Spectrum Models

The Spectrum suite of tools includes all of the following policy models in a single, user-friendly program.

Most models are available in English, French, and Spanish. Some are also available in Portuguese, Arabic, and Russian. Spectrum runs on Windows platforms.

« Return to Spectrum overview or download Spectrum.

DemProj

Demography

DemProj projects the population for an entire country or region by age and sex, based on assumptions about fertility, mortality, and migration. A full set of demographic indicators can be displayed for up to 50 years into the future. Urban and rural projections can also be prepared. A companion model, EasyProj, supplies the data needed to make a population projection from the estimates produced by the Population Division of the United Nations.

FamPlan

Family Planning

FamPlan projects family planning requirements needed to reach national goals for addressing unmet need or achieving desired fertility. It can be used to set realistic goals, to plan for the service expansion required to meet program objectives, and to evaluate alternative methods of achieving goals. The program uses assumptions about the proximate determinants of fertility and the characteristics of the family planning program (method mix, source mix, discontinuation rates) to calculate the cost and the number of users and acceptors of different methods by source.

Lives Saved Tool

Projects Child Survival

A program to project the changes in child survival in accordance with changes in coverage of different child health interventions. More information on LiST can be found here.

AIM

AIDS Impact Model

AIM projects the consequences of the HIV epidemic, including the number of people living with HIV, new infections, and AIDS deaths by age and sex; as well as the new cases of tuberculosis and AIDS orphans. AIM is used by UNAIDS to make the national and regional estimates it releases every two years.

The Goals Model helps efforts to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic by showing how the amount and allocation of funding is related to the achievement of national goals, such as reduction of HIV prevalence and expansion of care and support.

Resource Needs Model

Costs of implementing an HIV/AIDS program

The Resource Needs Model estimates the costs of implementing an HIV/AIDS program, including costs for care and treatment, prevention programs, and policy and program support.

RAPID

Resources for the Awareness of Population Impacts on Development

RAPID projects the social and economic consequences of high fertility and rapid population growth for such sectors as labor, education, health, urbanization, and agriculture. This program is used to raise policymakers' awareness of the importance of fertility and population growth as factors in social and economic development.

Safe Motherhood Model

This model estimates the impact of various scores from the Maternal-Neonatal Program Index (MNPI) on a country’s maternal mortality ratio. The MNPI is an index of 81 indicators for national efforts to improve maternal and neonatal health services. The model helps managers to gain a better understanding of the impacts of policies, budgets, and service delivery improvements on maternal health outcomes.

Allocate

Allocate examines the linkages and interactions among three main areas of a representative reproductive health action plan (RHAP): family planning, safe motherhood, and postabortion care. Allocate also shows the interactive impacts of changing decisions about levels of funding.