Ensuring high-quality services is vital to any family planning program. Good emergency contraceptive services require a competent and well-prepared staff with appropriate knowledge about emergency contraceptives to help counsel clients on their use, answer common questions related to use, and review common side effects and how to manage them. Services should be client-centered, meaning that they are tailored to clients' needs and meet medical standards. Services should also be widely accessible. Many cadres of health professionals, including nurses, auxiliary nurse-midwives, physicians, pharmacists, pharmacy assistants, and community health workers, can be trained to provide emergency contraceptives.

If a woman seeks emergency contraception in a clinic setting, she should receive full contraceptive counseling and be given the opportunity to choose a contraceptive method that will provide ongoing protection against unwanted pregnancy.

This section of the Emergency Contraception Toolkit provides curricula and manuals for training providers in all aspects of emergency contraceptive service provision. It also includes guides and resources to help service providers counsel clients on the use of emergency contraceptives, including client-friendly descriptions of what emergency contraceptives are, how they work, and how to manage side effects clients might experience.

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