The need for con­tra­cep­tion in the devel­oping world remains high. There are more than 200 mil­lion women in devel­oping coun­tries who want to delay or pre­vent preg­nancy, but are not using con­tra­cep­tion. And, according to the World Health orga­ni­za­tion (WHO), pro­mo­tion of family plan­ning – and ensuring access to con­tra­cep­tive methods – is essen­tial to securing the well-being and autonomy of women.* Pfizer’s con­tra­cep­tive Sayana^® Press was specif­i­cally devel­oped to meet the needs of women in devel­oping coun­tries where they may face chal­lenges in obtain in con­tra­cep­tion, such as trav­el­ling to health facil­i­ties, social bar­riers, and a gen­eral lack of infor­ma­tion about avail­able con­tra­cep­tive methods.

The active ingre­dient, depome­drox­yprog­es­terone acetate, com­monly referred to as DMPA, comes in the pre­filled, single-use, auto-dis­able Uni­ject TM delivery system devel­oped by BD (Becton, Dick­inson and Com­pany). The delivery system elim­i­nates the need for the user to pre­pare a needle and syringe, and allows it to be admin­is­tered out­side a clin­ical set­ting, with the poten­tial for self-in jec­tion if locally approved. Each sub cuta­neous injec­tion pre­vents ovu­la­tion and pro­vides con­tra­cep­tion for three months.** Because of its unique con­tra­cep­tive delivery tech­nology, Sayana^® Press is com­pact, dis­creet, and easily transportable.

This com­bi­na­tion of syringe, needle and med­ica­tion is man­u­fac­tured in part with tech­nology from Harro Höfliger, in coop­er­a­tion with its Excel­lence Unit­ed­partner Bausch+Ströbel and Skan.

Joint efforts

Pfizer col­lab­o­rates with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foun­da­tion (BMGF) and the Children’s Invest­ment Fund Foun­da­tion (CIFF) to help broaden access to Sayana^® Press for women living in some of the world’s poorest coun­tries. As per the terms of the col­lab­o­ra­tion, orga­ni­za­tions seeking to reach the poorest women in a defined set of pri­ority coun­tries can obtain the med­ica­tion for USD 0.85 per dose if they have suc­cess­fully passed through a process to qualify. They can then decide to make it avail­able to women at a very low cost or even free of charge.

The effort is sup­ported by a con­sor­tium of public- and pri­vate-sector donors and aid orga­ni­za­tions including BD, the United Kingdom’s Depart­ment for Inter­na­tional Devel­op­ment (DFID), UNFPA, the United Nations Pop­u­la­tion Fund, and the United States Agency for Inter­na­tional Devel­op­ment (USAID). These orga­ni­za­tions play an impor­tant role in ensuring that women in the world’s poorest coun­tries have access to a full range of con­tra­cep­tive options.

Since 2014, more than 16 mil­lion units have been shipped to 23 coun­tries across sub-Saharan Africa and South­east Asia, poten­tially reaching more than four mil­lion women. This com­mit­ment of all orga­ni­za­tions helps sup­port the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment to drive pos­i­tive and essen­tial change around the world, and Family Plan­ning 2020 (FP2020), a global part­ner­ship to ensure that by 2020 an addi­tional 120 mil­lion women have access to and use a method of modern contraception.

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* World Health Orga­ni­za­tion Family Planning/Contraception Fact Sheet. http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/family-planning-contraception Last accessed August 2, 2018.
** Sayana^® Press pro­fes­sional and patient infor­ma­tion, including the risk of bone min­eral den­sity loss and other warn­ings and pre­cau­tions for use, can be found at https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/3148.

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Photos: istockphoto.com/JordiRamisa, PATH/Gabe Bienczycki