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 DMPA-SC Access Collaborative provides data-driven technical assistance (TA), resources, and tools that countries need for designing, implementing, and monitoring the introduction and scale up of DMPA-SC self-injection as part of an expanded range of contraceptive methods, delivered through informed choice programming.
In addition to general information and evidence on DMPA-SC, partners can access the support outlined in the menu below by submitting a request through the technical assistance request form, also linked below. Your request can be submitted by emailing the completed form to FPoptions@path.org.
The DMPA-SC Access Collaborative has published a collection of briefs on countries where we have provided focused technical assistance between 2017 and 2021. This includes the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia. Each brief describes the country’s introduction and scale-up experiences for DMPA-SC and self-injection, including accomplishments, challenges, innovations, key lessons, factors for success, and plans for the way forward.
Costed implementation plans play an important role in transforming family planning commitments into concrete programs and policies by informing budget creation and management as well as funding allocations and tracking. As part of introduction and scale-up planning across countries, the DMPA-SC Access Collaborative has worked with ministries of health and partners to create costed implementation plans for DMPA-SC specifically and map commitments or available budgets against costed plans to understand funding gaps. This brief describes the Access Collaborative’s costed implementation plan approach as well as costing tools available to enable countries to estimate their own plan’s requirements and potential funding gaps. For more information or assistance, please visit the Access Collaborative technical assistance page or contact FPoptions@path.org.
Over the past two years, a number of implementing partners have leveraged the Catalytic Opportunity Fund (COF) to support the scale-up of DMPA-SC in focal countries. The COF is a rapid funding mechanism administered by Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and managed by the DMPA-SC Operations Group, a group that responds to operational and service delivery issues in DMPA-SC and self-injection introduction and scale-up. The fund aims to support short-term DMPA-SC scale-up activities that unlock or generate additional resources. COF grantees carry out a diverse range of activities with short-term, small grants that make significant contributions to the national introduction and scale-up of DMPA-SC in their countries.
During this DMPA-SC Learning and Action Network (LAN) knowledge-sharing webinar held on May 19, 2021, successful COF grantees representing the Society for Family Health, Pathfinder International, Marie Stopes, and Jhpiego shared about the fund’s impact on their work and key lessons learned. The virtual discussion encouraged all stakeholders—program implementers, researchers, government officials, health providers, and members of civil society—to consider applicable strategies and mechanisms for efficient, sustainable, and scalable product introduction.
The DMPA-SC Access Collaborative hosted this April 21, 2021 webinar highlighting lessons learned to date through four years of data-driven technical assistance and coordination to ensure that women have increased access to self-injection as a contraceptive option, delivered through informed choice programming. The discussion focused on key topics for the introduction and scale-up of self-injection—and self-care interventions more broadly—at the country level including:
Policy and advocacy for new product introduction.
How to coordinate scale-up of a new product.
Using data to inform program introduction and scale-up.
Effective innovations and adaptations in provider training.
This discussion was moderated by Monica Mutesa, Zambia Country Coordinator, DMPA-SC Access Collaborative, PATH. Speakers included:
The Family Planning Financing Roadmap is a resource for USAID Mission staff and others working on family planning issues in developing countries. The website is designed to support sustainable family planning approaches for a wide range of users, from those who have very limited knowledge of health financing concepts to those who have some knowledge or experience and are looking to develop a deeper understanding of specific issues. The website has three main sections: learning materials, an interactive roadmap, and a community of practice.
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.