I recently met a young woman named Mercy who had five children and was
struggling to make ends meet. She had tried oral contraceptives to prevent
pregnancy, but admitted that she often forgot to take the pill every day. She
then tried injectable contraceptives, which required her to visit the health
centre every quarter, but she often did not have enough money for transport. In
fact, she became pregnant with her fifth child after missing one injection.
Recently, Mercy had heard good things about long-lasting implants that would
prevent pregnancy for several years and would not require frequent clinic
visits; however, when she travelled to her health centre, she found that none
were available.
Unfortunately, Mercy is not alone. Today, more than 200 million women
worldwide want, but do not have access to, contraceptives, and many of these
women live in Africa. For example, in Nigeria, just 8% of married women use
modern contraceptives regularly, leaving thousands without the ability to plan
the timing and spacing of their children.
Even when women have access to contraceptives, stock-outs are common, and
their method of choice may not be available, limiting women’s ability to choose
a method that best suits their needs.
But this is about to change. Thanks to a milestone partnership between
public and private organizations — millions more women in developing
countries including in Nigeria will have improved contraceptive access and
options. Through this agreement, Bayer HealthCare is providing its long-acting,
reversible contraceptive implant, Jadelle, to millions of women in developing
countries over the next six years,
There’s strong demand for contraceptive options in developing countries.
Long-acting, reversible contraceptives, like Jadelle – which provides effective
contraception for up to five years are particularly attractive in areas where
access to health services is limited and stock-outs are common.
In fact, studies have shown that, while only 1-2 percent of the 600 million
women in developing countries who are using modern methods of family planning
use implants, a significantly greater proportion would choose implants or other
long-term methods if they were consistently available. This partnership will
help meet that need and give women more options so they can choose what works
best for them.
The partners behind this price reduction – including Bayer HealthCare, the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the
Governments of Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and Sweden, the
Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and the United Nations Population Fund –
are contributing more than funds and products.
The group is also working with in-country organisations to train healthcare
providers in counselling and the provision of high quality clinical services
and to improve delivery systems so that a range of family planning options are
accessible even in the most remote locations.
Giving women greater contraceptive access and options will have a powerful
ripple effect across entire societies. When fully implemented, this new
initiative will prevent approximately 280,000 infant and 30,000 maternal
deaths. Thousands more children will have mothers while growing up, increasing
their chances of attending school, eating well and staying healthy.
Ultimately, this plan will save approximately US$250 million in global
health costs. That’s millions of dollars that can be reinvested in other global
health and development programmes to help improve the lives of women and
children in the poorest countries.
This partnership comes as a direct result of the landmark July 2012 London
Summit on Family Planning. At this meeting, global leaders committed to provide
120 million more women in developing countries with access to voluntary family
planning services by 2020 and called for innovative partnerships to expand
contraceptive access.
Announcing this Jadelle price reduction is just the beginning. Global
leaders from various sectors must continue to collaborate, form new
partnerships, develop new technologies and, ultimately, generate even more
solutions that will expand access to family planning worldwide.
Here in Nigeria and in other African countries, our Heads of State and
Ministers must continue the leadership they demonstrated at the London Summit
by turning their promises to invest in national family planning programmes into
action. Only through this next step will women in Africa truly benefit from
these commitments.
By making contraceptives—including long-acting, reversible methods like
Jadelle—more affordable and accessible, we can help give women like Mercy the
power to create better lives for themselves, their families and their
communities.
—Dr. Issak is head of the Division of Reproductive Health within Kenya’s
Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation.
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