have trouble returning for injections (13, 70, 135, 168). Family planning programs are meeting increasing demand while helping providers to maintain good quality of care. Attention to quality, and to counseling especially, can be the difference between successful and unsuccessful efforts to expand access to injectables (77, 78). Using the tools in this INFO Reports, providers can inform women about injectables and help them be satisfi ed users.