Photo Credit: American Red Cross

Family Planning Across Generations

Family Planning Across Generations

In the remote village of Kacni, in Albania’s northeastern region of Diber, families are bound by ties that reach across generations. 

And here, like in many parts of the country, long-standing traditions and history help shape many of the behaviors and norms of modern Albanian men and women, including family planning choices.

Recent survey results1 have found that nearly 73 percent of Albanian couples hold the belief that traditional methods are more effective than modern contraceptives. Consequently, both unwanted pregnancies and abortions occur all too frequently in remote regions where there is limited access to either services or information on modern reproductive health practices.

Now, with the support of USAID, American Red Cross, and the Albanian Red Cross, Albanians are learning how to make healthy, safe modern contraceptive choices for their families.

Working in three rural districts in Albania’s northeastern region, USAID’s five-year Albania Child Survival Project launched a campaign to increase the use of modern contraceptives among women of reproductive age.  Through networks of family planning support groups and household-level counseling, over 400 women learned first-hand about several safe and effective methods of contraception, including introducing a natural contraception to allay couple’s fears of side effects of using modern methods.

A household survey conducted in June 2008 revealed that contraceptive prevalence in Diber nearly doubled in five years because of the project’s efforts.

1 Albania Ministry of Health and Centers for Disease Control. 2005. Reproductive Health Survey Albania 2002: Final Report. (May). Executive Summary pp. iii-vii.