Evaluation of family planning service delivery in Gondar city public health facilities, Northwest Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Family planning program is low-cost and an effective way to lower maternalmortality by reducing the number of high-risk births. Despite the effectiveness of the program, availability of materials, equipment and trained healthcare providers were some of the challenges in sub-Saharan African countries including Ethiopia. Determining the implementation status and identifying gaps is the aim of this evaluation.
Method: A facility-based cross-sectional evaluation design with mixed method approach was employed. Quantitative data was collected through the exit interview of 477 clients from March 25-April 25, 2020. The evaluation focused on three dimensions: availability, compliance, and acceptability with multiple data sources. The quantitative data were entered in to Epi-data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Multivariable logistic regression was done to determine factors associated with client satisfaction. The qualitative data were transcribed, translated and analyzed by using thematic analysis. The evaluation finding was computed and compared with the preset criteria for the final judgment.
Result: The majority of the health care providers (69.8%) got family planning training in the past two years. Three health facilities (37.5%) had 24hrs electricity with backup generators whereas only 25% of the health facilities had functional piped water inside the service room. Only two (25%) health facilities had a separate room for family planning service and 37.5% of health facilities had national FP guidelines. The overall availability of required resources for family planning service at Gondar city public facilities were 62.1%. Only twenty one (26.3%) of health providers dressed based on dressing code of ethics and none of them had ID during our observation. The overall compliance level of health care providers during providing family planning services were 75.5%. About 53.9% of the clients were satisfied with family planning service provided at Gondar city public health facilities.-and-were significantly associated variables with client satisfaction.
Conclusion: The overall implementation of family planning service in Gondar city public health facilities with the three evaluation dimensions were judged as fair based on pre-setting judgment matrix. It is better to improve the service through training of healthcare providers, distributed family planning guidelines to health facilities and shortening of waiting time for service.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest.