Contraception

Dr. Praseedha Janakiram will describe the key points of the Contraception review of the Canadian Collaboration for Immigrant and Refugee Health Evidence-based clinical guidelines

Key points

• Screening for unmet contraceptive needs for immigrant women should begin soon after their arrival in Canada. Women from developing countries are often unaware of emergency contraception.
• Acceptability of contraception and method preferences varies across world regions and should be considered in counselling (e.g., intrauterine device use is predominant in Asia and Latin America). In some communities, condoms have connotations of infidelity, promiscuity or sexually transmitted infection, or are used only with non marital partners.
• Giving women their method of choice, providing the contraceptive method on-site and having a good personal relationship improve outcomes.

CMAJ evidence review

Evidence Based Migrant Health Network