The sole objective of the International Male Contraception Coalition is to speed the development of safe, effective and convenient contraceptives for men. To that end, the Coalition coordinates outreach, education, research, and networking within the scientific research community, the family planning service provision community, and the greater public. The ultimate aim of these activities is to build both financial and institutional support for the development and introduction of today’s emerging male contraceptives.

Within the scientific community the Coalition furthers medical research, acting as a networking hub and advocacy facilitator by

• helping researchers communicate directly with a community of colleagues and potential funders; facilitating the exchange of information about leading edge clinical advancements, policy guidance, funding opportunities, and work opportunities
• collaborating with medical education organizations; providing reference information for their constituent medical and family planning professionals
• providing resources and consulting to enable researchers to leverage news of their work into press opportunities, aiding in effective communication with the public, policymakers and potential funders
• participating and presenting at family planning conferences, and supporting colleagues with background materials for their conference presentations.

The Coalition’s public role is to spread the word about potential male contraceptives and alert citizens of opportunities to make a difference by

• providing a voice for consumers eagerly awaiting new male contraceptive products by sending their stories to policymakers and gathering market characterization information, such as preferred delivery mechanisms and formulations of a new male contraceptive
• informing and educating an international audience through the top-ranked MaleContraceptives.org website and publishing a monthly e-newsletter
• gaining issue recognition by working with the media to provide reporters with news hooks, interviews, research materials and contacts.

The Coalition is committed to these goals because of the growing global need for new contraceptive choices.

Today’s unmet need for family planning is growing.
Unmet need for contraception still runs high in 40 countries, mostly in the developing world (Cleland 2006), and affects over 200 million couples, or about one in seven reproductive age couples (Singh 2002). And the need is growing: “The number of contraceptive users in the developing world is expected to rise from 549 million to 816 million during the next 25 years” (Bongaarts 2002). This rise in demand will be driven both by population growth and by increases in the rate and duration of modern contraceptive use.

But these reports of unmet need are an underestimate. The numbers come from the Demographic and Health Surveys data collected only in select developing nations, and they include only married couples (Westoff 2006). Unmarried couples around the world, and all couples in the developed world having difficulties with available contraceptive methods are excluded, but they, too, experience unmet need for suitable contraception. We can work toward meeting the needs of all these millions of couples by expanding the range of contraceptive choices.

The importance of method mix.
In the late 20th century, family planning providers around the world learned the Importance of providing a mix of contraceptive methods to meet the varying needs of their clients. No single contraceptive could meet the needs of all; people with diverse sociocultural, economic, and religious backgrounds needed family planning solutions just as diverse. Access to birth control with a range of delivery methods, mechanisms, and frequencies allowed more couples to find products that worked for them. As new birth control products came onto the market, the total number of people using contraceptives increased (Jain 1989, Ross 2001). In places with unmet need for contraception, this “increased choice, increased use” relationship will continue into the 21st century. New contraceptive products for men will appeal to new customers in a market that is underserved today.

Men are concerned about their reproductive health.
Despite the nascent nature of a male reproductive health medical specialty, men are already going to their doctors for reproductive health-related care. For example, 90% of Australian men over age 40 have visited their general practitioner in the last year, and the majority reported asking reproductive health-related questions (de Kretser, 2007). Men’s reproductive health is more than just Viagra: hundreds of millions of men are engaged in contraceptive use. Men use the contraceptives now available to them – condoms and vasectomies – at rates averaging 6% to 19% of reproductive age couples in developing and developed countries, respectively (UN 2004). In some countries, vasectomy prevalence is much higher: it is 13% in South Korea and the US, 15% in Canada, 17% in the UK, and 18% in New Zealand. And couples agree that men could be more involved in family planning: in one poll, three-quarters of American men and women both agreed that men should participate more extensively in contraceptive decision-making and use (HJKFF 1997).

Men go out of their way for access to new contraceptives.
Some men are already going out of their way to participate more extensively in contraceptive use. These men volunteer in clinical trials of emerging male contraceptives. At the end of one very early study of a male hormonal contraceptive in Indonesia, 85% of the men would have continued with the treatment if given the choice – despite weekly injections! (Ringheim 1995). More than half of the men who participate in these clinical trials find the methods satisfactory or good. And there are many more men waiting to use the products once they become available: In one recent survey of over 9,000 men in ten countries, 47-83% of men from very different sociocultural backgrounds agreed that they would try a male hormonal contraceptive product (Martin 2000).

Better contraceptive options are good for everyone.
The last several decades have seen a dramatic increase in scientific understanding of human reproductive mechanisms; we now have the knowledge and tools needed to create much more eloquent methods of fertility control. There are male contraceptives under development that promise to have fewer side effects, be more effective, more readily reversible, and more convenient than any currently available method of contraception for either men or women.

Improving and expanding the range of contraceptive methods available to couples worldwide will create broad social, economic, health, and environmental benefits. An expert panel of UN representatives, government leaders, demographers, doctors and family planning specialists testified to the British Parliament that achieving the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals can only be accomplished through drastically improved access to family planning services and products (APPG 2007). New male contraceptives can play an essential role in broadening the appeal and reach of family planning.

The market is ready for new male contraceptive products. We have only to overcome the institutional barriers to their development.