Hernandez, J. F. B. (2017). Effectiveness of usapan serye in reducing unmet needs for modern family planning in the Barrios of Rapu-Rapu, Albay (Unpublished master's thesis). Graduate School of Public and Development Management, Development Academy of the Philippines.

Graduate School of Public and Development Management Health Systems and Development Batch 7 Thesis (MPM-HSD)--Development Academy of the Philippines.

The Duterte administration, through the Philippine Health Agenda and the Executive Order 12, mandates the immediate attainment of zero unmet need for modern family planning through the strict implementation of RA 10354 (Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health law). Because of the burden of unmet needs for modern family planning in Bicol Region, strategic, multidisciplinary interventions are much needed to meet the demands of women of reproductive age. The goal of this action plan and project is to assess the effectiveness of USAPAN Serye, a carefully-structured and purposive intervention which harmoniously employs demand-generation and immediate service provision, in reducing unmet needs for modern family planning. Specifically, this study measured the current level of unmet need in Rapu-Rapu as baseline, before delving on the effectiveness of USAPAN Serye on the contraceptive prevalence rate and unmet needs for modern family planning. Sustainable strategic were also explored, focusing on the interrelationship of family planning with maternal health. There were a total of 280 participants for the four variants of USAPAN Serye. Only 156 (56%) were non-pregnant, eligible participants classified for the unmet needs study. of these, 78 (50%) were found to have unmet needs for modern family planning. A 68% service provision rate was recorded out of these subset, which eventually translated to a 65% overall conversion rate. This suggests that USAPAN Serye is an effective tool in making desires to use trasform into actual utilization. In addition, this action plan and project showed that there is an increasing trend in contraceptive prevalence rate, recording a 2.82% rise over three months, averaging of 0.94% increase per month, within the implementation period (from 40.97% pre-implementation to 43.79% post-implementation). Moreover, there was a total of 33% reduction is unmet needs (averaging 11% per month) within the implementation period. With sustained and strategic effort, an expected reduction of unmet needs to zero is possible. More sophisticated and specific parameters could be used to assess unmet needs, including differences in income level, media exposure, type of work, marital status, partner characteristics and mass media exposure. Improvements in USAPAN Serye could be done in order to bridge the gaps between participation & service provision, and service provision & actual utilization. In addition, more elaborate statistical models should be employed to accurately infer the effects of USAPAN Serye, especially when tested in various contexts. Lastly, improving governance mechanisms by involving politicians and engaging other key healthcare providers, should be done for a more sustainable family planning program in order to achieve zero unmet needs for family planning.