"Empowering Women Through Self-Care: The DMPA-SC Self-Injection Initiative"
Empowering women through reproductive rights and gender mainstreaming is at the heart of what we do at RIZ Consulting. We are proud to support Government of Pakistan’s efforts to expand family planning access for women, particularly through our collaboration with the Government of Sindh, Balochistan, and Federating Areas (ICT, AJ&K, and GB) in introducing and scaling up DMPA-SC self-injection services. Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate Subcutaneous (DMPA-SC) is a safe, effective, and convenient contraceptive method that improve access to family planning services, giving women more autonomy over their reproductive health. Through this collaboration, we’ve achieved several key milestones:
- 2018: Our work with DMPA-SC began when the Government of Sindh recognized its potential to improve contraceptive access. Sindh became a leader in integrating DMPA-SC into family planning services, authorizing Lady Health Workers (LHWs) to administer injectables through a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) and registering it with the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).
- 2019: RIZ Consulting supported the development and implementation of the DMPA-SC Rollout and Scale-up Plan for Sindh (2019-2023), expanding access to provider-administered DMPA-SC across the province.
- 2021-2024: Building on our successes, we launched the Self-Injection Rollout and Scale-up Plan (2023-2027) following a successful pilot cohort study on self-injection. The scale-up of self-injection services began in phases, aiming to increase access to family planning for women, particularly in hard-to-reach areas.
- 2024: Building on this success, we expanded our advocacy efforts to the Federally Administered Areas (ICT, AJK, GB) and Balochistan, leading to the successful launch of DMPA-SC self-injection programs in these regions.
- 2025: DMPA-SC self-injection services are now available in 13 districts of Sindh, ICT, ?two districts of GB and Five districts of AJK with over 4,000 healthcare providers trained.
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At RIZ Consulting, we believe that the integration of DMPA-SC self-injection into Pakistan’s broader family planning framework is key to improving access to reproductive health services, especially for women in rural and underserved areas.