Pharmaceutical company Pfizer has announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK-based Children's Investment Fund Foundation to expand access to an injectable contraceptive in sixty-nine of the world's poorest countries.

Supported by a consortium of public- and private-sector donors and organizations, including PATH, the United Kingdom Department for International Development, the United Nations Population Fund, and the United States Agency for International Development, the pharmaceutical giant will make the contraceptive Sayana Press available for $1 per three-month dose. Sayana Press is a new incarnation of the widely used injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera packaged in a single-use syringe, eliminating the need to prepare a needle and syringe for each injection and making it easier for health workers to administer the drug in low-resource and/or non-clinic settings, including women's homes. For women in remote and other hard-to-reach communities in many developing countries, the need to return to a clinic every three months for a new injection from a skilled health worker serves to limit their access to birth control.

In addition to assisting with procurement, the consortium will support wider introduction of the drug and drug-delivery system to health facilities and community-based distribution networks and will work with local governments to include injectable contraceptive methods in their reproductive health plans and budgets, coordinate health worker trainings, and raise awareness of the availability of the contraceptive.

"When women are able to plan their families, they are more likely to survive pregnancy and child birth, to have healthier newborns and children, and to invest more in their families’ health and well-being," said Chris Elias, president of Global Development Programs at the Gates Foundation, which has pledged $1 billion to make contraceptives more accessible to women in developing countries. "We are proud to be part of this innovative public-private collaboration that will help more women around the world — even in remote areas — plan their lives and their futures."