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.

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.

On September 15, 2021, the PATH-JSI DMPA-SC Access Collaborative hosted this virtual launch and walk-through of the redesigned DMPA-SC Country Data Dashboard and new monitoring, learning, and evaluation (MLE) tools.

The AC data dashboard is an interactive tool that presents available data collected during DMPA-SC self-injection (SI) introduction and scale-up. The dashboard visualizes SI uptake, tracks implementation of key policies, and integrates data use practices to support data-driven decision making. Information presented on the dashboard has changed over time to reflect shifting needs of stakeholders. After undergoing a human centered design exercise to better understand information needs surrounding SI introduction and scale-up, the Access Collaborative recently redesigned the DMPA-SC Country data dashboard. This webinar introduced new data available and demonstrated new features on the dashboard.

The webinar also included an overview of the Access Collaborative’s new MLE toolkit developed to help meet the needs of ministries of health and implementing partners. This 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. The tools are primers in how to create dynamic and visually compelling SI program data displays (e.g., dashboards, presentations) that facilitate comprehension and use of SI data for family planning program decision-making. While the toolkit was developed with SI in mind, many of the principles could be applied to data visualization needs across family planning programs and methods.

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:

1. Supportive supervision checklist to assess provision of family planning counseling
2. Observation checklist to assess health workers counseling clients on DMPA-SC self-injection
3. Remote supervision of family planning providers (includes family planning and self-injection)

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.

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 Access Collaborative has 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 informed choice counseling, calculating the injection date, conducting follow-up visits, and 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. Currently available in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, the videos can be translated or adapted to fit your program context.

If you are interested in introducing DMPA-SC digital training approaches in your program, please contact the Access Collaborative at FPoptions@path.org.

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 video provides instructions 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 administering DMPA-SC injections to women. Both are available in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish at the links below.

If you are interested in customizing these videos for your family planning program, we can make the voiceover scripts and video files available. For more information, please email FPoptions@path.org.

This WHO Academy online learning course was created for pharmacists and pharmacy staff to support wider access to contraception, particularly in low-resource settings. Pharmacies and drug shops play an important role in helping people manage their sexual health and family planning needs. These locations are typically easily accessible within communities, with staff providing critical information that helps people make informed decisions about their health.

Through studies and practice exercises in this course, participants learn how to provide best-practice contraception counselling, about different contraceptive methods, and about follow-up care. It includes a module on counselling and prescribing self-injectable contraception with DMPA-SC. The course is available on the WHO Academy website in English, French, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese.