Birth control pill shortage looms

18 Jan, 2015 - 00:01 0 Views
Birth control pill shortage looms

The Sunday News

birth pillsTinomuda Chakanyuka  Sunday News Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) is anticipating a shortage of birth control pills in the country’s health institutions and has moved to introduce a new contraceptive, Marvelon 28, to plug the lurking supply gap.Government health institutions around the country are administering Control Pill, a combined oral contraceptive that is manufactured by Family Care Limited, but the drug is anticipated to run out soon.

In a statement last week, ZNFPC acting director Dr Edmore Munongo said the supply gap of the control pill was likely to take up to a few months hence the move to bring in a new drug.

Dr Munongo, however, did not explain the reasons leading to the shortage of the contraceptive.

He said the new Marvelon 28 drug would be distributed in Bulawayo and Harare metropolitan provinces.

“The anticipated supply gap will take up to a few months and is likely to affect the national distribution system.  Upon anticipating the supply gap, ZNFPC has procured Marvelon 28 Birth Control Pills which work the same as the Control Pills. This move is meant to close the anticipated supply gap for this period, thereafter normal supply of the Control Pill will resume,” he said.

Dr Munongo said the introduction of the Marvelon tablet was also meant to give users more options on contraceptives.

“It should be noted that Marvelon is a modern contraceptive which is extremely effective and more reliable if taken correctly. The introduction of Marvelon tablets is also meant to give users more contraceptive choices. Users should seek information and guidance from family planning clinics, doctors, health workers and community based distributors near them,” he said.

Marvelon tablets are a type of hormonal oral contraceptive, commonly known as a “birth control pill or combined oral contraceptives”.

The drug is taken by mouth like the control pill tablet with the objective of preventing pregnancy.

Marvelon is a monophasic pill and each of the 21 tablets has the same dose of hormones in it. These are synthetic versions of the naturally occurring female sex hormones, oestrogen and progesterone. Ethinylestradiol is a synthetic version of oestrogen and desogestrel is a “third generation’’ synthetic form of progesterone.

The drug works the same way as the control pill and can be substituted for the latter with no problems or risk.

Marvelon tablets suppress the natural hormone cycle making it one of the most effective contraceptive methods available. Users experience less painful periods and less heavy periods, allowing improvement of premenstrual tension.

The drug also enables regular cycles for those with irregular periods and it reduces incidence of functional ovarian cysts including incidence of pelvic inflammatory disease and reduces the incidence of cancer of the ovary and endometrium.

Government through ZNFPC is working on reducing the country’s total fertility rate through encouraging the use of birth control methods and increased uptake of contraceptives among the country’s sexually active population.

 

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