The key to a successful family planning program lies in the wide range of contraceptive choices available to couples. Oral contraceptives (OCs) are a highly effective and safe method of contraception that should be made available as a choice to couples in need of family planning.

Combined oral contraceptives have been on the market for 40 years now and have been used by more than 200 million women around the world. Current use of OCs worldwide is estimated to be approximately 80 million women per year. In 1998 alone, social marketing programs worldwide generated fivemillion couple years of protection (CYPs) from OCs.

PSI began marketing OCs in Bangladesh in 1976. Since then, PSI has introduced combined oral contraceptives in 21 additional countries including Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Haiti, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. As of January 2002, cumulative OC sales in these countries have surpassed 192 million cycles, which translates into more than 19 million CYPs.

PSI's marketing strategies for OCs are aimed at creating consumer demand by addressing the key barriers to use, usually related to safety concerns, and meeting that demand by ensuring that health service providers (where clients usually go for advice on hormonal methods) are knowledgeable about the method. These goals are achieved through both consumer and service provider advertising and promotional campaigns. Service provider campaigns are often executed through the use of a PSI detailing force.

Because social marketing distributes products through commercial channels as well as clinics, the products are made readily available to consumers. Products are priced at a level that is affordable to low-income consumers with competitive margins built in to motivate the trade to stock the product.

To supplement marketing activities, PSI trains service providers in family planning counseling and method administration. Service providers include doctors, paramedics, and pharmacists, as they are often the first points of contact for clients interested in learning about these methods. Notable examples of PSI's work in training service providers include the Green Star project in Pakistan and the ProFam project in Zimbabwe.

• Green Star project in Pakistan
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OK is one of PSI's brands of oral contraceptives.