SFH AND NIVI- EXPANDING ACCESS TO FP INFORMATION AND SERVICES

In Nigeria, Society for Family Health (SFH) has been addressing both unmet need for contraception and limited contraceptive method mix by strengthening the quality of FP products and services at more than 900 Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) and Community Pharmacists (CPs) in Lagos and Kaduna states under the four-year?IntegratE 1.0 project?(2017-2021). In the final year of IntegratE 1.0, SFH began using?Nivi?to strengthen consumer demand and help individuals along their health journey. For us, it was a great opportunity to generate reproductive health awareness and make referrals to a growing network of PPMVs and CPs. Between December 2020 and October 2021, we reached more than 9 million social media users with calls to action and engaged more than 60,000 users via our WhatsApp chat experience.?

Both men and women sought FP information and counseling on Nivi (55% female), tended to be young (median 23 years, 20-28 IQR), and more urban than rural (22% rural). Nivi users came from a wide range of ward-level wealth quintiles (10% came from poorest 40% of wards) and highest user numbers were seen from Lagos, followed by Kaduna and Ogun states.

Our focus is helping people to connect with health products and services. Although it involves many moving pieces, at its core we give Nivi users a choice of pathways to a service referral specific enough to be relevant to the user.

The initial collaboration with SFH allowed Nivi to prove that we can reach tens of thousands of "FP curious" individuals, offer them FP information and digital counseling, and refer them to relevant services. Looking ahead, we have been improving our user experience, with recent updates to the referral engine that -

confirms a more specific location from the user with follow-on questions to allow for more precise referrals

provides users with referrals to a mix of e-commerce and brick-and-mortar locations

recommends specific services offered at facilities

remembers what referrals the user was given, and thus inquires where a user received service–setting up the ability to receive granular feedback

We are excited about this partnership and look forward to greater impact.