Medical eligibility criteria for contraceptive use

Third edition

Authors: WHO. Department of Reproductive Health and Research
Number of pages: 176
Publication date: 2004
Languages: Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian
Price: CHF 25.00/US$ 25.00 - Developing countries: CHF 17.50
ISBN: 978 92 9021 508 0 / To order

overview

This evidence-based guideline reviews the medical eligibility criteria for who can safely use a contraceptive method. It offers guidance on the safety of using 19 different methods for women and men with specific characteristics or known medical conditions. The recommendations are based on systematic reviews of available clinical and epidemiological research. It is the companion guideline to Selected practice recommendations for contraceptive use. Together, these documents are intended to be used by policy-makers, programme managers, and the scientific community, and aim to support national programmes in the preparation of service delivery guidelines.

2008 UPDATE of the guide

On 1–4 April 2008, WHO convened an expert Working Group in Geneva, Switzerland to revise the third edition in response to newly published evidence as well as to provide recommendations for additional medical conditions.
The meeting brought together 43 participants from 23 countries, including nine agency representatives. The expert Working Group was comprised of: international family planning experts, including clinicians, epidemiologists, policy makers, programme managers; experts in evidence identification and synthesis; experts in pharmacology; and users of the guideline.

other language versions of the guide

The medical eligibility criteria wheel

A job aid, the MEC wheel, was developed in collaboration with the INFO project at John Hopkins University, the Communication Partnership for Family Health in Jordan, and the University of Ghana Medical School. This easy-to-use job aid will help providers quickly to identify Medical Eligibility Criteria relevant to their clients. The job aid was field-tested in three countries and found to be very useful to providers who used it.
Translations are underway in Arabic and Spanish.

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