A Total Market Approach to Family Planning Services

The Office of Population and Reproductive Health in USAID’s Bureau for Global Health has identified the Total Market Approach (TMA) as a strategic focus area for 2014-2020. TMA is a framework that helps stakeholders consider how to best use the full range of public, private commercial, nonprofit, and donor resources in a country's health system to sustainably, equitably, and efficiently increase access to priority health information, products, and services. In the context of reproductive health, this focus facilitates the development of healthy markets where youth, women, men, and couples have access to a full range of family planning (FP) methods.

In recent years, there has been increased global focus and guidelines on implementing TMAs to strengthen the supply of priority health products. There has been much less experience using the framework for health services, which has added layers of complexity. This course is intended to complement the Total Market Approach eLearning course by applying the basic total market concept to  FP services.

By the end of the course, learners will be able to identify how a TMA can lead to a healthy market for FP services and understand the roles of different sectors within that healthy market. Particular attention will be paid to metrics for defining and measuring the family planning total market, health financing strategies, and total market activities that can help increase access and overcome staffing obstacles to quality family planning services. The course will use real-world and hypothetical case studies to reinforce key points and will provide links to additional resources for more information.