Number/percent of target population who can state at least one health benefit of waiting at least two years after last live birth before attempting the next pregnancy

Number/percent of target population who can state at least one health benefit of waiting at least two years after last live birth before attempting the next pregnancy

Number/percent of target population who can state at least one health benefit of waiting at least two years after last live birth before attempting the next pregnancy

“Target population” describes a group intended to benefit from healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy (HTSP) messaging.  These are individuals in the identified project catchment area.  For instance, a target population may be:

  • An identifiable subgroup in a population
  • Mothers-in-law in a physical area
  • The district population of men or women of reproductive age

Although the intention of this indicator is to evaluate knowledge of health benefits of child spacing, depending on the program design, stated benefits to child spacing can include health or social benefits afforded to men, women, children, or communities.

As a proportion, this indicator is calculated as:

(Number of individuals in target population surveyed/interviewed who can state at least one health benefit of waiting at least two years after last live birth before attempting the next pregnancy / total number of individuals in target population surveyed/interviewed) x 100

Number of persons in the target population sampled and verification that the respondent correctly stated one health benefit of waiting at least two years after last live birth before attempting the next pregnancy.  Evaluators may wish to disaggregate data by demographic characteristics (e.g. age, sex, marital status, parity).

Population-based survey (such as a Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices survey); interviews

According to a WHO technical consultation on birth spacing, after a live birth women should wait at least 24 months before trying to get pregnant again.  Doing so reduces the likelihood the woman will die in childbirth, will have a miscarriage or induced abortion, or that the newborn will die, be underweight or be born prematurely, or that the child will not grow well or die before the age of five.

This indicator is useful for evaluating how knowledgeable a target audience is about the benefits of birth spacing, which is important for family planning counseling on the part of health providers and understanding demand on the part of clients.

This indicator alone does not provide a measure of how well the information was understood by the audience or of the audience’s attitude or practices.


communication, healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies (HTSP), family planning, knowledge, safe motherhood (SM)

“Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancy: A Trainer’s Reference Guide”, 2008.  USAID and ESD Project.

“Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancies: A Pocket Guide for Health Practitioners, Program Managers, and Community Leaders”, 2006.  USAID and ESD Project.

WHO. 2005.  Report of a WHO Technical Consultation on Birth Spacing.  Geneva: Switzerland.

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