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NEW YORK, September 27, 2012, (C-FAM)—USAID used the occasion of World Contraception Day to announce a new commitment to provide the long-term contraceptive implant – known as Jadelle, to women in the poorest countries of the world.

The WHO-approved contraceptive implant lasts up to five years, is said to be reversible and can be administered by trained healthcare workers.

The Bayer contraceptive device is inserted into the inner side of the upper arm. It consists of two plastic rods, each about the size of a matchstick, which contain long acting, slow-release progestogen and provides safe and effective protection against pregnancy.

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This initiative was a joint effort with “the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the Governments of Norway, the United Kingdom, the US and Sweden, The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, other groups and the German pharmaceutical firm Bayer HealthCare AG, which is the manufacturer of the contraceptive device.”

The agreement provides that Bayer will reduce the cost of Jadelle by fifty percent and in exchange is guaranteed a six year contract which includes “funding for at least 27 million contraceptive devices.”

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Funding for family planning/contraception has increased 40 percent under the Obama administration. The 2012 USAID budget of $524 million exceeds the budgets for tuberculosis, public health threats, pandemic influenza, vulnerable children and nutrition combined.

The Family Planning Summit spearheaded by Melinda Gates and held in London last July secured commitments of $4.6 billion for contraceptives for poor women. At the summit the U.S. State Dept announced a partnership with the Gates Foundation and the UK to provide long-term contraceptive methods.

This initiative will be one of many to further reduce the population of the poor in lieu of substantive maternal and child health programs. The USAID press release acknowledged 30 million pregnancies will be prevented between 2013 and 2018 at a savings of $250 million in healthcare costs.

Reprinted from C-FAM.