Maisha Meds report finds DKT is a leading supplier of essential family planning methods across both public and private sectors, with couple-years of protection doubling since 2020
November 12th, Washington, D.C. — DKT International today released Family Planning Landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Independent Assessment of DKT’s Footprint and Impact, a report prepared by Maisha Meds.
The report draws on continent-wide export data from major supplying countries, DKT’s sales data, point-of-sale data from nearly 6,000 private pharmacies, clinics and drug shops in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, public procurement data, and sales reported by social marketing organizations. It assesses DKT’s role in the supply, quality and affordability of family planning methods across the 31 sub-Saharan African countries where DKT sold products between 2020 and 2025.
Key findings
- Reach: Since 2020, DKT has sold nearly 1.9 billion family planning units across 31 sub-Saharan African countries, about 315 million a year.
- Protection doubled: Couple-years of protection (CYPs) from contraceptive methods rose from 9.9 million in 2020 to 19.6 million in 2025, 81 million in total.
- Long-acting methods drive impact: In 2025, implants and IUDs delivered 62% of the CYPs, up from 42% in 2020.
- Market position: Across both public and private markets in countries where DKT operates, DKT provided an estimated ~62% of copper IUDs, 43–45% of emergency contraception and 32–39% of oral contraceptives (2023–2025 averages).
- Largest social marketing supplier: Social marketing organizations supply more than 70% of emergency contraception and more than 60% of oral contraceptive volumes in DKT’s served markets. Within that segment, DKT accounted for more than 60% of both over the last three years, making DKT the largest social marketing supplier of emergency contraception and oral contraceptives in DKT’s served markets.
Why it matters now
Donor funding for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health commodities is contracting. The report notes that more demand is expected to move to private pharmacies and drug shops, where price competition and limited visibility can make quality harder to assure. In that setting, social marketing organizations are increasingly looked to for continuity of access to affordable, quality-assured products.
“We asked Maisha Meds to look at our work using independent market data rather than our own reporting alone. The findings show where DKT is making a difference across the region, and where we have more to do,” said Christopher Purdy, President of DKT International.
The report concludes that social marketing organizations, and DKT in particular, remain central to family planning supply in the region. In several categories, they serve not only as a complement to public provision but as a primary source of supply and growth. As donor funding for commodities contracts, DKT’s social enterprise model helps sustain access to affordable, quality-assured products.
The report also describes DKT’s quality-assurance requirements, including GMP-certified suppliers, independent testing and audits. Maisha Meds reviewed testing evidence DKT provided for sampled batches, showing they met all tested parameters, but did not itself audit DKT’s quality procedures or test any products.
By contributing its own sales and pricing data to an independent analysis, DKT helped fill a critical evidence gap and provided confidence that private-sector reproductive health delivery is important and measurable.
“Seeing what is sold in thousands of pharmacies, alongside what is imported and procured, gives funders and organizations like DKT a rare view of the private market. It lets them compare their performance with the wider market, track trends in close to real time, and spot early warning signs, such as very low prices that call for a closer look at quality. In the markets where it operates, DKT is the largest social marketing supplier of several essential methods, and as donor funding contracts, that role is likely to matter even more. With clearer data, funders and organizations can respond earlier and invest where it matters most,” said Daniel Rosen, Managing Director – Data & Consulting at Maisha Meds.
Availability and webinar
DKT and Maisha Meds will host a webinar on the findings in mid-January 2027. To receive details, subscribe to DKT’s newsletter.
Report Contact: Stephanie Gallagher, stephanie@dktinternational.org
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About DKT International
Since 1989, DKT International, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., has been promoting family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention through social marketing in low- and middle-income countries. Today, DKT International provides health impact at scale across more than 100 geographies. We believe that family planning is key to healthier men, women, and communities, and that choice is key to empowerment. DKT enables women and men to take control of their reproductive destinies by boosting decision-making power through educational campaigns, increasing family planning product options, and securing products in easy-to-access outlets at affordable prices.
In 2025, DKT helped prevent an estimated 27.8 million unintended pregnancies, 22.6 million unsafe abortions, and more than 55,400 maternal deaths, while providing 70 million couple-years of protection across the 100+ countries where we work.
Media Contact: Claire Kuang, claire@dktinternational.org
About Maisha Meds
Maisha Meds has built one of the largest digital networks of private pharmacies and clinics in Africa, with full-time operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria. Thousands of sites use its mobile software to run their business, and that same software lets them deliver large-scale health programs. The network also generates real-time, anonymized sales data from a private sector that has long gone unseen. Combined with donor and public procurement records, trade data, and wholesaler data, Maisha Meds’ data consulting team shows pricing and purchasing trends for a variety of medicines and health products, including family planning. This brings unprecedented visibility into Africa’s private sector, so the decisions that shape health systems can better serve the people who depend on them.
Media Contact: communications@maishameds.org
