New film tells the story of the journey from research to practice for self-injectable contraception in Malawi.
We are thrilled to announce that “The Power of Self-injectable Contraception” is now available for free download.
Self-injectable contraception:
Empowers women to take control and practise self-care in their own sexual and reproductive health. Offering choice, privacy and the ability to avoid stigma, users are able to avoid unnecessary and unaffordable travel to health clinics for injections, replacing them with easy to use home-based injections.
“Women take power in their hands, they inject themselves – others they were feeling shy to come to the hospital for [family planning] services, but nowadays they are able to come to my home.”
Hilda Mtambo, Community Health Worker
Monkey bay Community Hospital, Malawi.
The film:
Made in partnership with Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), FHI 360 and USAID, “The Power of Self-injectable Contraception“ communicates the findings of a study [1] on the effectiveness of self-administered depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC) carried out in Malawi between 2015 and 2017.
Filmed in Mangochi district, Malawi, the film features Dorothy, a user of self-care contraceptives who has found power through self-care.
The self-injectables ensure she can access high quality sexual and reproductive health services where she wants, and when she wants.
The Study:
The findings of the study were remarkable. Injectable contraceptives are popular in sub-Saharan Africa but have high discontinuation rates due in part to the need for provider-administered re-injection. Self-injection led to a more than 50% increase in continuous DMPA-SC pregnancy protection through 12 months, compared to provider-administered injection.
Self-injectable contraception gives women control over their reproductive health, power over their bodies, and freedom to make their own choices about their future.
As a result of the study findings, the Ministry of Health in Malawi are now rolling out DMPA-SC and self-injection in 7 districts across the country, with plans for national scale-up by 2020.
Free to stream and download, watch the film now.
Also now available: French subtitled version, Le Pouvoir des Contraceptifs Auto-Injectables.
1. Effect of self-administration versus provider-administered injection of subcutaneous depot medroxyprogesterone acetate on continuation rates in Malawi: a randomised controlled trial by Holly M Burke, Mario Chen, Mercy Buluzi, Rachael Fuchs, Silver Wevill, Lalitha Venkatasubramanian, Leila Dal Santo, Bagrey Ngwira.
Published Lancet Global Health 2018; 6: e568–78
