Trends in family planning and contraception carried out in primary health care in Croatia: 1995-2012: study based on routinely collected data.

The lack of objective findings provided the reason to undertake this study with the main aim of exploring the trends in family planning and contraception carried out in primary health care in Croatia. Based on the Croatian health statistical yearbooks from 1995 to 2012, data were collected on the number and structure of visits and the number and type of prescribed contraceptives by public and private gynecological practices, and visits to family practices and school medicine services. The results showed that only a small number of fertile women received primary care for family planning issues, trends that are evident through the entire follow-up period. A trend of "migration" from the public to the private sector is also observed. Family doctors and school medicine are almost entirely excluded from the provision of family planning despite the magnitude of the family planning problem resulting in a waste of human and material resources.