Costing the Standard Days Method

The Cost of Integrating the Standard Days Method (SDM) into Family Planning Programs at Scale and of Providing the SDM in Routine Service Delivery in Guatemala, India, and Rwanda, DHS Occasional Paper No. 6

The Standard Days Method (SDM) has been part of the family planning modern method mix for over a decade, and countries are gradually incorporating SDM into national family planning norms, policies, and programs. Although knowing family planning costs is critical to a range of policy and financing decisions, this study is the first to systematically examine SDM costs. Where countries have yet to introduce SDM, donors and family planning program managers are interested in what it might cost to fully integrate SDM into their family planning services. Similarly, in the context of limited funding, it is important for planning and policy purposes to know the routine costs of providing SDM once a country has achieved scale up, and how these compare to the costs of other user-dependent family planning methods.