By Sarah Akinlose
Marie Stopes has announced that it is introducing new digital capabilities into its customer and beneficiaries’ interactions in Nigeria, Africa’s largest country.
A number of critical Marie Stopes’ contraceptives and other family planning supplies shall be individually marked with tracking and traceability technology to enable customers and beneficiaries to electronically log and register them after receipt or purchase using text messaging or smartphone apps.
By logging and registering these reproductive health products and supplies, millions of customers and beneficiaries will be able to instantly confirm the authenticity, originality, and other critical information about these vital items, reducing many risks such as counterfeiting, package tampering, illegal repacking, and mislabelling.
Through the logging and registration process, the company aims to harness multiple communications and educational channels for improving user knowledge, compliance, reporting, and access to dynamic and, where appropriate, personalised information.
The company’s digital platform incorporates the mPedigree Goldkeys serialisation engine and EarlySensor technologies.
Country Director of Marie Stopes, Effiom Effiom, said: “Since our pledge at the 2012 London Summit on family planning to considerably boost the numbers of beneficiaries of our services and supplies, we have sought to embrace innovations that enhance operational efficiencies, bolster the quality of our interventions, and greatly enrich the experience of our products and services for customers and clients. This push into digital, and mobile especially, marks yet another milestone for Marie Stopes’ exceptionally successful focus on our customers’ evolving needs in Nigeria”.
Key products and supplies of the company available in Nigeria include: condoms, oral contraceptive pills, injectables, emergency contraceptives, implant insertion devices, and Implant removal devices.