Based on evidence and experience, countries worldwide are adding the option of DMPA-SC self-injection to their contraceptive method mix.
Self-injection has the potential to reduce access-related barriers for women, increase contraceptive continuation rates, and enhance women’s autonomy. There are strong data that women, including women in low-resource settings, can self-administer DMPA-SC safely and effectively, and that they like doing so.
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.
Data has the power to convey the lived experiences of women and adolescents, highlighting the importance and potential of expanding choices to reduce unmet need for contraception. This monitoring, learning, and evaluation (MLE) toolkit features three tools for dynamic decision-making: A data visualization principles guide, an Excel dashboard how-to guide, and a data use and indicators guide. These are primers on how to create dynamic and visually compelling self-injection program data displays (e.g., dashboards, presentations) that facilitate comprehension and use of self-injection data for family planning program decision-making. While the MLE toolkit was developed with self-injection in mind, many of the principles could be applied to data visualization needs across family planning programs and methods. For more information about using the toolkit, visit Excelerate your self-injection program data: An Excel skill-building workshop series.
We want to hear from you! By completing this short survey, you can help us ensure the tools are meeting the needs of key stakeholders during new product introduction and scale-up. Please contact FPoptions@path.org with any questions or request for assistance.
Supportive supervision plays a critical role to ensure high-performing health workers have the appropriate knowledge, skills, and motivation in order to deliver quality family planning (FP) services and informed choice counseling. This package includes three supportive supervision tools that can be used by regional or district health teams when conducting supervision visits at health facilities that offer FP services:
Tools #1 and #2 can be used together or separately, depending on whether or not the supervision visits include follow-up with providers recently trained to counsel clients on DMPA-SC self-injection.
Tool #3 is intended for use in situations where in-person supervision is not possible; the supervision exercise can be conducted through phone or video. This tool includes guidance and instructions for supervisors who plan to conduct supervision remotely.
The tools are intended to serve as guides and can be adapted for specific settings as needed. For more information, contact FPoptions@path.org.
Institutional author(s): PATH, JSI
Publication date: July, 2021
This webinar hosted by the DMPA-SC Access Collaborative Learning and Action Networks (LAN) on July 21, 2021 highlighted important considerations for private pharmacies in data collection and reporting on self-care products such as DMPA-SC self-injection. Presenters shared their experiences and lessons from introducing DMPA-SC self-injection through private delivery channels in their respective countries.
Highlights included:
This virtual discussion encouraged all stakeholders—program implementers, researchers, government officials, health providers, and civil society members—to consider private sector perspectives on data collection and reporting practices, highlighting the importance of good private sector data to inform government policies and strategies for monitoring, regulating health products, and procurement.
Institutional author(s): PATH, JSI, inSupply Health, Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya, Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia
Publication date: July, 2021
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:
This discussion was moderated by Monica Mutesa, Zambia Country Coordinator, DMPA-SC Access Collaborative, PATH. Speakers included:
For more information, please contact FPoptions@path.org.
Institutional author(s): PATH, JSI
Publication date: April, 2021
In this Making Self-Injection Count workshop session, participants were engaged in a lively discussion and interactive collaboration around the important considerations for private sector data collection and reporting on self-care products such as DMPA-SC. This session began with a short presentation to set the stage on the important role of private sector and data within the context of mixed health systems. Participants joined a moderated discussion with three in-country implementers from Nigeria (DKT), Uganda (PSI) and Zambia (JSI) who shared their experiences and lessons from introducing DMPA SC self-injection and other self-care products through private delivery channels. The session concluded with a facilitated, interactive activity to identify and prioritize private sector data needs.
Objectives
By the end of the session, participants were able to:
Key takeaways
Presenters
Institutional author(s): PATH, JSI
Publication date: March, 2021
Participants in this Making Self-Injection Count workshop session learned about interim data sources for self-injection data, including Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) surveys, demographic and health surveys (DHS) surveys, and low-resource, short-term auxiliary data collection systems. This session also highlighted efforts made to collect and use family planning data in humanitarian settings. Presenters addressed general timelines for data access in different countries and evaluated differences in indicators across data sets.
Objectives
By the end of the session, participants were able to:
Key takeaways
Presenters
Institutional author(s): PATH, JSI
Publication date: March, 2021
This session wrapped up the Making Self-Injection Count workshop and highlighted key takeaways. Participants had an opportunity to reflect on what they learned and the action steps they have identified to move forward with their work.
Key takeaways
The workshop closed with four calls to action:
Presenter
Institutional author(s): PATH, JSI
Publication date: March, 2021
This was a hands-on skill-building session during the Making Self-Injection Count workshop in which participants worked with a sample data set in order to create data visualizations using Microsoft Excel. Two versions of the session were offered—a beginner session for participants with limited experience using Excel and data visualizations, and an advanced session for those with more experience. Participants needed a computer with Excel; the dataset and other materials were provided.
Objectives
By the end of the session, participants were able to:
Key takeaways
Presenters
Institutional author(s): PATH, JSI
Publication date: March, 2021
In this practical, hands-on simulated data use session in the Making Self-Injection Count workshop, participants first learned about experiences running data review meetings in Kenya and Tanzania, highlighting lessons learned and best practices. Then they practiced skills using a mock decision-support tool to solve a common self-injection data challenge.
Objectives
By the end of the session, participants were able to:
Key takeaways
Presenters
Institutional author(s): PATH, JSI
Publication date: March, 2021