The Profamilia Family Planning Program, Colombia : an economic perspective

Abstract

This paper evaluates the Profamilia's outreach effort of 1986. Profamilia is an affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and provides more than 60 percent of Colombia's family planning services. This paper focuses around the question of Profamilia's ability to provide more protection with the same resources. The authors found that: (i) operations tend to be constrained by limited personnel and supplies; (ii) the labor costs and unit costs of contraception are lower in the outreach and clinical programs, which can be expanded with available infrastructure; (iii) the clinical and outreach program is the least cost-effective because of the higher cost of sterilization; (iv) more resources should be targeted to areas where there are proportionately more mothers and where people are better educated; (v) experienced and married workers sell more in the outreach program thantheir junior unmarried colleagues; and (vi) in both the clinical and surgical programs, output would increase if there were proportionately more nurses and fewer doctors.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Adolescent Health,Pharmaceuticals&Pharmacoeconomics,Reproductive Health,ICT Policy and Strategies