Family planning advocates can help ensure that a country’s policies and funding promote access to DMPA-SC and self-injection along with other contraceptive options so women can make an informed and voluntary choice.
Decision-makers need to advance relevant approvals and policies to introduce or scale up DMPA-SC and self-injection, alongside integration in guidelines, training materials, logistics management systems, and health monitoring and information systems. Advocacy tools and approaches are available here to guide development of an advocacy strategy and action plan that speaks to your country context. Materials are also available to create compelling and accurate messaging and public outreach.
This brief details the strong body of evidence and experience with self-injection of DMPA-SC in low-resource settings, including how the practice can reduce access-related barriers, improve contraceptive continuation, and enhance women’s autonomy.
This brief lists key references and resources from the evidence base on DMPA-SC. Pair this with the Evidence at-a-glance brief if your target decision-maker would like to have access to the data in that handout.
This brief offers quick facts on the benefits of DMPA-SC; the product’s potential for empowering women and adolescent girls; the product’s availability; and how subcutaneous DMPA is different from intramuscular DMPA (DMPA-IM).
Subcutaneous DMPA (DMPA-SC) is an innovative and easy-to-use injectable that is transforming contraceptive access, use, and choice for women and adolescent girls. Advocates have an important role to play in making sure their country’s policies and funding support access to a broad method mix, including new options like DMPA-SC.
The Advocacy Pack for Subcutaneous DMPA is designed to accelerate your advocacy efforts. It consists of evidence-based materials, in English and French, for advocates to use both for their own strategy development and for direct advocacy with decision-makers. Materials are customizable and unbranded so that you can tailor them to your country context.
This toolkit contains resources designed to help pharmacy associations become effective advocates and begin working to change policies in their countries. The toolkit can be adapted to advocate for any injectable contraceptive. The toolkit includes a Resource for Considering DMPA-SC.
Institutional author(s): SHOPS Plus, USAID
Publication date: May, 2019
This policy landscape can be leveraged by applicants interested in applying to the DMPA-SC Regulatory Advocacy Catalytic Opportunity Fund (COF). The landscape was originally developed in 2020 to understand policies and regulations, including over-the-counter regulations, that impact women’s access to DMPA-SC and identify short- and long-term advocacy opportunities. In 2022, it was refreshed to understand policy shifts and additional advocacy opportunities in a subset of 12 of the original 18 countries currently eligible for the Regulatory Advocacy COF. Insights from the policy landscape have informed the design and eligibility criteria of the Regulatory Advocacy COF, proactively identified opportunities, and provided frameworks and guidance for interested applicants.
The desire for private sector family planning programs to have the ability to overbrand/overpackage the Pfizer Inc. DMPA-SC product, Sayana® Press, has existed since initial product introduction planning discussions among global partners in 2008–2009. The PATH-JSI DMPA-SC Access Collaborative solicited input from the team’s regional technical advisors, country coordinators, and local partners to better understand the status of overbranding, and any related advocacy, in the countries where we work.
This brief packages accurate, evidence-based messages about the features and benefits of DMPA-SC and how the product can increase women’s access to contraception.
This brief outlines existing evidence on DMPA-SC with data grouped into top-line, evidence-based messages, with corresponding data from different countries. This handout can be printed and distributed directly to decision-makers. It contains several one-page spotlight handouts on specific sub-topics, which can be printed and paired with the two-page summary—for distribution to decision-makers—as needed.