Liftoff: The Blossoming of Contraceptive Implant Use in Sub-Saharan Africa
This presentation updates a recent peer-reviewed article to analyze, contextualize, and convey the rapid, substantial, and fairly equitable increases in contraceptive implant usage occurring the past 3-5 years in sub-Saharan Africa, among almost all sociodemographic categories. Trends in 3 key variables—modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR), method-specific prevalence, and share of the contraceptive method mix—are presented for 12 countries comprising 61% of the region’s population. Gains in implant uptake and their predominant contribution to FP2020 goals are compared to gains for injectables, pills, and IUDs. The presentation documents how, why, where, and to what extent these gains have occurred; why this nearly-unprecedented FP success story is likely to continue; and what that implies for policymakers, governments, donors, health systems, and FP program implementers.