A Family Planning and Gender Equity Intervention Based on a Psychological Approach Delivered Through Peers for Urban Slums

Improving contraceptive demand and use is a top priority identified in Pakistan’s national health plan. There are socioeconomic inequities in family planning coverage in Pakistan (1). Lack of interventions for the urban poor is a global research gap (2). Our project aims to improve demand and use of contraception in urban slums by using a cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) based intervention that applies the principles of guided discovery, empathetic listening, problem solving and behavioral activation to address the misconceptions around contraception and empower women in decision making, assisted by technology (mobile phone and interactive voice response-IVR). We aim to develop and test a model where couples identified from urban slums will be organized and trained to deliver the CBT based intervention and form an active empowered group "Happy Parent Networks" (HPNs). Our social innovation is to develop, support and sustain HPNs who will use a task sharing approach where they will work with the community health workers (CHWs) and health visitors (LHV) and form linkages with private and government family planning providers for sustainability. The new human resource developed can be owned and scaled by the government, multilateral public and private sector. Our project will explore a business model by developing a strategic partnership with social marketing services and private family planning providers where the HPNs earn through referrals and product distribution.