Honduras

MOH Honduras

Ministry of Health of Honduras received LNG IUS donation under the RHSC-funded initiative, which is being implemented by El Consejo de Ministros de Salud de Centroamérica (COMISCA), and under the guidance of COMISCA, the MOH piloted the application of new service delivery guidelines for providing adolescents with contraceptives, including for the first time the hormonal IUD. COMISCA is the political entity of the Sistema de la Integración Centroamérica whose purpose is to identify and prioritize regional health problems. COMISCA’s Secretariat (SE-COMISCA), which is the direct grantee of the award, is the primary vehicle through which national health ministries, together with representatives of PAHO/WHO and country delegations, convene to analyze and develop proposals. In June 2021, SE-COMISA presented and secured Ministerial approval of a regional study on adolescent equity and fertility highlighting the progress made by countries across the region in reducing unwanted pregnancy within a sexual and reproductive rights framework. The report concludes with a set of six recommendations, one of which called for wider use of contraceptives by young people in accordance with appropriate service delivery guidelines. Such guidelines were subsequently developed with financial support from the RHSC, and they included provisions for the distribution of LARCs. In 2022, the Ministers recommended that the guidelines be field tested in three pilot countries: Honduras, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic, three countries with the highest rate of unwanted adolescent pregnancy in the region, by using LNG IUS received through a donation from ICA Foundation.

In Honduras, the program will be in the hands of the First Level Service Unit of the Ministry being responsible for the national plan to reduce maternal mortality. The LARCs Program for Adolescents selected 25 health facilities for participation in the field test and emphasis was made in cities where adolescent pregnancy is highest: Tegucigalpa mainly, and San Pedro Sula, Choloma and La Ceiba.