Contraception

Client, provider, and visit factors associated with quality in contraceptive counseling in Mexico: an exploratory cross-sectional analysis

Kay Walker
Ndola Prata
Maureen Lahiff
Ximena Quintero
Kelsey Holt
2021
Background

Monitoring clients’ experiences with contraceptive care is vital to inform quality improvement efforts and ensure fulfillment of individuals’ human rights. The Quality of Contraceptive Counseling (QCC) Scale is a previously validated scale that comprehensively measures individuals’ experiences receiving counseling in three subscales: Information Exchange, Interpersonal Relationship, and Disrespect and Abuse. We sought to better understand the correlation of client, provider, and visit factors with client-reported quality of contraceptive counseling in the public sector in two...

Exploring Language Used in Posts on r/birthcontrol: Case Study Using Data From Reddit Posts and Natural Language Processing to Advance Contraception Research

Elizabeth Pleasants
Julia Holmes Ryan
Cheng Ren
Ndola Prata
Anu Manchikanti Gomez
Cassondra Marshall1
2023

Background: Contraceptive choice is central to reproductive autonomy. The internet, including social networking sites like Reddit, is an important resource for people seeking contraceptive information and support. A subreddit dedicated to contraception, r/birthcontrol, provides a platform for people to post about contraception.

Objective: This study explored the use of r/birthcontrol, from the inception of the subreddit through the end of 2020. We describe the web-based community, identify distinctive interests and themes based upon the textual...

Bone mineral density changes during use of progestin-only contraceptives: a rapid review of recent evidence.

Blake Erhardt-Ohren
Ndola Prata
Scott Rosenblum
2025
Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to consolidate existing evidence and identify knowledge and research gaps on the bone health effects of progestin-only oral contraception, injectables, hormonal intrauterine devices, and implants. implementation.

Data sources: We searched PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library for conference abstracts, original research articles, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses published between 05 May 2012 and 31 August 2023.

Study eligibility criteria: We limited...

Cost of providing injectable contraceptives through a community-based social marketing program in Tigray, Ethiopia

Ndola Prata
Janelle Downing
Suzanne Bell
Karen Weidert
Hagos Godefay
Amanuel Gessessew
2016
Objective

To provide a cost analysis of an injectable contraceptive program combining community-based distribution and social marketing in Tigray, Ethiopia.

Methods

We conducted a cost analysis, modeling the costs and programmatic outcomes of the program’s initial implementation in 3 districts of Tigray, Ethiopia. Costs were estimated from a review of program expense records, invoices, and interviews with health workers. Programmatic outcomes include number of injections and couple-year of protection (CYP) provided. We performed a sensitivity analysis on the average number of...

Professor Ndola Prata's exceptional undergraduate students from the PH181 course Poverty and Population this fall semester have communicated with their United States representatives!

December 18, 2025

This fall 2025 semester Professor Ndola Prata has six exceptional undergraduate students from the PH181 course Poverty and Population who have communicated with their United States representatives, expressing their strong arguments for contraceptives as foreign aid for USAID, comprehensive sex education in public schools, abortion pills, community protection from hunger and climate stress, food security and women's access to reproductive care. These students are Rishabh Ganesh Balamitran, Raka Bose, Alyssa Chan, Rosalie Güitrón,...

Reaching the hard to reach

Martha Campbell
Malcolm Potts
Pouru Bhiwandi
1994

PIP: The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development proposed increasing contraceptive couple protection from 550 million in 1995 to 880 million in 2015. The task for family planning (FP) programs is to provide access to services for, sometimes, inaccessible rural populations. FP need based on desire for no more children has ranged from under 20% in Senegal to almost 80% in Peru. Socioeconomic development was found not to be a prerequisite for fertility change. Gender inequalities in education and social autonomy must be changed. FP access is very important among women with...

Safety implications of transferring the oral contraceptive from prescription-only to over-the-counter status

Malcolm Potts
Colleen Denny
1995

The idea of making oral contraceptives available without prescription has a long history, and has been recently revived in the US and the UK. High dose oral contraceptives have generally been replaced by low dose formulations and, subsequently, most cardiovascular risks have been reduced and a protection against ovarian and uterine cancers has been consistently demonstrated. Oral contraceptive compliance, however, continues to be a problem, but there is no reason to assume that wise practice would be any more or less if oral contraceptives were available over-the-counter (OTC). Some...

The myth of a male pill

Malcolm Potts
1996

This article discusses progress and limitations in developing a male birth control pill

Published in Nature Medicine 2, 398 – 399 (1996)

Download PDF, click here.

Making family planning accessible in resource-poor settings

Ndola Prata
2019
Abstract

It is imperative to make family planning more accessible in low resource settings. The poorest couples have the highest fertility, the lowest contraceptive use and the highest unmet need for contraception. It is also in the low resource settings where maternal and child mortality is the highest. Family planning can contribute to improvements in maternal and child health, especially in low resource settings where overall access to health services is limited. Four critical steps should be taken to increase access to family planning in resource-poor settings: (i) increase knowledge...

Two pills, two paths: a tale of gender bias

Malcolm Potts
2003

In Japan, it took over 30 years to register the contraceptive Pill, but it took only six months to approve Viagra. The Pill was developed in an academic institution and no large pharmaceutical manufacturer wished to market it. Viagra was developed inside a big company and actively promoted. In the USA, the Pill was almost removed from the market because of widely publicized reports of deaths, but mortalities associated with Viagra do not make the headlines. Viagra has been promoted by the famous, whilst those who use the Pill do not appear in advertisements. Even theologians have treated...