Medical eligibility criteria for contraceptive use – Executive summary

This document is part of the process for improving the quality of care in family planning. Medical eligibility criteria for contraceptive use (MEC), the first edition of which was published in 1996, presents current World Health Organization (WHO) guidance on the safety of various contraceptive methods for use in the context of specific health conditions and characteristics. This is the fifth edition of the MEC – the latest in the series of periodic updates.

The intended audience for this publication includes policy-makers, family planning programme managers and the scientific community. The MEC aims to provide guidance to national family planning and reproductive health programmes in the preparation of guidelines for delivery of contraceptive services. It is not meant to serve as the actual guidelines but rather as a reference.