In 1989, Phil Harvey founded the nonprofit organization DKT International to promote family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention through social marketing.
Today, DKT International designs and implements social marketing programs in 20 countries around the world. DKT programs provided over 30 million… read more couple years of protection (CYPs) in 2015, using standard conversion factors for Couple Years of Protection (CYP).
DKT’s sales totals for 2015 included 623 million condoms, 74 million cycles of oral contraceptives, nearly 25 million injectable contraceptives, 4.3 million IUDs, emergency contraception, implants, mifepristone/misoprostol, and manual vacuum aspiration kits.
Revenue from the sales of contraceptives and family planning services in 2012 was $105 million. Program revenues covered approximately 70 percent of our operating costs. This figure has been climbing steadily over the past several years.
Our grants and contributions in 2012 totaled $44.9 million. Our cost per CYP was less than $2, which was made possible by increasing efficiencies to near self-sufficiency in several country programs like Brazil and the Philippines. However, the higher-cost-per CYP programs, such as Bihar India, have had a major impact because their urban and rural populations have a great need for contraceptives and contraceptive services.
DKT’s contraceptive social marketing programs have been a remarkable success. While the numbers are impressive, they mask an equally important aspect of social marketing: its profound effect on people’s lives. The humanitarian impact of our social marketing programs in Latin America, Africa, and Asia has immediate and long term benefits for poor families.
Planned, healthy families have more food and clothing, and – perhaps most importantly – money for school supplies and education for the new generation of children growing up. Every year, DKT’s innovative programs are saving more lives and improving the health of more families in many of the world’s developing countries.
Rising incomes in Asia and Latin America and steady or declining prices of contraceptives have made it possible for DKT to substantially increase its revenue stream, which leads to lower donor costs per CYP. As DKT programs produce higher sales revenues, the number of CYPs generated by donor dollars also increases.
DKT recently established a regionally-focused enterprise based in in Nairobi, Kenya that will serve the neighboring countries of Kenya and Uganda. We believe a regional approach makes more sense given current market dynamics in both countries, and will allow us to attain greater economies of scale and improve cost recovery.
DKT aims to revolutionize the private sector market in these two countries. Our approach, which is fast-paced, innovative, and results-oriented, will allow us to respond to consumer demands that have been neglected by the public sector. DKT will introduce a wide range of high-quality, affordable, and exciting brands of contraceptive and sexual health products to the market through well established distribution and supply chain mechanisms.
Kenya and Uganda have a combined population of nearly 80 million, with half of the population ages 25 and under. In both countries, internet infrastructure is rapidly improving, and mobile phone usage is sky-rocketing. DKT will therefore focus on digital and social media usage to promote its brands. We hope that this approach will engage the youth market and renew the private sector for family planning.
Keep an eye out for DKT in late 2016, when our brands will begin to launch!