Merck Sharpe & Dohme (MSD) will next month give a consumer launch to its new UK awareness campaign for long-acting reversible contraception (LARC).
The pharma company-funded Love, Life & LARCs campaign has been developed in conjunction with the Family Planning Association (FPA) and MSD has engaged communications assistance from Red Health.
A key hook for the campaign will be an MSD-commissioned survey of some 3,000 UK women that found 70 per cent felt they had not been provided with enough information about LARCs.
More than three quarters of those surveyed also reported that their GP, nurse or family planning healthcare professional had not discussed LARC options, which include contraceptive implants and injections, IUDs and IUSs, with them.
Launching to consumers on September, 9 Love, Life & LARCs aims to address misconceptions and encourage more informed discussions between women and their healthcare professionals about their contraceptive options.
MSD, which manufactures the prostogen-only contraceptive implant Nexplanon and the IUD Multiload 375, said it is particularly timely because it coincides with Department of Health efforts to encourage healthcare professionals to increase access to contraception.
Ahead of the consumer launch, a campaign poster will be provided for GP surgeries, designed to get women talking to their healthcare providers about contraceptive options.
Anne Connolly, a GP with a special interest in gynaecology and chair of the Primary Care Women’s Health Forum, said: “Ensuring women are fully informed about all the contraceptive options available to them, and that they can access these without restrictions, will be critical in efforts to reduce unintended pregnancies.
“This includes the provision of information about and access to LARCs, which have greater contraceptive efficacy in practice than user-dependant methods, such as pills.”