UAMS will offer reproductive health education and contraception services to rural Arkansas

Little Rock, Arkansas – With the start of a new initiative, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will provide women residing in the most remote areas of the Natural State with access to contraceptive services and reproductive health education.

Arkansas has been among the states with the highest rates of maternal mortality in the US for a number of years. According to a 2022 report by the Arkansas Department of Health, 54% of Arkansas women stated that when they were pregnant, they didn’t try to get pregnant.

According to UAMS authorities, the new initiative is part of a bigger initiative to increase access to women’s health care throughout the state and avoid unwanted births.

Under the program, which is made possible by a private contribution to the UAMS Institute for Community Health Innovation, UAMS will travel the state in trucks equipped with medical equipment to provide contraception, immunizations, prenatal care, and health screenings.

The following counties will be served by these mobile health units:

• Ashley
• Carroll
• Little River
• Lee
• Madison
• Miller
• Ouachita
• Phillips
• Newton
• Sebastian
• Sevier
• St. Francis
• Union
• Washington

The program has the potential to change people’s lives, according to Kelly Conroy, a senior director at the UAMS Institute for Community Health Innovation.

“Women living in rural communities face a lot of challenges when trying to receive the contraceptive method of their choice,” Conroy said. “Their local clinics may not offer a full range of contraception methods, or they may not be available on-site. By bringing our mobile health units to those communities and working alongside their clinics and their local organizations, we want to help women navigate their reproductive health safely and effectively.”

According to UAMS, they will collaborate with clinics and groups to set up appointments for women prior to the arrival of a mobile health unit.

Preregistration will provide service members more time to get a patient’s preferred method of contraception ready.

“Partnering with community-based organizations is critical to this project’s success,” Conroy said. “Those partners who have established trust in their communities will help drive this project and will help move Arkansas toward a better and healthier state for all women.”

As part of the study, UAMS will also teach 50 residents how to inject long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs).

Nirvana Manning, a professor at UAMS and chair of the Department of obstetrics and Gynecology at UAMS, argues that since women are using the healthcare system and are known not to be pregnant, the early postpartum period is the best time to start contraception. According to Manning, 60% of women in Arkansas skip their six-week postpartum checkup with their doctor.