Access to contraception: A nonprofit’s community strategy

Abstract

Prevention of unintended pregnancy relies on access to affordable, effective contraception, yet many structural and individual barriers to use have been identified. This article documents how one local nonprofit sought to reduce barriers to access, organized around the expanded A’s of health care access framework. Although structural barriers (affordability, accessibility, availability, accommodation) tend to be more amenable to longer-term change than individual barriers (awareness, acceptability), the latter need to be addressed early and often to provide the foundation for removing structural barriers. Sustainable change is especially salient for communities seeking to increase access to contraception.

Keywords:

• Barriers to health care access
• contraception
• health communication
• health promotion

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was provided by A Step Ahead Foundation, Memphis, TN.