Closing the Effectiveness Gap
June 2007 Issue No. 13	The INFO Project • Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health • Center for Communication Programs • 111 Market Place, Suite 310 • Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA • 410-659-6300 • 410-659-6266 (fax) • www.infoforhealth.org • infoproject@jhuccp.org

Key Points Achieving Contraceptive Effectiveness How Programs Can Improve Contraceptive Effectiveness How to Explain Contraceptive Effectiveness Figure 2: Comparing Effectiveness of Family Planning Methods Figure 3: Counseling Aid: Explaining Effectiveness of Injectable Contraceptives Counseling for Effective Use Feature: Emergency Contraception: A Second Chance Table 2: Client Educational Materials: Tips for Using Contraceptives Effectively Subscription and Ordering Information Bibliography Credits Bibliography

Figure 3: Counseling Aid

Explaining Effectiveness of Injectable Contraceptives

The Paling Palette© below is a visual representation of a woman’s risk of becoming pregnant during one year of not using any contraception at all (left) and during the first year of use of progestin-only injectables (right). The illustration depicts 100 women and shows pregnancy risk in both positive and negative terms at the same time. For example, among 100 women using progestin-only injectables 3 would become pregnant during the first year (shown by shading three women in the illustration on the right) (120). The risk is shown in positive terms by leaving the remaining 97 women unshaded. In contrast, among 100 women not using contraception 85 would become pregnant over the course of one year (left) (120). (Conventionally, the Paling Palette uses 1,000 human figures to show risks with probabilities as low as 1 in 1,000.) Family planning providers can use such tools with their clients to help show the risks of pregnancy with contraceptive methods visually rather than with numbers, which can be difficult to grasp.

No Method	Progestin-Only Injectables
85 = Women not using contraception who become pregnant over the course of one year	3 = Women using progestin-only injectables who become pregnant during the first year
15 = Women not using contraception who do not become pregnant over the course of one year	97 = Women using progestin-only injectables who do not become pregnant during the first year

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