Providing clinical guidance

Family planning providers have the privilege and responsibility to help people make and carry out their own reproductive choices. This includes each person’s right to make an informed choice from a range of contraceptive methods.

WHO’s evidence-based tools are regularly updated and expanded to enable providers and policy-makers to facilitate safe and effective family planning.

WHO aims to remove unnecessary medical barriers to contraceptive choice by: 

• providing guidance on whether people with certain medical conditions or risk factors can safely and effectively use specific contraceptive methods (The Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use) 
• answering practical questions about how to use various contraceptive methods (The Selected Practice Recommendations for Contraceptive Use)
• giving frontline family planning providers practical advice, job-aids and training resources to help them inform their clients’ choice and how to use contraception (The Global family planning handbook and Decision-making tool)

Contraceptive choice can change over time, influenced by medical, social and economic factors. Adolescent girls, unmarried women, people with disabilities or who are poor may face particular barriers to accessing a contraceptive method that suits their needs. 

Upholding contraceptive choice and accessible, acceptable, quality information and services are human rights principles at the heart of WHO’s guidance on contraceptive methods.