Evaluating implementation of the World Health Organization's Strategic Approach to strengthening sexual and reproductive health policies and programs to address unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion

Abstract

Background: We conducted a process evaluation to assess how the World Health Organization's (WHO) Strategic Approach to strengthening sexual and reproductive health policies and programs ("the SA") was used in 15 countries that requested WHO's technical support in addressing unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion. The SA is a three-stage planning, policy, and program implementation process. We used the social ecological model (SEM) to analyze the contextual factors that influenced SA implementation. Methods: We used a two-phased sequential approach to data collection and analysis. In Phase A, we conducted a document and literature review and synthesized data thematically. In Phase B, we co..