Urban Family Planning Transformed in Uttar Pradesh, India, with TCI-trained Coaches Post Graduation

TCI India guided us in leveraging platforms like the city health coordination committee, DQAC, data validation committee and NUHM review meetings to strengthen urban health. This helped us adopt and lead HIPs & HIIs implementation. With TCI's support, our approach to urban family planning has expanded, driving a significant mindset shift.

In Lucknow, regular meetings among master coaches became the norm, fostering collaboration and enabling the exchange of insights gleaned from field visits and performance tracking. Dr. Singh, an Urban Nodal overseeing the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) programs in Lucknow who was identified as a master coach to support HIPs & HIIs implementation, reminisced about the journey, emphasizing the enduring impact of TCI’s initiatives.

“Our team … was proudly given the responsibility of being the master coaches of the city. We met quarterly to discuss field visit findings, monitor facility performance and commodity availability, address family planning issues, and identify coaching needs. Currently, we are focused on coaching private sector providers to ensure family planning services are offered to eligible clients in private hospitals. We’ve selected potential private facilities, sensitized their service providers on the communities’ need for family planning, and coached private providers on how to upload family planning data to the HMIS portal.

Moreover, we’ve coached the District Hospitals’ Chief Medical Superintendent on how to assure the availability and accessibility of postpartum and post-abortion services at their facilities. Even though the TCI program graduated from the city last year, we continued to provide supportive supervision to facilities, reviewing urban family planning data in NUHM review meetings, ensuring weekly fixed-day static (FDS) services in all facilities, and sharing FDS reports on the NUHM WhatsApp group.”

Dr. Tripathi, the NUHM’s Urban Nodal in Ayodhya, echoed Dr. Singh’s sentiments, particularly highlighting TCI’s unwavering support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges posed by the outbreak, TCI’s advocacy ensured the uninterrupted delivery of family planning commodities to the community by ASHAs, as well as reinstating vital services at UPHCs.

“ We have learned many effective strategies from TCI India that we are continuing after graduation, such as making sure there is enough funding for urban family planning in the PIP (Program Implementation Plan), regularly reviewing how the budget for urban health is being used, reviewing the urban family planning program in various meeting platforms, expanding the pool of providers by engaging the private sector, periodically building the capacity of service providers, and ensuring convergence of service across departments. The convergence platform has not only aided in improving the quality of family planning services but has helped improve other aspects of health, such as locating spaces for health and wellness centers, executing awareness campaigns of dengue and malaria, and improving other health programs as well.”

The successes in Ayodhya and Lucknow are evident in their HMIS data, which shows a continued increase in annual client volume post-graduation. In Ayodhya, the percentage rose from 250% to 506% two years after graduation (Feb 2021), while in Lucknow, it increased from 166% to 199% within seven months of graduation (July 2022).

To address challenges and ensure sustainable progress, TCI facilitated the creation of a cadre of “master coaches” in both cities. These coaches, including key figures like Dr. Akhand Pratap Singh and Dr. Ved Prakash Tripathi, were instrumental in driving change and amplifying the impact of TCI’s high-impact practices and other interventions (HIPs & HIIs).