Think Africa Press describes how “[t]he Jadelle Access Program is aiming to make Jadelle progestogen implants — a long-acting and reversible form of contraception — available to more than 27 million women in more than 50 countries worldwide.” “Born out of a partnership between Bayer HealthCare (the makers of the implant), the [Bill & Melinda] Gates Foundation, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the United Nations Population Fund, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and the governments of the U.K., U.S., Norway and Sweden, the initiative aims to ensure millions more women can access the implants at less than 50 percent of the current price over the next six years,” the news service writes.

“The group is also working with domestic organizations to provide training in counseling and the provision of high quality clinical services to health care providers” with the aim of “improv[ing] delivery systems so that a range of family planning options are available and accessible even in the most remote locations,” according to Think Africa Press. The news service discusses some reasons women in Africa do not use contraceptives, including “a lack of access, fears of the methods, and opposition to contraception whether on the part of the woman, her partner or another influential person” (Lewis, 3/8).