NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Access to birth control just got significantly easier in four African countries. Sayana Press, a new pre-filled, single-dose contraceptive was introduced Burkina Faso in early July, and within the next few months it will be available in Niger, Senegal, and Uganda, too. It’s unique because of how it was developed and introduced, and because of what it could mean for women in countries where birth control isn’t widely available or is stigmatized.

Sayana Press is a combination of two things—a drug and a device—that are both already available. It’s Depo-Provera, a widely used, long-acting contraceptive, in a Uniject device. Uniject, which looks like a tiny golf ball on a tee, is a single-use, pre-filled injection system developed by Becton Dickinson. To use it, you crack a tiny one-way seal, and then squeeze a bubble to dispense the drug. It’s previously been used to administer tetanus and Hepatitis B vaccines.