Bayer Healthcare and USAID Partner to make Microgyon® Fe Oral Contraceptive Available and Affordable in Nigeria

 
Microgynon® Fe is now available
in local pharmacies at a significantly lower price after it’s recent launch in
Sheraton Hotels Abuja. The product comes as a result of an innovative
public-private partnership between Bayer HealthCare and the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Microgynon® brand is the
world’s most widely used oral contraceptive. The reduced price enables
middle-income couples to access a quality, affordable family planning product.
The partnership is designed to make
more affordable family planning choices available to women through the private
sector and address the growing demand for contraceptives and the overall
sustainability of supply. Family planning allows couples to plan their families
as they desire, reduces the risks from unintended and/or high-risk pregnancies,
and improves the health of mothers and their children by allowing time between
pregnancies.
 
After the introduction Microgynon®
Fe in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Rwanda, Ghana, and Kenya, the
Bayer-USAID partnership will expand the initiative to several more Sub-Saharan countries
by 2016. USAID Nigeria’s Director, Health, Population and Nutrition office, Dr.
Nancy Lawenthal, emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships in
helping governments meet their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). “We are
pleased that this important initiative between USAID and Bayer Healthcare is
being extended to Nigeria. The private sector has an important role to play in
contributing to sustainable development and in this case, by ensuring that
Nigerian women have access to a sustainable supply of quality, affordable oral
contraceptives.”
“Combined oral contraceptives are
99% effective when used consistently and correctly. It also provides women with
a reversible method that is easy to discontinue and has a rapid return to
fertility. Microgynon® Fe is being used by millions of women around the world
and is well known and trusted by medical professionals,” said Dr. O.I. Akinola,
Ostetrician/Gynecologist, and President of the OB/GYN Society of Nigeria. Women
interested in finding out more information about Microgynon® Fe should talk
with their nearest private healthcare provider.
Microgynon® Fe is manufactured in
Germany by Bayer HealthCare and imported to Nigeria by CHI Pharmaceuticals.
About Bayer HealthCare
The Bayer Group is a global
enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and
high-tech materials. Bayer HealthCare, a subgroup of Bayer AG with annual sales
of EUR 19.97 billion (2014), is one of the world’s leading, innovative
companies in the healthcare and medical products industry and is based in
Leverkusen, Germany. The company combines the global activity of the Animal
Health, Consumer Care, Medical Care and Pharmaceuticals divisions. Bayer
Healthcare’s aim is to discover, develop, manufacture and market products that
will improve human and animal health worldwide. Bayer HealthCare has a global
workforce of 56, 700 employees (Dec 31, 2014) and is represented in more than
100 countries. More information at www.healthcare.bayer.com.
About USAID
The American people, through the
U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic, technical
and humanitarian assistance worldwide for 50 years. In September of 2009, the
Global Health Bureau’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health signed a
five year collaboration agreement between USAID and Bayer HealthCare. The
Contraceptive Security Initiative is an innovative public-private partnership
that seeks to address the ever increasing need for affordable contraceptives.
For more information about USAID’s programs, please visit: www.usaid.gov.