Insights

One of the common challenges for any social marketing program for contraceptives is how to reach and influence prescribers. Since hormonal contraceptives require prescriptions, women need a prescription before they can begin using them. For social marketing organizations promoting high quality, affordable contraceptives, it is critical that prescribers are aware of the product and inclined to prescribe it for their clients. Typically, marketers target prescribers through what is known as “detailing.” Detailing involves one-on-one promoting of the product to prescribers by agents (“detailers”) who are knowledgeable about the product, formulation, and side effects. Detailing is very labor intensive since it generally requires detailing agents to go from one clinic to another or one pharmacy to another in order to make their case to the prescriber in the hopes that the prescriber will recommend their product to women who are well indicated for it. Often the detailer has to wait until the prescriber has some free time and even then, they have very little time to make the case for the advantages of their product over the alternatives.

Third year midwife students from the EFPS school attend a seminar on contraceptives organized by ADEMAS.

For many years, ADEMAS, the leading social marketing organization in Senegal, has used detailing to promote its products, especially Securil oral contraceptives and Securil press injectables. Recently while developing its marketing strategies with NPI EXPAND, ADEMAS was encouraged to test new approaches to reaching prescribers that would do more to improve the providers’ gaps in knowledge and still encourage them to promote Securil and Securil Press. ADEMAS opted for a new, more efficient way of reaching prescribers that would not only reduce the inefficiency of trying to reach them one by one, but also to improve the content of the communication. ADEMAS recognized that there are different levels of prescribers and the same approach could not be used for all of them. With midwives, who are often the preferred source of information on reproductive health issues for Senegalese women, ADEMAS approached the professional schools that train midwives in order to organize seminars for them in their final year of study. The schools agreed and ADEMAS led eight seminars that reached over 250 future midwives. The seminars included testing the participants’ knowledge of hormonal contraceptives so the information and discussion could be geared to addressing the gaps in their knowledge. ADEMAS’ detailing agents also listened to the midwives’ concerns and questions so they would have a better idea of what information and arguments they needed to provide to the future midwives.

The quality of the communication was much more in-depth and went far beyond what can usually be covered during a typical detailing session. The approach was greatly appreciated by the participants. As one of the participants remarked:

“It is very important for us to understand how to use this method of contraception and its side effects. This training will allow us to better communicate to our clients so they understand the advantages and the constraints to using the product.”

Social and religious leaders participated in the panel discussions with prescribers to take an in-depth view of family planning and contraception.

In the regions of Kaolack, Thies, and Zuiginchor, ADEMAS took their new approach to an even higher level. In partnership with the Regional Medical authorities, ADEMAS invited prescribers to a full day panel discussion on family planning that not only included medical information generally provided in detailing sessions, but also included sociologists and religious leaders who discussed social and religious barriers to using contraception. This multisectoral approach worked to transform prescribers into agents of social and behavior change in addition to providing accurate medical information. These panel discussions reached 140 participants, of which 80 were prescribers.

Besides being an innovative alternative to traditional detailing visits, were these events effective? ADEMAS has analyzed some of the results and the initial indication is that this series may have had an impact on increasing sales of Securil pills. The table below compared efforts in fiscal year 2022 with the results in 2023. The number of detailing visits was reduced by almost 40%, saving travel costs, but the sales in the pharmaceutical sector of Securil pills increased by 26%. Securil Press is a self-injection DMPA product so less influenced by prescriber recommendations. This may have accounted for the lack of impact on the sales of Securil Press. The main difference between the two periods was the use of the events organizing prescribers for more in-depth exchanges.

In keeping with good marketing and adaptive management principles, ADEMAS will continue to test new approaches and use data to monitor the impact, assess what works and apply effective methods in the future.