Abstract
The focus of family planning programmes has shifted away from an emphasis on controlling fertility towards helping individuals achieve their reproductive goals. This article seeks to expand knowledge about the quality of integrated services from the perspective of clients at health facilities in KwaZulu-Natal. The results from 300 structured interviews with clients visiting health facilities found that overall quality of services was relatively high. However, the quality of services varied somewhat between rural and urban areas. Clients visiting urban health facilities reported greater satisfaction with services than clients visiting rural health facilities. The interviews with clients suggests that existing efforts to integrate services has had limited success. Clients were rarely offered an expanded range of services during their visit. In most cases, clients only received services for which they presented at the health facility.
Highlights
At the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, 180 countries pledged their commitment to meeting the reproductive needs of sexually active men and women
Interpersonal relations between providers and clients are seen as the cornerstone of good quality services (Bruce 1990)
It is important to begin this discussion with a cautionary note with regard to the limitations of exit interviews
Summary
At the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, 180 countries pledged their commitment to meeting the reproductive needs of sexually active men and women. The recommendation was to provide an integrated package of reproductive health services - including the management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)through existing maternal and child health (MCH) and fam ily planning programs (United Nations 1995). This shift towards integration was based on the belief that integrated services may be the most convenient and effective way of providing cost effective and better quality services to sexu ally active men and women. The promotion and distribution of condoms may be introduced into family plan ning as a new activity (Dehne & Snow 1998: 19)
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