DKT INTERNATIONAL
DKT is an innovative social marketing enterprise that improves people’s lives. It is one of the largest private providers of family planning products in the world, having generated over 47.8 million couple years of protection (CYPs) in 2019. Five of the ten largest contraceptive social marketing programs in the world are DKT programs. As of 2019, DKT has offices in 24 countries, with a sales presence in 60 countries. DKT has achieved tremendous health impact, and done it cost-efficiently. They work mostly in the private sector, yet also support the public sector by partnering with government health facilities to reach the total market. Through dynamic social marketing, DKT provides couples with affordable and safe options for family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention.
DKT works to:
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- Increase the availability and affordability of a full spectrum of modern birth control methods
- Strengthen the supply chain to increase availability of contraception and improve methods.
- Increase demand and inspire new contraceptive users through advertising and educational campaigns.
DKT ensures that contraceptives are easy to buy and that people want to use them. If women and men can find contraceptives at a nearby store or clinic, have confidence in the quality of the product and are able to choose a contraceptive that fits their needs, they are more likely to use them. DKT uses mass media and, increasingly, digital and social media, to increase awareness of family planning generally and DKT’s contraceptive brands. DKT also partners with the public sector by ensuring contraceptive security, supporting governments with service delivery, outreach work and training health providers.
DKT uses digital, social and mass media to change behavior frequently experimenting with clever marketing approaches to reach young and under-served populations, and tailoring its campaigns for specific cultural contexts. DKT are regularly publishing articles in the media:
Millions of women lose contraceptives, abortions in COVID-19
Associated Press, August 2020
How has coronavirus disrupted family planning?
Al Jazeera, August 2020
What Do Sweden and Mexico Have in Common? A Feminist Foreign Policy
The New York Times, July 2020
COVID-19 is having a “profound” impact on health services for women and girls
Equal Times, July 2020
Health Care Supply Chains after the Pandemic
JSI, June 2020
The Sexual-Health Supply Chain Is Broken
The Atlantic, June 2020
The Pleasure Project, May 2020
DKT’s youtube channel explains how they use social media marketing to reach out to a wide audience: https://www.youtube.com/user/DKTHQ
Explore their website for more information on how DKT reach out to a wide audience to shift family planning values and aspirations: https://www.dktinternational.org/services/contraceptive-social-marketing/
Story by Cécile Girardin
