One of the ongoing challenges in the MPT field is that, because MPT products are not yet commercially available (aside from male and female condoms), we do not have ‘real world’ data to inform product development, introduction, and investment decisions. Given this, MPT product developers, researchers, and funders must grapple with critical questions, such as: How impactful do these products need to be for me to consider funding or starting a product development program? Is that impact potential achievable, and under what conditions? How efficacious would the product need to be? What is the market for the product? How many people would need to use the product correctly and consistently? What associated costs will make a product cost-effective or cost-saving?

As a healthcare provider, your perspective matters in the movement to advance the field of multipurpose prevention technologies (MPTs). Physicians, nurses, community health workers, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers are critical “gatekeepers” of health products and information with their clients and in their communities, and thus they have a big impact on their patients’ health behaviors and outcomes. Fostering a trustworthy healthcare environment has been linked to increased comfort levels and better patient health, as well as increased medication adherence.  You will be on the frontlines of ensuring the success of MPTs once they hit the market – giving patients access to such products and helping them with correct and consistent use.

In the early 1990’s, I met a young woman named Gelete. I was working as part of an HIV prevention team along the Sudanese border of Ethiopia, and Gelete was one of our team’s most committed local volunteers working to implement our condom distribution program. Growing up, she dreamed of becoming a physician and attending medical school—but, at age 16, she was raped by her teacher, became pregnant and was then ostracized and abandoned by her own family. With no support and a baby to feed, she moved to a small town to work on a coffee plantation. Since coffee bean harvesting is seasonal work with few other opportunities available in the off season, Gelete joined other young women in similar situations exchanging money for sex to survive.