ABSTRACT
The PRODEF project in Bas Zaire, begun in 1981, relies on home visits by trained distributors to deliver education directed toward improving the health of preschool children, and to provide a number of simple health services, as well as family planning information and services for women of reproductive age. Home delivery of family planning services is comprised of distribution of oral contraceptives, condoms, and foam, with referral for injectable Depo-Provera, IUDs, and tubal ligation. The integration of primary health and family planning offered certain advantages for the PRODEF Community-Based Distribution (CBD) project. Household visitors in the PRODEF project are of an educational level equal or higher to that found in most CBD projects. Specific training of personnel, emphasizing those aspects of work peculiar to the CBD setting, is a necessity in a project of this nature. Supervisory personnel were trained by being included in part of the worker training.
