Contribution of Community Volunteers/Positive Peer Couples in Uptake and Coverage of Health Timing And Spacing of Pregnancy (HTSP) In Burundi

“Irondoka rijanye n’amagara meza” is Kirundi for “health timing and spacing of pregnancy (HTSP) is an
intervention that focuses on healthy fertility to help women and families delay, space and limit their pregnancies
to achieve healthiest outcomes for women, newborns, infants and children and essential in achieving MDG 4,5,
6 and it was the focus of this article .The purpose of the research was to assess the contribution of community
volunteers / Positive peer couples in uptake and coverage of healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy (HTSP) in
Cumba Zone. The Positive Peer Couples (PPC) approach, as used by World Vision International Burundi rests
upon the observation that in communities throughout the world, there are a few individuals whose uncommon
behaviors or practices enable them to find better solutions to problems than their neighbors with whom they
share the same, or lesser, resource base. The operational research helped to analyze barriers, develop and
evaluate solutions for these barriers, improve program performance (including logistics, access, quality and
impact), and facilitate program scale up and sustainability. By embedding research into the HTSP program, we
generated lessons learned; optimized program performance, which will inform other programs and countries
with similar challenges. The research determined that community members (couples) who participated in
Positive peer couples for HTSP, adopted positive change towards new born, child health, safer sexual.
This study explored the impact of Positive Peer Couples (PPC) in uptake and coverage of Healthy Timing and
Spacing of Pregnancy (HTSP) in Gashoho commune. It covered 132 PPCs. They were chosen randomly. The
study reveals that there are uncommon practical behaviors that enabled Positive Deviants (PDs) to outperform
and enhance massively to adherence to contraceptive methods by community members: Those include;
 effective implementation of PPC, sensitization of community members using Household to household
approach, involvement of Men in Family planning( the men accompanied his wife to Antenatal Care
service(ANC),closer follow up and monitoring by PPCs, PPCs are role models at community level,
Regular Health education at sub hill level by PPCs living in the same area, equity, and the solutions
come from the community not from experts, Deep respect of the community, its members and its culture
and focus on interactive engagement, expends existing networkers and create new ones, Creating more
space for innovative solutions to emerge. positive deviance enhances local research capacity for
controlling problem in relevant, affordable, sustainable ways;
 The approach reveals at least partial solutions today to challenges rather than waiting for long term
development; it introduces a generic approach for local problem solving. Indeed, intervention
communities commonly launch parallel activities, such as participation in common community works for
instance local road construction or successfully demanding social services.
Nevertheless, some hindrances are experienced by PPC when implementing HTSP:
 child morbid mortality( families say that they have to give birth to many children because some will die