Dear Friend of DKT,
I am pleased to announce the release of DKT’s 2016 Annual Report, which is now available here via the DKT website.
In addition, we are proud to announce that DKT has launched Kiss condoms in Senegal. To address the reproductive health challenges in the region, DKT is establishing a regional social marketing program that will eventually reach multiple countries in West and Central Africa to provide a full range of affordable family planning options using dynamic and entrepreneurial approaches. We expect this new DKT model to begin delivering results in the months and years to come.
Other items in our May newsletter include:
- Emergency contraception is on a roll.
- DKT uses provocative online advertising to reach young people in Eypt and Myanmar, countries with strong traditional influences.
- We highlight the Ego Removal Machine and other media coverage of DKT.
- DKT Nigeria moves ahead with Sayana Press injectable.
As always, we are grateful for your interest in and support of our work.
Christopher Purdy
President
Our first product launched in Francophone West/Central Africa
DKT has launched Kiss condoms in Senegal, our first product in Francophone West and Central Africa.
DKT’s work in the region will be headquartered in three countries: Senegal, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire. We already have offices in Senegal and Cameroon and will open an office in Côte d’Ivoire in August.
We plan to leverage commonalities in these countries to achieve economies of scale in procurement and marketing. At the same time, the DKT model will allow messaging, community mobilization and external relations to be tailored to the needs of each national environment.
For more details see the Francophone West and Central Africa page of our website.
Senegal Sales Supervisor Coumba (right) with our very first customer, a pharmacist in Dakar.
Emergency contraception on a roll in DKT countries
Over the last few months, we launched four new emergency contraceptive (EC) products — the Lydia brand in Myanmar, the Aleze brand in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a new one-pill Fasile-One brand in Ethiopia (in addition to the two-pill formulation we already had) and we relaunched a 0.25 mg mifepristone Ciel brand in Vietnam. DKT now sells EC in 12 countries and is registering (or re-registering) products in several more. In 2015, DKT sold 4.5 million EC pills/packs.
The Ego Removal Machine and other DKT media coverage
In The Huffington Post , DKT President Chris Purdy, with tongue firmly in cheek, has come up with a creative approach to improving philanthropy with the Ego Removal Machine. If only it were possible.
Two young Africans, including a member of the DKT Nigeria staff, talk about their work to increase family planning use through social media and soccer in a piece for the Mail & Guardian of South Africa’s Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism.
DKT Turkey has been trying to alleviate unintendend pregnancy in refugee camps in Greece and Turkey. This report from Quartz provides details of those efforts.
Sexy social media campaign in Egypt targets young people
DKT Egyp t launched a pr ovocati ve social media campaign aim ed at males aged 18-34 and fema les aged 24-45. The campaign, which utilizes the hashtag #MorePleasure, talks about the pleasure of using Fiesta condoms and lubricants (especially now that we have lots of product variants).
DKT Egypt’s Facebook and Instagram accounts played a critical role because Egyptian law prohibits the use of mass media to promote condoms and lubricants.
An image used in a Labor Day message
A scene from DKT Myanmar’s new Kiss Easy-Jel lubricant internet ad.
Myanmar produces four short, fun internet ads
To reach youth, DKT Myanmar is bypassing television and going to cyberspace with very short and fun made-for- internet ads. Four 15-second ads appeal to the quick-click social media youth culture – three for Kiss condoms and one for Kiss Easy-Jel lubricant. Three of them have been released this month and can be viewed on the Kiss Myanmar Facebook page .
Nigeria pushes ahead with Sayana Press injectable
In November 2014, DKT Nigeria launched the Sayana Press injectable, which is the first time the product has been offered commercially in Africa.
Sayana Press is provided through a wide range of commercial outlets but also via “DKT Bees,” a team of community health extension workers (CHEWs) employed by DKT. DKT Bees are trained to bring family planning services closer to women in their homes, business places, markets and communities. Sayana Press is also provided by more than 3,000 healthcare providers — doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists and CHEWs. DKT has set up a free mobile phone reminder alert service to remind women of their next injection.
Sayana Press is not yet approved for self-injection but the manufacturer, Pfizer, has submitted a request to allow self-injection. That would be a game-changer.
A DKT Nigeria Bee (left) counsels a woman on family planning options.
