In March 2021, the DMPA-SC Access Collaborative organized the virtual Making Self-Injection Count workshop. The eight sessions focused on how to integrate self-injection data into routine health management information systems (HMIS). Sessions also focused on how to use public and private sector data to inform policy and practice. I helped to support the session, “Integrating Self-Care Methods into the National Health Information System: Experiences and Lessons Learned from Malawi.” This session was based on the Malawi Ministry of Health’s (MOH) integration of DMPA-SC and self-injection into their HMIS and the effective partnership that enabled the successful rollout of DMPA-SC. In addition to the Malawi MOH, this partnership included ten other organizations:
- FHI 360
- The Centre for Health, Agriculture, Development Research and Consulting (CHAD);
- Youth Net and Counseling (YONECO);
- Banja La Mtsogolo (BLM);
- Population Services International (PSI);
- Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI);
- Management Sciences for Health (MSH);
- United States Agency for International Development (USAID); and
- United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The workshop also featured a great hands-on session about HMIS data visualization and another on the opportunities and challenges related to the use of private sector data.
A Look Ahead
We are now more than one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Self-injection of DMPA-SC allows adolescent girls and women to avoid traveling to crowded health facilities every three months to be injected by a provider. Self-injection enables adolescent girls and women to prevent pregnancy in a private and convenient manner for up to one year. Throughout the pandemic and beyond, this method has the potential to help adolescent girls and women prevent pregnancy.
Today, more than 40 countries have introduced or scaled up DMPA-SC as a family planning method. Half of these countries have also introduced or are planning to introduce self-injection. When I think back to my trip to Senegal nine years ago to begin working on DMPA-SC research, I am awed by how far we have come. I am excited to see where we go from here.