Ipas conducts seminar on strategies of Family Planning in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, 19/08/2023: Ipas Development Foundation (IDF) with collaboration with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Health Mission, Odisha, and State Health & family Welfare Department, Govt. of Odisha organized a dissemination workshop on understanding strategic priorities and good practices of the Family Planning (FP) program in Odisha as well as a review of Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) and FP services at Bhubaneswar.

During the workshop, Dr. Brundha D., Mission Director, National Health Mission, Odisha, expressed her views on improving FP indicators through focusing on provision of quality services. She appreciated the team for the efforts they have put in so far to improve FP services. Dr. Brundha emphasized that to further strengthen services, FP corners should be institutionalized at facilities to provide privacy to clients, the FP Logistics Management Information System (FP-LMIS) usage should be improved for ensuring commodity supply and lastly, FP should be considered beyond population control. Dr. Brundha also highlighted the importance of proper documentation of service provision and good practices.

Dr. Bijaya Kumar Panigrahy, Director Family Welfare, Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Odisha presented an overview of the state’s FP program, highlighting progress in terms of increase in contraceptive prevalence rates, although, with a notable increase in use of traditional methods. Traditional methods constitute 25.3% of contraceptive use in Odisha, exceeding the national average of 10.2%. The presentation also highlighted the state’s progress in terms of decline in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) from 424 (in 2000) to 119 (in 2020) and decline in Total Fertility Rate (TFR) from 2.9 (in 1992-93) to 1.8 (in 2019-20). This variance highlights the importance of understanding clients’ choices regarding traditional method usage further.

The panel discussion with Dr. Bijaya Kumar Panigrahy, Director Family Welfare,Dr. Muralidhar Padhi, Additional Director (Maternal Health & Family Welfare), Health & Family Welfare Department, Dr. Dinabandhu Sahoo, Team Leader, State Health System Resource Centre, National Health Mission, Dr. Sangeeta Batra, Chief Technical Officer, Health Systems, IDF, and Dr. Sushanta K. Banerjee, Chief Technical Officer, Research & Evaluation, IDF, discussed strengthening the state’s efforts towards ensuring choice-based FP and service availability till the last-mile and to the doorstep of clients.

The workshop was coordinated by IDF state officer Debabrat Pati, Nalinikant Tripathi, Badal Kumar Samal.