Bayer Schering Pharma: Taking Social Responsibility in Family Planning

“Access to contraceptives implies much more than the vital question of self-determination,” says Klaus Brill, Head of Corporate Commercial Relations. In countries where resources are limited, giving women the choice to determine their reproductive lives is a major step towards fighting poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality, and improving maternal health. “As the worldwide leader in female contraception, we want to actively support the achievement of these United Nations' Millennium Development Goals by 2015.”

Conscious family planning is key in the promotion of social and economic progress. In countries whereby population growth is outpacing economic progress, family planning can reduce the economic burden in poor families and allow parents to devote more of their re-sources to each child, thereby improving health and nutrition, education levels and living standards.

Access to family planning also contributes towards reducing health risks for women such as those associated with childbirth and preg-nancy, as well as towards avoiding unplanned pregnancies and abor-tions. 76 million women become pregnant unintentionally every year, and more than half a million women worldwide die because of complications during pregnancy or when giving birth, according to the annual report of the German Foundation for World Population.

Today, a variety of safe, effective and convenient contraceptives is available – including a wide range of oral contraceptive pills as well as long-acting reversible methods such as implants, intrauterine devices, injectables, etc. However, hundreds of millions of women worldwide are not using effective contraception, due the lack of access to these methods and the lack of proper knowledge. Many women become pregnant due to improper usage of contraceptives. Some of them do not use even any contraceptive at all due to the fears of side effects. Socio-cultural and religious barriers, including gender barriers and power imbalances within couples and families also prevent women from exercising their rights in making free decisions about their repro-ductive lives. According to estimates by the United Nations (UN) Population Fund, 200 million women would use family planning methods if they had access to the proper information or supplies.

As the worldwide market leader in contraception, Bayer Schering Pharma has many years of experience and expertise in this field. The company is continuously strengthening its commitment with its ongoing efforts to bring women high quality contraceptives tailored to their individual needs. Family planning has also long-since been an important part of the company’s social commitment. For almost 50 years now, the company has been supporting family planning programs all over the world.

”With our long-term experience in female contraception, we consider it our responsibility to make an essential contribution here,” says Phil Smits, Head of Business Unit Women’s Healthcare. “We believe that every woman worldwide should have access to modern contraceptives, regardless of her social and financial status.”

Bayer Schering Pharma – represented by a dedicated team in the Social Healthcare Programs function – is today active in more than 130 countries. The team cooperates with a global network of governmental and non-government organizations to supply high quality contraceptives at cost or reduced prices to these partners for family planning programs in developing countries. Since 1961, Bayer Schering Pharma has supplied 2.6 billion cycle packs to family planning programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Recently, in 2008, Bayer Schering Pharma signed an agreement with John Snow, Inc. (JSI), the organization that implements international family planning programs for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Bayer Schering Pharma supplies the USAID-supported public and social marketing programs in Africa, Asia and Middle East, Europe and Latin America with up to 110 million cycles of oral contraceptives yearly. The cooperation allows more than 8 million women in developing countries to have access to modern and reliable hormonal contraception.

Bayer Schering Pharma also supports projects of the other organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) the International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF), Population Services International (PSI), Marie Stopes International (MSI), and worked with several of these NGOs as well as the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Development Bank (KfW) to initiate the annual “International Dialogue on Population and Sustainable Development” conference. Attended by a consortium of German development cooperation organizations, private enterprises and their international partners, the conference provides a platform for the exchange of strategies on population issues and sustainable development, to reinforce the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Cairo agenda and to contribute to accelerating achievement progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

In recognition of Bayer Schering Pharma’s many years of commitment in family planning, the company was granted membership of the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC) - a global partnership which aims to take a leading role to promote reproductive health in developing countries and emerging nations. In 2007, the company became the first industrial partner to be a member, alongside key organizations such as the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Fight poverty – educate girls” is the theme of this year’s population day. Investments in education and health for women have paid off and led to increases in productivity and national income – all of which contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

“The free decision on using contraceptives is one very important link in the chain of empowering women,” underlines Brill. “Effective family planning is the key that will give a woman the freedom to use her opportunities in education and then invest it in the future well-being of herself and her children – for the benefit of the community at large.”