Murna Gyang Tok, IRC midwife staff, takes stock of drugs and medications available at IRC health facility in Nigeria.
Murna Gyang Tok, IRC midwife staff, takes stock of drugs and medications available at IRC health facility in Nigeria.
Pilot
Uganda
Ongoing

Closer than the Clinic

Expanding contraceptive access to refugee women through local drug shops, at less than half of legacy humanitarian cost

72 million women affected by war or natural disaster lack reliable access to contraception. Too often, women travel hours to public clinics only to find their contraceptive of choice out of stock. Yet in many high-need settings, private drug shops already sit much closer to where women live.

Airbel is turning those shops into a new route to contraceptive access. In Palabek, Uganda, home to a large refugee population, we’re helping local drug shops stock and sell a wider range of contraceptives while strengthening the supply system that keeps them replenished. In our first pilot, participating shops tripled contraceptive sales within a month and began placing their own orders for more supply.

Using an existing retail network avoids the cost of building and maintaining a weighty parallel service-delivery footprint. Local shops can provide a full year of contraceptive protection for around $20, less than half the humanitarian average of $42. Palabek is the first test - this model can expand wherever high unmet need overlaps with viable local drug-shop networks, giving more women reliable access to the contraception they want, embedded in their communities.