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Voluntary Surgical Contraception For both men and women, voluntary surgical sterilization is a popular and well-established method of contraception. It offers highly effective protection against pregnancy, it carries a very low risk of complications when done according to accepted medical standards, and, as a once-only procedure, it eliminates the need for long-term contraception. In Pakistan, the PSI's Green Star clinic network launched Voluntary Surgical Contraception (VSC) services for women in August 2001. The purpose of this pilot project was to integrate VSC services into the already existing Green Star clinic network as an additional reproductive health service. The VSC service provides yet another choice by offering a permanent method of contraception to couples who have completed their families. The contraceptive prevalence rate for modern contraceptive users in Pakistan is estimated at 20.2% and of these 6.9% are female VSC against 0.0% male VSC, according to the Pakistan Reproductive Health Survey & Family Planning Survey 2001. An unmet need still persists due to the inaccessibility and variable quality of VSC services available. Six of Green Star's highest performing clinic doctors were selected from four cities in Pakistan (Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi) to offer VSC and all of their clinics are located in low-income areas. To ensure quality of service at selected sites, standardized protocols were developed and used. A competency-based training curriculum was used based on JHPIEGO's approach, which emphasizes skill development using checklists for procedure and quality to ensure all steps are performed correctly. The training was divided into two phases that included classroom training followed by 15 days of surgical training at government-based reproductive health service centers and non-governmental organizations. All VSC clinics have a Green Star Plus logo for easy identification of additional reproductive health/family planning services. |
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