WASHINGTON, DC (March 4, 2015): International Women’s Day offers us a time to reflect on how we can further improve the health and well-being of women around the world. For DKT International, that means empowering women to take control of their fertility by offering education, services and products through social marketing, to promote family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention across 20 countries around the globe.
Since 1989, nonprofit, DKT International has been promoting family planning and HIV/AIDS
prevention through social marketing. In 2014, it served 28 million couples, helping prevent over 6.5 million unwanted pregnancies, 12,527 maternal deaths and 3.6 million unsafe abortions. DKT provided over 552 million condoms, 86 million cycles of oral contraceptives, over 20 million injectable contraceptives, 2.4 million IUDs, and 9.3 million misoprostol pills.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), says, “Access to safe, voluntary family planning is a human right. Family planning is central to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and it is a key factor in reducing poverty. Yet some 225 million women who want to use safe and effective family planning methods are unable to do so because they lack access to information, services, or the support of their partners or communities.”
“It’s a women’s fundamental right to control her own fertility and dictate the terms of her destiny,” says Chris Purdy, President & CEO, DKT International. “At DKT we are proud to provide family planning products and services to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, maternal deaths and unsafe abortions. DKT International sells a wide range of contraceptives, including condoms, oral and injectable contraceptives, and IUDs.”
Tens of thousands of women have been able to access contraception with the new introduction of Sayana Press in DKT Nigeria. The unique sub-cutaneous 3-month injectable contraceptive provides an easy-to-use, single dose, pre-filled delivery system that improves contraceptive continuation and reduces service-delivery costs.
“Sayana Press is a game-changer as it improves contraceptive access and can unofficially be used to self-inject, potentially altering the landscape for contraception,” adds Purdy. “We hope the lessons learned and knowledge gained from the introduction of Sayana Press in Nigeria will inform the procurement and programming decisions of governments, NGOs, and donors regarding future inclusion of such a contraceptive tool in the family planning method mix.”
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