Founded | 1989 |
---|---|
Founder | Phil Harvey |
Focus | Family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention |
Location | |
Area served | Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa, Asia, Latin America |
Method | Social marketing of family planning and HIV/AIDS products and services |
President & CEO | Christopher Purdy |
Revenue | US $250.9 (2020) |
Website | dktinternational.org |
DKT International (DKT) is a charitable non-profit organization that promotes family planning and HIV prevention through social marketing. The Washington, D.C.-based DKT was founded in 1989 by Phil Harvey and operates in 90 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. [1] Its revenue largely comes from sales of low-cost contraceptives. In 2023, DKT sold 949.58 million condoms, 120 million units of oral contraceptives, 33 million injectable contraceptives, 28.6 million emergency contraceptives and 5.4 million intrauterine devices (IUDs), among other products, in over 60 countries. [2] This is equivalent to 64.1 million couple years of protection (CYPs), making DKT one of the largest private providers of contraceptives in the developing world. The average cost per CYP was US$1.65. [3] DKT's marketing strategies have included advertising, creating location-specific brands, working with social networks and militaries, and targeting high-risk groups. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] DKT also works with health workers and clinics that provide family planning products, information, and services. [4] Charity Navigator has given DKT a four-star rating for its finances, with 96.5% of its budget going towards programs and 3.4% towards headquarters expenses and fund raising in 2019. [9]
Phil Harvey, the founder of DKT, became interested in family planning in 1968 while working on emergency food relief for CARE International in India. [10] In 1970, he and his fellow University of North Carolina student Tim Black founded the business Adam & Eve in order to finance their charitable activities, and also founded the non-profit health organization Population Services International that same year. [10] [11] [12] [13] DKT International, named for D.K. Tyagi, an early pioneer of family planning in India, was founded in 1989. [14] DKT has grown rapidly over the years; its revenue from selling contraceptives increased from US$4.5 million in 1996 to $167.7 million in 2020, and its couple years of protection increased from 5.7 million in 2002 to 54.2 million in 2021. [15]
In 2006, DKT International refused to take the U.S. government's anti-prostitution pledge, feeling the pledge would interfere with its HIV/AIDS services worldwide. DKT challenged the pledge as a violation of First Amendment rights, with the support of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled in favor of DKT in the District Court for the District of Columbia on 18 May 2006, but the D.C. Court of Appeals reversed the decision on 27 February 2007. [16] [17]
In 2013, a different organization successfully challenged the pledge before the U.S. Supreme Court in Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc. [18]
On 31 December 2013, Phil Harvey stepped down as president after 24 years, and was replaced by Christopher Purdy. Its board includes Carlos Garcia, Karen Pak Oppenheimer, Christopher H. Purdy, Dr. Matthew Reeves, Julie Stewart, and Emeritus board member Robert L. Ciszewski. Purdy also serves as CEO of DKT International. [19]
In 2020, 66.8% of DKT's revenue was from contraceptive sales and related services, 26.7% from grants and contracts and 6.5% from other income. 52.2% of expenses were related to program costs, 44.a% to contraceptive costs, 1.4% to headquarters, 0.3% to fundraising and 2.1% to other expenses. [20] Revenue from contraceptive sales first exceeded donor support in 2005. [15]
For its first 26 years, DKT established stand-alone programs in each country and focused on countries with large markets, such as Ethiopia, Brazil and the Philippines. Eventually, though, DKT managers saw the benefits of a regional approach that can serve the reproductive health needs of multiple countries, including smaller ones. Therefore, DKT established its first regional program in French-speaking West and Central Africa in 2015. Since then, DKT has established six other regional platforms with two or more countries. These programs require fewer financial resources per country (and streamlined back office support), and leverages the common language, culture and regulatory environment of the region. [21]
In 2017, DKT launched DKT WomanCare, a marketing and distribution platform to advance DKT's mission of providing people around the world with reproductive health options. In close partnership with manufacturers, DKT WomanCare provides global integrated supply chain and marketing support. [22] It sells a range of reproductive health products to multilateral bodies, ministries of health, commercial entities and social marketing and family planning organizations, and supports product launches and sales with marketing and training of health providers. [23]
In 2020, DKT launched WomanCare Academy, an eLearning platform to improve providers’ confidence and capacity to provide reproductive health services. The first module orients providers to Levoplant (a 3 year contraceptive implant) and provides step-by-step instruction on the insertion and removal process. [24]
In 2021, DKT WomanCare sold 253,512 manual vacuum aspiration kits, 1.5 million cannulae and 1.7 million implants in 90 countries, producing 2 million couple years of protection. In 2021, WomanCare sold products in 102 countries. [25]
Carafem is a nonprofit organization established by DKT International in 2013 to address challenges in reproductive and abortion care within the United States. Drawing inspiration from successful international strategies, the organization set out to address the diminishing availability of abortion providers in the U.S.
In 2015, Carafem opened its first clinic in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with a mission to bridge crucial healthcare disparities. Subsequently, the organization expanded its footprint, establishing centers in Atlanta, [26] Chicago, and Nashville. Carafem offers telehealthcare options to patients in 14 states and the District of Columbia.
Carafem is best known for its medically supported at-home abortion options, reaching patients in areas with limited healthcare access. [27] [28] [29]
As of 2022, DKT International's donors include: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Children's Investment Fund Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Embassy of Sweden, Erik and Edith Bergstrom Foundation, (British) Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Gates Philanthropy Partners, Government of Germany (KfW Development Bank), Government of India, Government of Sweden, National Postcode Lottery (Netherlands), Preston-Werner Ventures, Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), WestWind Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and anonymous donors. [30]
As of 2023, DKT International had 24 programs with sales in 90 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. [31] [32] Some initiatives serve more than one country.
Program | Geographical area | Year created | 2023 CYPs |
---|---|---|---|
Brazil and South America | Latin America | 1990 | 2,743,217 |
Democratic Republic of Congo | Africa | 2009 | 2,119,261 |
DKT WomanCare | Global | 2017 | 1,498,468 |
Egypt, Middle East and North Africa | Africa/Asia | 2004 | 2,194,973 |
Ethiopia | Africa | 1990 | 4,275,559 |
Francophone West and Central Africa | Africa | 2015 | 1,408,607 |
Ghana and Anglophone West Africa | Africa | 2011 | 1,602,761 |
India - Based in Bihar (Janani) | Asia | 1996 | 4,303,677 |
India - Based in Mumbai | Asia | 1992 | 8,869,530 |
Indonesia | Asia | 1996 | 10,866,373 |
Kenya & East Africa | Africa | 2016 | 1,613,378 |
Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean | Latin America | 2003 | 2,371,982 |
Mozambique | Africa | 2009 | 620,699 |
Myanmar | Asia | 2014 | 1,064,657 |
Nigeria | Africa | 2012 | 5,670,383 |
Pakistan & Afghanistan | Asia | 2012 | 6,172,346 |
Philippines | Asia | 1990 | 3,578,740 |
Thailand | Asia | 2009 | 86,232 |
Turkey | Asia | 2008 | 346,217 |
Vietnam | Asia | 1993 | 2,228,388 |
Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marital situation, career or work considerations, financial situations. If sexually active, family planning may involve the use of contraception and other techniques to control the timing of reproduction.
The Mexico City policy, sometimes referred to by its critics as the global gag rule, is a former United States government policy that blocked U.S. federal funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provided abortion counseling or referrals, advocated to decriminalize abortion, or expanded abortion services. When in effect, the Mexico City policy is a U.S. government policy that requires foreign non-governmental organizations to certify that they will not "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning" with non-U.S. funds as a condition for receiving U.S. global family planning assistance, and during its January 23, 2017 implementation any other U.S. global health assistance, including U.S. global HIV and maternal and child health (MCH) assistance.
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides reproductive and sexual healthcare, and sexual education in the United States and globally. It is a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:
Reproductive rights rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence.
An unsafe abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by people lacking the necessary skills, or in an environment lacking minimal medical standards, or both. An unsafe abortion is a life-threatening procedure. It includes self-induced abortions, abortions in unhygienic conditions, and abortions performed by a medical practitioner who does not provide appropriate post-abortion attention. About 25 million unsafe abortions occur a year, of which most occur in the developing world.
Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a field of research, health care, and social activism that explores the health of an individual's reproductive system and sexual well-being during all stages of their life. Sexual and reproductive health is more commonly defined as sexual and reproductive health and rights, to encompass individual agency to make choices about their sexual and reproductive lives.
Population Services International (PSI) is a 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit global health organization that began as an international not-for-profit provider of contraception and safe abortion services, and has evolved into developing and deploying programs today that target malaria, child survival, HIV, and reproductive health. PSI provides products, clinical services and behavior change communications for the health of people in high-need populations.
Phil Harvey was an American entrepreneur, philanthropist and libertarian who set up large-scale programs that delivered subsidized contraceptives in poor countries. Harvey was the founder and former president of DKT International, the Washington, D.C.-based charity that implements family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention programs in 57 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. He was the chief sponsor of the DKT Liberty Project which raised awareness about freedom of speech issues in the U.S. Harvey was also the president of Adam & Eve, the North Carolina–based company that sells sex toys, adult films and condoms. Consequently, he has been called "one of the most influential figures in the American sex industry today".
EngenderHealth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. with a focus in sexual and reproductive health (SRH). The organization operates in nearly 20 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and North and South America.
MSI Reproductive Choices, named Marie Stopes International until November 2020, is an international non-governmental organisation providing contraception and safe abortion services in 37 countries around the world. MSI Reproductive Choices as an organisation lobbies in favour of access to abortion, and provides a variety of sexual and reproductive healthcare services including advice, vasectomies, and abortions in the UK and other countries where it is legal to do so. It is based in London and is a registered charity under English law.
Abortion is illegal in the Philippines.
Adam & Eve is an American company that sells adult products through e-commerce. In 2004, it was the largest mail order distributor of sex toys, condoms, and erotica in the United States. Its parent company, PHE Inc., is the largest private employer in Hillsborough, North Carolina, where its headquarters are located. The company funds non-profit social marketing organizations that address issues such as population growth, disease control, and sex education in developing countries.
Abortion has been legal in India under various circumstances with the introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Regulations, 2003 were issued under the Act to enable women to access safe and legal abortion services.
The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, also known as the Reproductive Health Law or RH Law, and officially designated as Republic Act No. 10354, is a Philippine law that provided universal access to methods on contraception, fertility control, sexual education, and maternal care in the Philippines.
Even though there is considerable demand for family planning in Pakistan, the adoption of family planning has been hampered by government neglect, lack of services and misconceptions. Demographics play a large role in Pakistan's development and security since the change from military rule to civilian leadership. Challenges to Pakistani's well-being, opportunities for education and employment, and access to health care are escalated due to the country's continuously-growing population. It was estimated in 2005 that Pakistan's population totaled 151 million; a number which grows 1.9 percent annually, equaling a 2.9 million population growth per year. Though Pakistan's fertility rates still exceed those of neighboring South Asian countries with a total fertility rate at 4.1 and contraception use is lower than 35 percent, approximately one-fourth of Pakistani women wish to either delay the birth of their next child or end childbearing altogether.
Latin America is home to some of the few countries of the world with a complete ban on abortion and minimal policies on reproductive rights, but it also contains some of the most progressive reproductive rights movements in the world. With roots in indigenous groups, the issues of reproductive rights include abortion, sexual autonomy, reproductive healthcare, and access to contraceptive measures. Modern reproductive rights movements most notably include Marea Verde, which has led to much reproductive legislation reform. Cuba has acted as a trail-blazer towards more liberal reproductive laws for the rest of Latin America, while other countries like El Salvador and Honduras have tightened restrictions on reproductive rights.
Abortion in Uganda is illegal unless performed by a licensed medical doctor in a situation where the woman's life is deemed to be at risk.
Carafem is an American nonprofit organization that provides women’s reproductive health services with centers in Maryland, Atlanta Georgia, Chicago Illinois, and Nashville TN metro areas as well as virtual care in select states. The organization seeks to normalize, "de-medicalize" and remove the social stigma from the provision of birth control and early abortions in the midst of an ongoing polarized and politicized debate on abortion in the United States. The organization intentionally uses certain language such as “health center” instead of “clinic”, and openly uses the word “abortion” in its advertising.
In Yemen, abortions are only “permitted to save the life of a pregnant woman”, making it one of the strictest abortion laws in the Middle East and the world. Abortion is not widely accepted in Yemeni society. However, because of the recent conflict in Yemen, rape, honor killings, and unsafe abortions have increased in Yemen. According to a study conducted by Canadian Studies in Population, the number of unsafe and illegal abortions are high in Yemen, which can lead to fatal health risks for women.
Abortion in Kenya is prohibited with the exception of certain circumstances including danger to the life and health of the expectant mother, and rape. Unsafe abortions are a major cause of deaths and health complications for women in Kenya.