NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

In developing regions where the economy is weak and medical services are limited, global health experts say as many as 200 million women want access to long-term, reversible contraceptives to avoid unintended pregnancies and to help space out the births of their children.

One of the most convenient and effective options — a tiny implant that can delay conception for three to five years — is inserted into a woman’s arm and can later be removed at any time to restore fertility. However, in developing nations, these simple procedures often must be done by frontline providers who have minimal training. Sometimes, the cylindrical toothpick-shaped implant may be inadvertently inserted into the woman’s fat tissue instead of just under the outer skin layer. This causes the contraceptive to become ineffective and makes removal of the implant far more difficult.

To help prevent such problems, a team of Johns Hopkins University biomedical engineering undergraduates has developed a teaching set called the Contraceptive Implant Training Tool Kit or CITT Kit, for short.