Mutual recommitment to a partnership between Pfizer and two U.S. foundations has successfully ensured continued access to Pfizer’s Sayana Press contraceptive for women in the world’s poorest nations.
Pfizer Inc., the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) recently revealed plans to continue their cooperative efforts to widen availability of Sayana Press (medroxyprogesterone acetate), Pfizer’s injectable contraceptive.
The initiative began in 2014 after studies in three African nations indicated high demand for the product in younger women. Through the three entities’ efforts, the all-in-one injection was distributed to 20 developing nations by the end of 2016, reaching over 1.5 million women and representing a quantum leap from 2015 figures, recorded at 350,000.
Significantly, many recipients were first-time users of contraceptives. According to Pfizer, approximately 225 million women throughout the developing world desire but lack access to contraception, whether due to distance from health facilities, social barriers or lack of information.
“Our hope is that more women in the developing world will now have access to Sayana Press, as an option, to meet their specific family planning needs,” Pfizer Essential Health President John Young said, noting the goal is to empower women through better family planning. “We have seen the impact of our work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and other collaborating organizations, and look forward to our continued efforts to enable wider availability of Sayana Press.”
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