Ipas Licenses Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) Technology to DKT International
Press Release – WASHINGTON, D.C.: Ipas and DKT International are pleased to announce an exclusive partnership in which the Ipas Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) technology will be licensed to DKT for global distribution, furthering their joint mission of providing safe and high-quality family planning and abortion care for the estimated 56 million women worldwide who choose to have an abortion each year. Formerly, distribution of the Ipas MVA technology was overseen by WomanCare Global.
“We look forward to expanding on the great work of Ipas and WomanCare Global, which have provided over 1 million reusable MVA kits and served more than 32 million women since 2009,” says Christopher Purdy, President and CEO of DKT International. “While DKT will handle all manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and regulatory oversight of MVA kits, Ipas will retain the training and education programs for providers and the public, creating an environment conducive to administering the technology to the women who need it most.”
“Ipas is proud to partner with DKT in an effort to expand global access to safe abortion care,” says John Hetherington, Ipas CEO and President. “This partnership will leverage our respective strengths and expand access for women in low- and middle-income countries.”
The Ipas MVA kit is used in over 100 countries, including the U.S. and is the world’s most utilized, safe, and effective surgical abortion technology. DKT is one of the largest providers of family planning services in the developing world with programming in more than 35 countries that contain approximately 65% of the world’s people. DKT expands access to abortion care by ensuring abortion-related products and technologies are widely available, and implementing education and outreach campaigns that reach women, especially in poor and rural areas.
“We know that through DKT’s innovative social marketing efforts, many more women will have access to MVA and therefore safe abortion,” says Hetherington.
Founded in 1973, Ipas is a global non-governmental organization dedicated to ending preventable deaths and disabilities from unsafe abortion. Ipas works globally so that women and girls have improved sexual and reproductive health and rights through enhanced access to and use of safe abortion and contraceptive care.
