The Marie Stopes International Vietnam (MSI) plans to share ameasurement tool for family planning programmes with Government agenciesfollowing its pilot use within MSI clinics, according to MSI countryrepresentative Nguyen Thi Bich Hang at the 2010 Asia-Pacific regionalresearch workshop held in central coastal Nha Trang City.

This three-day workshop, which wraps up on October 7, was part of theMSI Research & Metrics Team's on-going research on sexual andreproductive health and family planning in the Asia-Pacific Region.

The measurement tool, called the Impact Calculator, was introduced byMarie Stopes International in 2009. It is intended to help to accuratelycalculate the effect of family planning programmes on health, economicsand the environment, said Hang.

She said this toolhelps to evaluate family planning performance and can, consequently,give clear evidence for policymakers to establish long-term policies.

The Impact Calculator can calculate demographic andhealth impacts, such as the number of pregnancies and abortions averted,the number of maternal, infant and adolescent deaths prevented. Thetool can also calculate economic impacts, such as the total savings ofhouseholds, and community and health systems. And finally, it accountsfor environmental impacts, such as the ecological footprints averted.

As of July, 109 private health clinics of BlueStarNetwork, which operated under supervision of MSI, provided familyplanning services for nearly 446,000 clients. About a quarter of themreceived modern contraceptive methods.

The ImpactCalculator can translate this set of data to show that nearly 17,000 USDhad been saved and nearly 68,000 abortion cases had been averted.

This tool has been made available for use in more than 40 countries worldwide./.