Researchers from Makerere University School of Public Health, through the “Innovation for Choice and Autonomy-ICAN study, have found out that Self-Injection has a potential to promote contraceptive agency among women and adolescents.
According to the study, self-injection has a potential to promote contraceptive agency by offering privacy, easing access barriers and by giving a sense of control.
“We have also found out that the women who may benefit most from self-injection need supportive solutions to address barriers related to training, access, storage and self-efficacy” reveals the findings.
The study was conducted among 241 women from Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda to identify insights into the potential benefits of self-injection for women’s contraceptive agency, and the realities that limit its potential.
The researchers learn that populations who may benefit most from self-injection include women and adolescents who live in communities that strongly stigmatize contraceptive use, those staying in areas with unreliable or distant health care, and those with family members who do not support contraceptive use.
The project aimed at deeply understanding self-injection’s empowering potential and how to best implement it to ensure those who face the most barriers to contraceptive agency can benefit.Testifying about the self-injection, different stakeholders expressed their opinions.
A 20-year-old Uganda nonuser of contraception explained “The good thing is that other people will not know. Only you and your man will know, so that helps that others have not found out”.
A 35-year-old injectable user in Kenya noted that “I come from far and I might not have the fear to come there and get the injection, so if I have it at home, I will be able to inject it myself when the date is due”.
“When the provider is injecting me, I would get scared, so I start moving my body because it would hurt sometimes… that is why I would prefer injecting myself because I am calm and gentle on my own body” says a 40-year-old SI user in Malawi.
The research outcomes were to improve understanding of who may be the most likely to benefit from the introduction of self-injection, and to enhance knowledge of the role SI can play in promoting contraceptive agency.
Also, to design and evaluate effective approaches for introducing and supporting the use of SI in ways that help women overcome barriers and optimize facilitators to contraceptive agency.
Innovations for choice and Autonomy-ICAN is a project rooted in the idea that women’s autonomy and agency should be prioritized in all sexual and reproductive health efforts.
Researchers conducted 241 in-depth interviews between January and September 2021, prior to beginning ICAN’s human-centered design and other research portfolios.
Women ages 15-45 from Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda were purposely sampled from community settings to reflect diverse demographic characteristics and a variety of experiences with contraception. Over a third of the sample had never used contraception; 18% were using self-injection.
