Despite ample evidence documenting the positive impact of men on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and other sexual and reproductive health programs, men's engagement remains very low. This paper examines the current level and nature of male involvement and identifies opportunities for the advancement of men's constructive engagement in PMTCT and sexual and reproductive health. Conceptual and policy barriers have encouraged the inadvertent exclusion of men from PMTCT and other reproductive health services. The historic institutionalization of reproductive health as women's health has generally resulted in health services that are not welcoming of men and has undermined efforts to engage couples. This paper argues that to maximize the health outcomes of PMTCT and sexual and reproductive health programs for women and men, we must move beyond seeing men as simply "facilitating factors" that enable women to access health-care services. Men need to instead be recognized as a constituent part of reproductive health policy and practice. The paper proposes strategies for policy makers and program leaders to engage men and couples to foster communication and shared decision-making. This approach can both help to achieve health goals and engender more equitable relationships between men and women.

The USAID-funded flagship family planning service delivery project named Evidence to Action (E2A) worked from 2011 to 2021 to improve family planning and reproductive health for women and girls across seventeen nations in sub-Saharan Africa using a “scaling-up mindset.” The paper discusses three key lessons emerging from the project’s experience with applying ExpandNet’s systematic approach to scale up. The methodology uses ExpandNet/WHO’s scaling-up framework and guidance tools to design and implement pilot or demonstration projects in ways that look ahead to their future scale-up; develop a scaling-up strategy with local stakeholders; and then strategically manage the scaling-up process. The paper describes how a scaling-up mindset was engendered, first within the project’s technical team in Washington and then how they subsequently sought to build capacity at the country level to support scale-up work throughout E2A’s portfolio of activities. The project worked with local multi-stakeholder resource teams, often led by government officials, to equip them to lead the scale-up of family planning and health system strengthening interventions. Examples from project experience in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda illustrating key concepts are discussed. E2A also established a community of practice on systematic approaches to scale up as a platform for sharing learning across a variety of technical agencies engaged in scale-up work and to create learning opportunities for interacting with thought leaders around critical scale-up issues.

Synthesis and interpretation of the long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) removals data underscored the need to strengthen family planning (FP) counseling, particularly on method side effects and use-effectiveness periods, in all client-provider interactions.n Health care providers perceived "the addendum with LARC removal indicators" as easy to use and useful for understanding quality-of-care issues.