Nurse auxiliaries as providers of intrauterine devices for contraception in Guatemala and Honduras

Abstract

Nurse auxiliaries staff the majority of primary health service delivery outlets in low-income countries, particularly in rural areas with high unmet need for contraception. Yet often service delivery guidelines prohibit them from providing contraceptive methods such as the intrauterine device (IUD). Operations research in Guatemala and Honduras in 1997–2005, described in this paper, have shown that nurse auxiliaries can provide IUDs in a safe and clinically appropriate fashion, which can help improve women's choice of methods and decrease costs in health centres with physicians and professional nurses, and health posts. Empowering these health workers requires commitment at the health system and policy levels to a long-term strategy in which small pilot studies are first conducted, followed by phased scaling-up of the strategies, which can require several years. Training can be conducted both in high volume clinics or on-site in health posts. Simple measures such as mentioning the method during counselling and to users of different services and providing women and communities with printed materials have been effective in increasing requests for IUDs. These studies also showed that nurse auxiliaries can take on other reproductive health services, such as contraceptive injections.