DKT International releases 2014 Contraceptive Social Marketing Statistics
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) October 22, 2015 -- DKT International’s recently released Contraceptive Social Marketing Statistics Report for 2014 suggests that an estimated 20% of all contraception used by couples in the developing world (excluding China) was provided by social marketing, a system that markets and sells contraception through private commercial networks alongside soap, tea, and soft drinks.
“In 62 countries around the world, social marketing programs sold enough contraceptives to protect 69 million couples from pregnancy in 2014. That is around 20% of the 350 million of couples who currently use birth control right now – not including China,” said Christopher Purdy, President of DKT International.
Social marketing programs ensure the wide availability of a great variety of high-quality family planning products backed by advertising on TV, radio, social media, and even T-shirts and baseball caps. Collectively in 2014, social marketing delivered 2.5 billion condoms, 200 million cycles of oral contraceptives, 32.9 million injectable contraceptives, 2.8 million intrauterine devices and 786,480 implants to help prevent pregnancies, reduce maternal and infant mortality, prevent HIV, and decrease abortions.
“These are remarkable numbers and are a testament to the many organizations and individuals who inform couples about birth control and make family planning products and services available to women around the world so that every couple can have a choice of methods and brands,” said Purdy. “Social marketing programs also reach young people to increase contraceptive popularity and use.”
New contraceptives are also included, methods like the recently available Sayana Press, a 3-month subcutaneous injectable contraceptive that was recently approved for self-injection in the UK.
DKT International is a non-profit organization that promotes family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention through social marketing. DKT International served 28 million couples in 2014, preventing 6.5 million unwanted pregnancies, 12,527 maternal deaths, and 3.6 million abortions.
“There is an urgent need for birth control around the globe. Women's rights, the education of children, and family prosperity all depend on couples' ability to have the number of children they want, when they want them,” says Phil Harvey founder and chair of the DKT Board of Directors. “Shackled to repeated unwanted pregnancies, women without birth control face bleak, impoverished futures. DKT International therefore continues to aggressively promote the availability of contraceptives and safe abortion around the world.”
Visit DKT International’s website to download the full report.
Suzy Ginsburg, Global Communication Works, +1 (713) 721-4774, [email protected]
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