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In our She Makes Her Safe Choice programme, Rutgers partners with DKT WomanCare Global to increase access to safe abortion. Alice Decoeur is in charge of the digital marketing for DKT WomanCare Global. Originally from Bordeaux, France, Alice moved to Paris. Very concerned about women’s health advocacy, she quit her job in finance and joined DKT WomanCare Global. In the run-up to World Safe Abortion Day, Alice shares what inspires her in this life-saving job.
Reproductive freedom and rights
“Our work is to distribute the products and make them available for women wherever they live, and to increase awareness around reproductive freedom and rights”, Alice begins. “We want to communicate towards women about the options they have when it comes to contraception and safe abortion in order for them to make the right choice about their own body. We also produce useful content so that women can have easier access to information and trust them to make their own decision when it comes to their body.”
“We change the stigma around abortion by normalising it as a part of healthcare”Alice Decoeur | Digital Marketing Executive, DKT WomanCare Global
“As a woman myself, I obviously feel concerned with our mission; providing access to safe abortion and contraception services means helping women be able to have control over their own body, choose whether they want to get pregnant or not, and choose to stop a pregnancy in a safe way if they need to make that choice. Having control over their body is an essential step for women’s empowerment and independence. Access to safe abortion is a fundamental right for women and a basic part of healthcare. Unsafe abortion is the 5th maternal mortality cause worldwide, ending them will therefore help saving over 55 thousands of women each year from dying.”
The She Makes Her Safe Choice programme dreams of a world where there are no more unsafe abortions. How does Alice contribute to that ambitious aim? “The Ipas MVA technology distributed by DKT WomanCare is available in over 90 countries around the world, mostly in countries where women have less access to healthcare facilities. DKT WomanCare reduces unsafe abortion by distributing the MVA technology to health care providers in all of these countries. Since this year, we also distribute medical abortion pills in selected countries.”
Safe abortions and preventing unintended pregnancies
Alice explains: “By distributing safe abortion methods, expanding access, and training healthcare providers on safe abortion technologies, DKT WomanCare converts unsafe abortions to safe abortions. Moreover, DKT WomanCare is now also distributing contraceptive products all over the world, which prevent unintended pregnancies and thus help reduce the need for abortion.”
“Even if we are observing some evolution in the public’s mind regarding abortion in most developed countries, there are still too many barriers that prevent women from accessing abortion”, says Alice, with regard to the challenges faced in this field. “This is particularly true in developing countries where access to abortion remains restricted and some healthcare providers refuse to provide it or do not have the means to provide these health services safely.”
Barriers
“There are many barriers to reach the objective of zero unsafe abortions, mostly legal barriers, public opinion barriers, and barriers at facility level. DKT WomanCare operates under the prevailing reality of each country, so we communicate and build awareness to change prevailing stigma and fears around abortion. We do this by normalising abortion as an ordinary part of healthcare. We work hard to make safe abortion products available and accessible as much as possible in both private and public facilities.”
DKT WomanCare is currently developing a new ordering platform. “This is essential for expanding the availability of our products. Our distributors will be able to order our products and distribute them in their local market more easily and benefit from a full-package service associated with each product. For example, if one of our customers wants to order Ipas MVA aspirators, (a safe method for induced abortion, miscarriage management, post abortion care and endometrial biopsy), they will be able to do so with a few clicks, and will also be able to download all the marketing material they might need to distribute it locally, as well as all the training material to increase product awareness among healthcare providers and train them if needed.”
“We are not only developing material targeted to healthcare providers, we are also communicating directly to women, with valuable information they might need to answer their questions around contraception or safe abortion.”
“DKT WomanCare Global is very proud to participate in the Safe Choice programme and be a partner of Rutgers, and we hope working together for the longer-term. Creating informational content together, hosting events together, and merging our communication efforts are a great way to reach as many people as we can and broadcast advocacy for access to safe abortion.”
DKT WomanCare Global
DKT WomanCare Global is a versatile, lean organization that facilitates access to high quality contraceptive and safe abortion products for healthcare providers and women. The organization is based on 5 pillars as main activities: sales, marketing, operations, regulatory affairs and quality assurance. It is a team of 25 people, most of them based in Paris, that work together for the distribution of sexual and reproductive health products among more than 90 countries in the world.
High quality, low cost
DKT WomanCare Global’s mission is to expand access to high quality and low-cost reproductive health products so that all women can access these products no matter where they live. We are convinced that everyone should get access to safe healthcare products and be free to make decisions regarding their own sexuality and fertility. By providing good quality and low-cost products, we are increasing global access to contraception and safe abortion for women.
Moreover, DKT WomanCare Global is committed to being an “all-in-one” ultimate customer-centric platform that expands access to existing and new sexual and reproductive health (SRH) technologies through synergies within DKT International programs worldwide, and other partners across all markets and segments.
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