Data & Analysis > In-Depth Analysis > Overview: Opportunities for Growth
Quality

Ensuring the availability of high-quality contraceptive services is a critical part of delivering rights-based family planning services. Measuring quality of family planning services is complex and multi-dimensional—for this section, we are limiting our focus to the data that the Method Information Index can provide, however, we recognize that there are many other important aspects of quality that must be examined in countries.

The Method Information Index

The Method Information Index (MII) was created as a core indicator under FP2020 to highlight the importance of quality of care and continues to provide insight as a FP2030 indicator.

It gives insight into the type of information women receive during counseling and the extent to which women are informed about side effects and alternate methods. The MII is a summary measure constructed from three questions asked of current contraceptive users about the occasion when they obtained their current method:

  • Were you informed about other methods?
  • Were you informed about side effects?
  • Were you told what to do if you experienced side effects?

In most cases, it is possible to disaggregate the data and see variation by method, age, location of services, and subnational areas. This provides governments with information to identify under-performing areas and methods, and target training to those with the greatest need.

Method Information Index Briefs are available in English and French for 45 countries.

Download All MII Brief (English)
Download All MII Brief (French)

The graph below shows the Method Information Index from the latest survey available in each country1. Use the drop-down to select seeing the overall MII score, or to explore the score for individual methods (Implants, IUDs, Injectables, and Pills).

* Method Information Index Plus (MII+). In addition to the three MII questions, MII+ also includes a fourth question, "At that time, were you told that you could switch to another method if you wanted to or needed to?" The MII+ is the percent of modern contraceptive users who responded "yes" to all four questions.

At the International Conference of Family Planning 2018, Track20 presented research on the relationship between MII and mCPR, discontinuation, age, and other indicators. Read the full poster here.

1Based on the latest DHS or PMA2020 survey in each country, see data sources page for details.

Published July 2017