By skyforbes 
What if we could give millions of women greater control over their health and their families’ health? We can.
Never before in history have women been able to give themselves a simple injection every few months to prevent pregnancy—the final, and possibly biggest, reason why DMPA-SC is so appealing. By putting the power of protection directly in women’s hands, self-injection with DMPA-SC has the potential to reduce access-related barriers for women, increase contraceptive continuation rates, and enhance women’s autonomy.
PATH has led research in Senegal and Uganda which found that women can self-administer DMPA-SC safely and effectively, that they like doing so, and that self-injection enables them to continue using the method longer than injections from providers.
Based on a robust evidence base compiled by PATH and partners, an increasing number of countries worldwide are adding DMPA-SC to their contraceptive method mix and scaling up self-injection along with provider-administered DMPA-SC. Countries such as Senegal and Uganda are already moving forward with scaling up self-injection. Several other countries are in the early stages of piloting or offering self-injection, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Malawi, and Nigeria.
And in Uganda, as the Ministry of Health plans for national rollout of this new option for women, PATH’s Self-injection Best Practices initiative has gathered information about how the practice can be designed and implemented at scale. The team has applied user-centered design techniques to develop, implement, and evaluate self-injection program models across delivery channels. The first program data in mid-2018 showed that at least 3,000 women are self-injecting across four districts.
PATH works to expand access to DMPA-SC because we believe that all women, no matter where they live, should have access to a range of safe and effective contraceptive options that allows them to make an informed choice—for the sake of their own health and the health of their families and communities.
For more information check out the links below, visit our DMPA-SC Resource Library, sign up for our newsletter or email [email protected].