Objective. To provide a comparative description of governance, service organization, and task distribution in family planning in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), by level of care and subregion.
Methods. An observational, cross-sectional comparative study conducted in 2025 through a survey sent to ministries of health in LAC countries with Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) offices. The study analyzed (1) the governance and organization of family planning services and (2) task distribution. Comparisons between care levels were performed using the SkillingsMack and Wilcoxon tests, and comparisons between groups were performed using Fisher’s exact test (p <0.05) using Stata v.19.
Results. Responses were received from 22 of 29 countries (75.9%). Of those, 20 (90.9%) reported having family planning policies and 16 (72.7%) reported having quality assurance systems. The availability of modern contraceptive methods showed an upward trend across levels of care, from community-based services to hospitals (p <0.001). On average, countries reported that 9 of 11 modern contraceptive methods were available at least at one level. The main differences among countries were in long-acting reversible methods. The authority to provide modern contraceptive methods was largely limited to medical professionals.
Conclusions. Family planning in LAC is highly regulated, although gaps remain in quality assurance, service organization across levels of care, and the distribution of tasks among different health professionals. Strengthening it requires better coordination between regulation, service organization, and task distribution."