In October, representatives of the Commission called upon the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition to identify one contraceptive commodity that most closely fit the criteria of “orphaned” and that held out the greatest promise for improving reproductive health outcomes. The Coalition’s Executive Committee responded by identifying three: contraceptive implants, emergency contraception and the female condom.
The Commission’s subsequent decision to include family planning in its mandate is an important testament to the need to build on the progress made in meeting the need and desire for contraception over the last four decades. In selecting these three overlooked contraceptive methods—contraceptive implants, emergency contraception and the female condom—the Commission has appropriately focused on ensuring access to methods that are in demand, show promise for increasing public health benefits (including beyond pregnancy prevention), and have received inadequate attention from the public and private sector. Yet, to realize the full public health benefits of increased availability of overlooked contraceptive methods, it is also essential to ensure access for all to a full range of methods and the ability of women to choose a method that fits within their own fertility goals and life circumstances.
In considering improved access to these three and all contraceptive commodities, the Commission is urged to prioritize the following recommendations or interventions:
- Provision of the full range of contraceptive methods needed to meet women’s and couples need for short-term, long-term and permanent methods of contraception and, where relevant, for prevention of STIs, including HIV;
- Ensuring equitable access to contraceptive commodities for all who are at risk of unwanted pregnancy;
- Streamlined regulatory processes and national-level responses to increase opportunities for the introduction and use of all services and commodities to improve maternal and child health.
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