An initiative of the Advancing Injectable Markets for Sustainability (AIMS) project

AIMS will award successful proposals up to US$200,000 for a 9-month award period.

Often women are unable to access self-injectable contraception because of gaps in provider training, supply chains, medical waste management, and other issues. D-Prize is helping to address these gaps by funding aspiring entrepreneurs to expand access to DMPA-SC in low-income countries.

Each D-Prize award winner will receive up to US$20,000 to launch a nonprofit or social venture tackling a DMPA-SC access gap. Applicants should be entrepreneurial and ready to commit full-time to their venture if the pilot succeeds. Organizations that apply should be entirely new or at a very early stage (under 18 months old or raised less than US$30,000).

2026 deadlines
Early: May 17 | Regular: June 7 | Extension: June 28

There are five specific calls for new ventures addressing DMPA-SC gaps:
• Improving provider training
• Last-mile supply chain management
• Medical waste management
• Reaching underserved populations
• Propose an approach not listed above

Learn more and apply at www.d-prize.org.

The Advancing Injectable Markets for Sustainability (AIMS) project provides free data-driven technical assistance (TA), coordination, resources, and tools to ensure that women and girls have increased access to DMPA-SC and self-injection as part of an expanded range of contraceptive methods, delivered through informed choice programming.

Partners can access TA by submitting a request to the AIMS team at FPoptions@path.org.

This brief describes the work of the Injectables Access Collaborative which provides data-driven technical assistance, coordination, resources, and tools to ensure that women and girls have increased access to DMPA-SC and self-injection as part of an expanded range of contraceptive methods, delivered through informed choice programming. The Access Collaborative is led by PATH in partnership with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), inSupply Health, Jhpiego, and JSI.

In collaboration with the Uganda Ministry of Health, PATH is leading the Private Sector Family Planning project (2023–2026) to strengthen the private sector market for family planning, paving the way for introduction of more contraceptive methods in commercial outlets, providing clients more options for where and how to access methods of their choice.

The Injectables Access Collaborative Learning and Action Network hosted this webinar on February 28, 2024 highlighting task-sharing provision of injectable contraception—including DMPA-SC and self-injection—through support from community health workers (CHWs). At least 13 countries now authorize CHWs to support clients’ initiation of self-injection at the community level. Participants learned about the latest data on DMPA-SC provision and self-injection support by CHWs, heard from ministry of health representatives and CHWs themselves about the practice and potential of task-sharing of self-care services, and reflected on how to strengthen community health programs to improve equitable access to integrated primary health care services, including an expanded range of family planning options.

This event is part of series on task-sharing along with this webinar on private sector access to DMPA-SC.

This healthy markets framework assessment highlights market opportunities for intramuscular (IM) and subcutaneous (SC) injectables and makes several recommendations on how to sustain and expand access.

The three primary takeaways from the assessment are:

1. The lack of funding for procurement remains the main barrier to meeting global demand for injectables. This is also limiting demand across SRH products in general.
2. IM injectables still dominate the injectables market. Shipments of SC injectables have been relatively modest over the last few years, with evidence of challenges to fulfill country orders. An increase is projected in the demand for SC injectables over time with secure, diversified supply, particularly if the price premium of SC versus that of IM injectables is reduced. The arrival of a generic SC injectable could make a significant difference when it comes to pricing, however uncertainties remain as to whether SC injectables will be able to fully realize their potential.
3. Structural problems such as the lack of provider capacity and supportive policies to enable access are hindering the growth of the market for SC injectables and require special attention.

On March 21, 2023, the DMPA-SC Access Collaborative hosted this webinar highlighting the strengths and gaps of monitoring scale-up in the context of efforts to institutionalize DMPA-SC and self-injection in national family planning programs. The discussion focused on findings from Madagascar, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia, touching upon national goals for DMPA-SC, in-country perspectives on the value proposition of DMPA-SC, and suggested indicators for use in tracking the scale-up of a new product.

This webinar held on February 23, 2022 was hosted by Expanding Effective Contraceptive Options (EECO) led by WCG Cares with PSI and the DMPA-SC Access Collaborative led by PATH in partnership with JSI. The discussion focused on the introduction and scale up of self-care family planning methods in sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting lessons and best practices from DMPA-SC scale-up and Caya® diaphragm pilot introductions in French-speaking West Africa. Presenters from Benin, Niger, and Senegal shared successes and challenges. This webinar was offered in French.

The private sector holds great potential to reduce unmet need for family planning, and many countries are poised to adopt a total market approach for increasing contraceptive access through private pharmacies and drug shops. Policies supporting scale-up of family planning service provision and expanding method options such as DMPA-SC self-injection, must be prioritized in these entities.

The PATH-JSI DMPA-SC Access Collaborative and partners have gained valuable insights with relevance to private sector engagement on self-injection. This webinar held February 15, 2022 highlighted lessons learnt, challenges, recommendations, and considerations for policies supporting private sector engagement in self-injection in different country contexts. Specific topics included:

• Financing and commodity production ecosystems
• Procurement and supply chains
• Service delivery and programming
• Data reporting and monitoring
• Advocacy
• Demand generation

The discussion was moderated by Allen Namagembe, Deputy Project Director, Uganda DMPA-SC Access Collaborative, PATH.

Panelists:

• Dr. Kayode Afolabi, Director and Head, Reproductive Health Division, Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria
• Dr. Daniella Munene, Member, National Executive Committee, Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya
• Dr. Hortense Randrianaivo, President, Association of Pharmacists of Madagascar
• Mr. Célestin Compaore, Regional Project Director, DMPA-SC, Jhpiego, Burkina Faso