The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) has introduced Sayana Press, a new contraceptive in a bid to widen family planning methods available to the people.
Sayana Press, made in Belgium, is an injection that lasts for three months its biggest advantage being that one self-injects. It is inserted under the skin or into the abdomen or the thighs.
A workshop held in Masvingo last week on Adolescence Sexual Reproductive Health (ASRH) was told that the contraceptive was launched in November last year.
ZNFPC Provincial Manager, Peter Vhoko, said Sayana Press is not taken every day like pills and also works for a fairly reasonable period.
The injection is now available at all ZNFPC and Population Services International (PSI) clinics. The contraceptive is being rolled out in three provinces namely Matebeleland South, Mashonaland East and Bulawayo Provinces.
ZNFPC launched the contraceptive in conjunction with its partners, the Department for International Development (DIFD), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Sayana Press works by stopping ovaries from releasing eggs to the fallopian tube and hence there will be no fertilization. It also thickens cervical mucus so that the sperm won’t penetrate.
The workshop was attended by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Education, Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS), Social welfare and Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs).
The Sayana Press contraceptive comes at a time when there has been an upsurge in teen pregnancies, particularly, during the lockdown.
More: Pindula News; Masvingo Mirror