Addressing Reproductive Coercion in Health Settings (ARCHES): Results From an Evaluation of a Program to Reduce Gender-Based Violence and Increase Family Planning Uptake in Nairobi, Kenya

ARCHES (Addressing Reproductive Coercion in Health Settings) is a brief, clinic-based model delivered within routine family planning counseling by providers to reduce reproductive coercion and intimate partner violence, and improve the reproductive health and autonomy of women and girls. Reproductive coercion broadly refers to behaviors by a male partner to interfere with an individual’s reproductive health decisions, behaviors, and outcomes, including contraceptive use and pregnancy.

Promising results from two randomized controlled trials in the United States have led to ARCHES being adapted and evaluated via a cluster-controlled trial in community-based clinics in Nairobi, Kenya. ARCHES Kenya is the first demonstration of this evidence-based model in a low- or middle-income country (LMIC) setting. The trial was undertaken in partnership with the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Family Health Options Kenya, and Population Council, and funded by USAID (phase I) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (phase II).

Dr. Jay Silverman from the University of California San Diego, principal investigator for ARCHES, will present details of the adaptation process; qualitative and quantitative results based on longitudinal analyses of baseline, post-clinic visit, and three-month follow-up waves of data; plans from the Kenyan Ministry of Health for scaling ARCHES within government-supported clinics; and potential for further adaptation and implementation in other LMIC contexts.