Family planning leaders and implementers can draw from an established evidence base to integrate DMPA-SC in efforts to address unmet need and increase access to contraception through a range of delivery channels.
Based on growing demand among stakeholders, providers, and family planning clients, as well as increased investment from the donor community, countries across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are pursuing introduction and scale-up of DMPA-SC and self-injection. Through these country experiences, partners have generated evidence and practical guidance for ministries of health, nongovernmental implementing partners, and policymakers working to introduce and scale up DMPA-SC or similar products.
The Reproductive Health Supplies Visualizer (RH Viz) is a series of public-facing dashboards designed to help the RH community see integrated and aggregated supply chain inventory, order, and shipment data.
The Global Family Planning Visibility and Analytics Network (VAN) captures data from multiple sources to improve supply chain visibility. The VAN offers a platform to assess supply needs, prioritize them, and act when supply imbalances loom.
The ExpandNet bibliography includes publications, websites, grey literature, and conference reports that either directly address scaling up or provide valuable insights on scaling up. Included are materials from a range of global health and development technical areas as well as the various sciences relevant to scale up.
This is an open-access collection of health market literature, featuring documents and related resources needed to understand, develop, and intervene in different global health markets.
By leveraging digital training tools, family planning programs can integrate new approaches that help reduce the costs, time, and inconvenience associated with traditional classroom training. The PATH-JSI Access Collaborative has recently developed digital training resources for health workers and clients learning to administer DMPA-SC.
A 10-lesson DMPA-SC eLearning course for health workers is available for free in English and French and can be taken on computer or mobile device with internet access. Content includes an emphasis on informed choice counseling, new lessons on calculating the injection date and conducting follow-up visits, and updated information on training clients to self-inject.
In addition to the eLearning course, PATH and JSI have developed short 5- to 7-minute DMPA-SC training videos for both self-injection clients and health workers. Available in English and French, the videos can be translated or adapted to fit in program contexts.
If you are interested in introducing DMPA-SC digital training approaches in your program, please contact the Access Collaborative at FPoptions@path.org.
This customizable document provides a brief description of DMPA-SC; an overview of evidence on how the product expands access through multiple delivery channels; and policy and advocacy recommendations for country decision-makers tied to the country’s stage of access.
The Task Sharing Strategic Planning Guide is intended to lead program managers, planners, and policymakers through a strategic process to determine if and how task sharing family planning (FP) services can be used to help achieve development goals. Task sharing is defined as the systematic redistribution of family planning services, including counseling and provision of contraceptive methods, to expand the range of health workers who can deliver services (WHO, 2017). Task sharing is a safe, effective, and efficient means to improve access to voluntary sexual and reproductive health services and reach national FP goals.
These short training videos are intended for both self-injection clients and health workers learning to administer the contraceptive DMPA-SC. The 5-minute self-injection training video is intended for women who have made the decision to self-inject DMPA-SC in the context of informed choice counseling. The 7-minute training video is for health workers who are giving injections to women who have chosen to use DMPA-SC in the context of informed choice counseling.
If you are interested in customizing these videos for your family planning program, we can make the voiceover scripts and video files available. To request these files please email FPoptions@path.org.
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