Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: The INFO Project

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Dr. Jim Shelton's Pearls "Pearl" for the week of January 15, 2001

IUD Mirena

This new IUD Mirena sounds interesting. What are the prospects that USAID will begin providing it for programs?

Cost is likely to be an insurmountable hurdle. In the private sector at least, the price is likely to be in the hundreds of dollars. Over the years AID staff have had discussions with Schering (and with its predecessor Leiras) about an acceptable public sector price. Although we have never been able to reach accord, we will keep trying. Bear in mind, the Copper-T-380A is an excellent and inexpensive IUD. So after factoring in the costs of introducing a new method, the advantages of Mirena would only justify USAID large-scale procurement in the face of a very attractive price.

The "Pearls" offer answers to commonly asked questions about family planning. These "Pearls" are prepared by Dr. James D. Shelton, Senior Medical Scientist, Office of Population, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Disclaimer: The information provided on this web site is not official U.S. Government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Government or The Johns Hopkins University.