Family Planning

Jianjun Sun of the University of Connecticut in the U.S. is developing non-hormonal contraceptives using a fly-based ovulation assay to identify compounds that specifically block the rupture of follicles, which is required to release eggs for fertilization also in mammals. The popular female contraceptive "pill" alters the hormonal cycle and is widely used throughout the Western world. However, it can have undesirable side effects.

In this proposal, we describe an assistive medical device that dramatically reduces the training required to administer subcutaneous contraceptive implants (a long-term form of contraception). The device ensures accurate insertion of the contraceptive implant and minimizes the risk of incorrect placement (a major concern during implant removal). Through use of this device, community healthcare workers (prevalent in rural areas of LMICs) would be enabled to administer a crucial form of long-term contraception and increase access to an underserved population.

Teresa Woodruff of Northwestern University in the U.S. is developing automated, high-throughput tools using mouse ovarian follicles and endocrine loops between interacting organs integrated with a series of microfluidic and microdynamic systems to identify improved contraceptives with longer-term action and lower cost for low-resource settings.

Kristin Wall of Emory University in the U.S. will develop a comprehensive approach to improve the uptake of intrauterine contraceptive devices shortly after birth, which is safe and effective but currently vastly underutilized for preventing unwanted pregnancies in Rwanda even though it is widely available. They will hold focus groups and in-depth interviews with couples, both separately and together, and health workers, to evaluate their knowledge and attitudes on the intrauterine devices, as well as evaluating current practices at two health clinics.

Rebecca Hope of Youth Development Labs Inc. in the U.S. will design a survey to investigate how young men from Mali, Nigeria, India and Kenya view family planning and identify the social factors such as family and social media that influence how they make related decisions. Despite the often dominant influence of men on family planning decisions, most intervention programs focus on the women. They will use methods including interviews and co-design workshops with the male participants to design a mobile phone survey consisting of multiple-choice and open-ended questions.

Charles Easley of the University of Georgia Research Foundation in the U.S. is developing a complete human spermatogenesis model system for high-throughput drug screens to identify new compounds that reversibly block the maturation of sperm and could be used as male contraceptives. A simple oral male contraceptive would lessen the burden on women, particularly those who suffer from adverse side-effects of hormonal contraceptives.

Elena Bertozzi of Quinnipiac University and Aparna Sridhar from UCLA School of Medicine in the U.S. will design a game-like tool to identify cultural norms that influence future family planning decisions in adolescent school children in Karnataka, India, to help improve contraceptive education. The majority of these children have access to technologies such as the Internet and cell phones. They will exploit this by developing a game where users create their ideal virtual family by selecting the numbers and spacing of the children, and the age they would like to have their first child.

Rebecca Thornton of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in the U.S. will test whether access to home pregnancy tests and thereby earlier confirmation of pregnancy status in rural areas of sub-Saharan countries encourages family planning. Currently, 25% of married women in sub-Saharan Africa who do not want more children are not using contraception. This is due in part to the high cost, and that when women know they are not pregnant they are more likely to use contraception than when they are unsure.

Elmar Stroomer of Design without Borders Uganda Ltd. in Uganda will develop an interactive game combining methods from game-based learning to collect data on decisions made around family planning in Uganda. These data can then be used to develop strategies that encourage effective family planning for individuals and communities. They will recruit participants to co-create the game to simulate real-life situations using a human-centered design process.

Andrew Hopkins of the University of Dundee in the United Kingdom is developing a screening platform using live human sperm to identify new male contraceptive drugs that inhibit two separate activities required for fertilization, namely motility and formation of the acrosome on the head of sperm cells. Currently, the only effective, widely available, and reversible form of male contraception is the condom, which has limited appeal. Alternative male contraceptives are needed to help reduce the estimated 89 million unintended pregnancies each year.