In 2019, the global contraceptive use prevalence was found to be 51.9% [1]. However, there was a huge difference in the percentage use of contraceptives across countries – for example, 1.9% in South Sudan to 87.9% in Norway [1]. A wide variety of contraceptives have been developed in the past decades, including male/female condom, combined oral contraceptives (OCT), hormonal or copper intrauterine device (IUD), subdermal implant, and surgeries like vasectomy.
Recently, a group of researchers based in the US explored women’s preferences for a new contraceptive under development. The study [2] was published on Frontiers in July 2023. It recruited respondents via web link and decided they were eligible if they were 18–44 years of age, identified as cis-gender female, English-speaking, not pregnant, and had used barrier contraception previously. The survey was carried out in 2020, with a total of 3406 individual responses and 500 deemed to be eligible. Among the 500 respondents, 74.4% were white and 83.8% were non-Hispanic. In the survey, the researchers described the new contraceptive as: ‘A new type of birth control is being designed. You would put it in the vagina before having sex. The birth control would start as a fabric-like, delicate material and dissolve into a gel that would protect against pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. It is a method you could use without your partner knowing.’ It collected respondents’ feedback and expectations on this product and presented in Table 1 below:
Table 1 Participant feedback on attributes of the proposed novel contraceptive
The study also collected people’s concerns regarding this proposed product, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Participants’ concerns
In the study, over 2/3 of participants expressed interest in using this new proposed product. They’d also prefer it to be similar in shape and size to a tampon and low in cost. Interestingly, over half of respondents said it was important to use this without their partner knowing, given that nearly half of respondents reported prior experience with partner coercion not to use contraception. On top of that, respondents’ most reported concerns are vaginal irritation and its effectiveness in preventing pregnancy.
Overall, the study successfully identified user preferences for this new product under development with a focus on design features, such as size, shape, time to efficacy and length of efficacy which may impact its future market popularity. However, this study only targeted English-speaking respondents in the US, with the majority of respondents being white. Unfortunately, no similar exploratory studies on new contraceptive products have been conducted in Asia.
According to a UN report on use of contraceptives in 2019 [3], the most commonly used contraceptive method in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia is IUD (18.6%), followed by male condom (17.0%). In central Asia however, it’s dominated by female sterilisation (21.8%). Surprisingly, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia has the highest contraceptive prevalence of 60%, higher than that of Europe and Northern American’s 58% [3]. The detailed breakdown of contraceptive methods by region can be found in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2 Contraceptive prevalence by method among women of reproductive age (15-49 years), by region, 2019
The author of the study [2] duly pointed out that available contraceptive products available in the market frequently lack attributes preferred by some users, and the development of new products frequently does not involve user input early in their developmental process. The more prevalent use of contraceptives can significantly reduce spread of STIs and unintended pregnancies. More user-friendly products combined with rigorous public health campaigns are the best hope for the decade to come.
References
1.Haakenstad A, Angelino O, Irvine CMS, Bhutta ZA, Bienhoff K, Bintz C, et al. Measuring contraceptive method mix, prevalence, and demand satisfied by age and marital status in 204 countries and territories, 1970–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet [Internet]. 2022 Jul 23 [cited 2022 Sep 29];400(10348):295–327. Available from: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)00936-9/fulltext
2.Madden T, Cohen S, Paul R, Hurley E, Thomas M, Pauletti G. Women’s preferences for a new contraceptive under development: an exploratory study. Frontiers. 2023 Jul 21;4.
3.United Nations. Contraceptive Use by Method 2019 Data Booklet [Internet]. 2019. Available from: https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/files/documents/2020/Jan/un_2019_contraceptiveusebymethod_databooklet.pdf
