Most injectable contraceptives are currently only available in clinic settings. But a new product called Sayana Press packages a lower dose of the contraceptive in an easy one-time-use injection system.
“This tiny, simple device gives women a convenient and low-dose formulation of Depo-Provera in a package that is small, lightweight, and easy-to-use. That means trained community health workers can administer it, which increases access, and it even has the potential for women themselves to self-inject,” Batson says.
This is important, she says, because access to birth control is an important factor in preventing maternal and child deaths.
“Our modeling revealed that injectable contraceptives could save the most lives—more than 3 million, including women, newborn, and children—by putting power in women’s hands to space their pregnancies in a healthy way,” Batson says.