A diagnostic study of the provision and use of contraception in postpartum, postabortion, and
prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs in the Dominican Republic was
conducted with funding from USAID’s Latin American and the Caribbean Bureau. The
objectives of the study were to assess the contraceptive knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of
providers and clients, the degree to which information, counseling, and delivery are implemented
in postpartum, postabortion, and PMTCT services, the quality of these services, and the
readiness of postpartum, postabortion and PMTCT services to offer contraceptive services.
Researchers visited and carried out service inventories at 59 hospitals and health centers of the
Ministry of Health (MOH), the Dominican Social Security Institute, and Profamilia (the IPPFaffiliate).
Interviews were held with 522 health providers (303 in Ob-Gyn wards and 219 in
outpatient services), 2,965 women in antenatal care, 879 following their delivery, 162 in
postabortion care, 1,421 in the six-month postpartum period, and 156 at HIV integral care units.
In five facilities non-intrusive ethnographic observation were undertaken of the context where
services were provided and structured observation of client-provider interactions. In-depth
interviews were held with 21 providers and 20 users and three focus group discussions with
women in the first six months postpartum.