Koroma AS, Ghatahora SK, Ellie M, Kargbo A, Jalloh UH, Kandeh A, Alieu H, Bah M, Turay H, Sonnie M, Sesay S, Hodges MH, and Doledec D
Background: From mid-2015, reproductive and child health interventions were integrated into a routine 6-month contact point: vitamin A supplementation, nutrition counseling with the mother's participation in the preparation of a complementary food, and confidential family planning counseling with provision of modern forms of contraceptives. By mid-2017, these services had reached 28% of health facilities nationwide., Objective: To evaluate awareness and uptake of modern contraception and complementary feeding practices., Methods: All health facilities were visited, and the health worker "in-charge" were interviewed to ascertain their training status and supply chains. Within each catchment, community mothers of children 6 to 23 months of age were interviewed., Results: Interviews were conducted with 321 "in-charges" and 670 mothers. Advantages and different types of contraception were understood by 99.0% of mothers, and 52.7% reported they were utilizing depot injections, hormonal implants, or oral contraceptive pills (45.1%, 34.6%, and 20.6% of users, respectively). Uptake was higher among Christians (62.1%) versus Muslims (48.6%) and among those with secondary/tertiary (61.5%) or primary education (60.5%) versus no education (43.3%) (P < 0.005 and P < 0.05, respectively). Complementary feeding practices included minimal meal diversity, 49.2% (fed three or more of six food groups), and recommended minimal meal frequency appropriate for age, 52.6%. Health workers reported frequent stockouts of vitamin A capsules (8%), male condoms (1%), oral contraceptives (10%), depot injections (20%), and hormonal implants (30%)., Conclusion: In communities served by these integrated services, awareness and uptake of modern contraception exceeded national targets despite weak supply chains, and complementary feeding practices were favorable compared with the national survey., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)