As the conversation around family planning is front and center on the world agenda with the 2017 London Summit on Family Planning approaching on July 11, a recent report released by DKT International highlights the great strides contraceptive social marketing continues to have on global access and uptake of family planning products and services.

“The consistent success of contraceptive social marketing is in large part attributable to its effectiveness in areas where other types of private and governmental organizations have faced significant challenges,” says Chris Purdy, CEO of DKT International. “Since announcing our formal commitment to FP2020, we’re seen our West Africa program make significant headway with sales in Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Gabon and have recently entered the reproductive health market in Kenya offering a full range of contraceptives.”

DKT Indonesia, the largest contraceptive social marketing program in the world, celebrated its 20th year in operation this year, supplying almost 20% of the family planning in the country. Products like condoms and oral contraceptives generate profits that keep the organization financially self-sufficient. In a unique twist to the concept of donor funding, DKT Indonesia provided some of these profits to help start up a social marketing program in Ghana in 2011.

DKT’s program in the Democratic Republic of Congo recently purchased a boat to expand its contraceptive sales into the far reaches of the Congo river. This sales expansion is in tandem with the expansion of the “Batela Lobi Na Yo” youth program to increase access to and understanding of family planning in new provinces, including Equateur, North Kivu, Kassai, and Badundu. These efforts are supported by media campaigns on Facebook and YouTube .

“We will continue to leverage our social marketing expertise using culturally relevant marketing and educational campaigns to increase the accessibility, availability, and affordability of a wide variety of modern contraceptives above and beyond our FP2020 goals,” adds Purdy.