Reproductive health commodities are the supplies needed to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe and every person is protected against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. They include contraceptives and condoms, maternal health medicines and surgical equipment.
Contraceptives and condoms
Involving men in Kenya
"Family planning is only for women. And it makes them promiscuous. I would never advise my wife to use those things [contraceptives] because the role of a woman is to give birth to children," remarked a 28-year-old Kenyan father of six.Learn how men are being encouraged to participate in family planning.
If we envision a world in which every pregnancy is wanted, then it is essential that we help to ensure access to a range of contraceptive technologies that are widely available in the industrialized world.
Some 200 million women in the developing world—many of them living on less than a dollar a day—do not want to give birth within the next two years, but are not using a modern method of contraception. This ‘unmet need’ often results from lack of services and supplies, and a lack of knowledge about actual risk for pregnancy. Additional factors are lack of choice among birth control methods, misinformation leading to safety concerns, a lack of support from communities and spouses. The consequences are costly:
- About one third of the 536,000 maternal deaths each year could be averted if women had access to reliable family planning methods.
- At least a third of the 190 million pregnancies each year are unintentional.
- Nearly 50 million women each year resort to abortion, and 19 million of these are performed under unsafe conditions.
- An estimated 68,000 women die each year as a result of unsafe abortions. Millions more suffer infections and other complications such as infertility.
- Providing a wide array of choices for family planning is key, so that couples can select the method that works best for them
Contraceptive supplies include: oral contraceptives, intrauterine devices (IUDs), barrier methods (condoms, diaphragms), implants (Norplant, Implanor), injectable contraceptives (Depo Provera).
In addition to helping prevent pregnancy, male and female condoms are still the world’s most effective technology for preventing HIV, and are central to prevention of other sexually transmitted infections.
A life saved
Nana, an 18-year old mother of two, had an eclamptic fit shortly after giving birth. Unconscious and convulsing, she arrived at the hospital on the back of a motorcycle taxi aided by her sister. Fortunately, magnesium sulfate was on hand to stabilize her condition.
Essential reproductive health medicines
As we advocate for greater control by women over their own reproductive choices and health, we must provide the means for them to actually implement their choices.
Medicines to support Reproductive Health: UNFPA, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and others, is working to secure access to essential drugs for reproductive health.
UNFPA and its partners have identified these 4 priority medicines, which can save mothers’ lives during difficult pregnancies and childbirth:
- Oxytocin and ergometrine can control excessive bleeding during or after childbirth. Severe loss of blood is the most frequent cause of maternal death and causes about a quarter of all maternal deaths, affecting 2 to 15 per cent of women worldwide.
- Magnesium sulfate is used to prevent and treat high blood pressure (pre-eclampsia and eclampsia) during pregnancy, a life-threatening condition. This affects an estimated 2-8 per cent of pregnant women.
- Iron/Folate supplements combat iron deficiency among pregnant women, a leading factor in maternal death and low birth weight in developing countries.
- Other essential reproductive health supplies include anaesthetics, antibiotics, antiseptics, vaccines and vitamins, iron supplements, as well as medicines for treating reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections, including diagnostic tests.
Equipment for safe delivery
Access to basic equipment for safe delivery and emergency interventions is often lacking in developing countries. Even when health practitioners are well trained, without the right supplies they cannot save women’s lives. In fact, many women, or their families, are forced to purchase their own supplies before getting a life-saving Caesarean section.
Impoverished Families Forced to Bring their Own Supplies to the Emergency Room
Saio Marah was two full days into a difficult labour, reported the Washington Post, when her husband was sent out to buy a catheter and a urine bag for his wife. Costing three dollars, the supplies amounted to a full day’s wage for the couple. But it was too late for Marah’s baby, who was stillborn.
Essential equipment includes equipment for professional midwifery and blood transfusions, Caesarean and vaginal delivery supplies, newborn supplies for immediately after birth.
- Instruments for delivery: retractors, surgical drapes, clamp for the umbilical cord, needles and thread in case of tears.
- Caesarean section: packing gauze, forceps, spinal anaesthesia, spinal needles, local anaesthesia, IV set and fluids, bag valve mask, source of oxygen.
- For a newborn: suction tubes, suction bulb, eye ointment to prevent infection
- For sterilization of equipment: autoclaves, drapes to cover tools, trays.
- General hospital furnishings: operating table, lights, bowls.
- Consumable supplies: rubber gloves, syringes, needles, fluids for IV drip, gauze.
Procuring these supplies is only one part of the challenge. Learn more about the complexity of getting them to where they are needed.
