Sunday Times

Teen pregnancie­s up as contracept­ive runs low

- By TANYA FARBER

● It is like something out of The Handmaid’s Tale — a war over injectable contracept­ion, as demand for the country’s most popular contracept­ion remains high but supply runs low.

The department of health claims that the injectable, Depo-Provera, is at 82% availabili­ty across the country, but areas as far-flung as Stanford in the Western Cape and Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal have been in crisis for much of 2018.

The worst-hit provinces are Limpopo and North West.

A tender was put out by the National Treasury but there were no bidders, according to health department spokespers­on Popo Maja. He said the most recent contractor was Fresenius Kabi but “the company has taken the decision to discontinu­e the product” and “hence did not submit a bid”.

This left only Pfizer as a remaining local supplier but the company chose not to bid. Company spokespers­on Charmaine Motloung said it was supplying the department on “request only”.

“The tender to supply it ended in September 2013,” she said. Pfizer had “not experience­d a stock shortage”.

She added: “Pfizer … did not bid for the tender in 2017 as it was not in a position to meet all the tender requiremen­ts at that time.”

Marianna Steyn, a doctor in the small town of Stanford, said she had raised the alarm with government officials to no avail. Meanwhile, teen pregnancie­s in the community were increasing.

“When stock of Depo-Provera eventually arrives, it is finished within a few days and then people have to wait for three months or longer for more to arrive,” said Steyn.

A civil servant in Stanford, who did not want to be named, said she and her sister had been unable to obtain Depo-Provera from the clinic for six months.

Suddenly unavailabl­e

“When my family or friends phone, the clinic says they have stock but by the time they get there it is finished. I have a boy of two and a daughter of 12. It was available for more than a decade and I used it between having my two children, but then it suddenly wasn’t available. I have a lot on my mind and will never remember to take the pill.”

Bella Spandiel, who runs a home-based care facility for families in the area, said: “The mommies are telling me the babies are not planned. And when they are born it is a big financial burden. So we need every type of contracept­ion available and the injectable suits the youngsters.”

Western Cape health department spokespers­on Mark van der Heever said the province relied on the national department for a drug he called “the mainstay of contracept­ion in the province”.

In the absence of a contract, the province was buying “off contract” from Pfizer.

“The department of health’s Cape medical depot places buy-out orders on a weekly basis and they have stock on hand. There are intermitte­nt but infrequent stock-outs.”

 ?? Picture: Esa Alexander ?? Marianna Steyn, a doctor from Stanford, said she had raised the alarm with the government.
Picture: Esa Alexander Marianna Steyn, a doctor from Stanford, said she had raised the alarm with the government.

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