医療従事者の為の最新医療ニュースや様々な情報・ツールを提供する医療総合サイト

WASHINGTON

“World Contraception Day” (WCD), held annually on September 26, offers countries and regions around the world an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to raise awareness of contraception and improve education for reproductive and sexual health. DKT International, one of the largest private providers of contraceptives and family planning services in the developing world, fully supports the WDC vision of “a world where every pregnancy is wanted,” and is in the forefront of supporting WCD efforts at empowering young people to build contraception into their current lifestyles and future plans.

In 2012, DKT International programs operating in 19 countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, cumulatively averted 8.2 million unwanted pregnancies, 2 million unwanted births and 1.7 million unwanted abortions. These programs make contraceptives and family planning services widely available and easily affordable, and encourage their use through social marketing on the Internet, in concerts, on outdoor billboards and at festivals – any channel that reaches the young adults who are prime targets of World Contraception Day. In 2012 DKT’s distribution of condoms and contraceptives cumulatively provided 25 million couple years of protection (CYP, the amount of contraceptive/safe sex protection needed for one couple over one year) at a remarkably low cost of $2.00 per couple.

“Our social marketing of contraceptives and family planning services is highly cost-effective as it improves lives, using a self-sustaining financial model that benefits people at all socio-economic levels in the countries we serve,” explained Christopher H. Purdy, Executive Vice President of DKT International. “It is an effective approach that differs greatly from traditional nonprofits, providing contraceptive goods and services as normal commercial purchases that offer consumers a benefit at an affordable price.”

In individual countries DKT programs epitomize the goals of World Contraception Day:

• DKT Ethiopia supplies 50% of the country’s condoms, contraceptives and other reproductive health products, and operates Africa’s largest HIV prevention program.
• DKT Indonesia is the largest private family planning program in the world and has reached 1 billion in condom sales, only the second DKT program ever to reach this milestone.
• DKT Brazil led a 10-fold increase in the Brazilian condom market, funds innovative online promotion of condom use and secured tax exemptions making condoms more affordable

“We believe our experience and creativity at promoting family planning and safe sex messages will continue to play a vital role in making the World Contraception Day vision a reality in countries where it is urgently needed to improve the quality of life,” Purdy concluded.

Since 1989, Washington, DC-based DKT International has provided safe and affordable options for family planning and HIV prevention through social marketing, establishing it as one of the largest private providers of family planning products and services in the developing world. www.dktinternational.org.