×

News publications and other organizations are encouraged to reuse Direct Relief-published content for free under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International), given the republisher complies with the requirements identified below.

When republishing:

  • Include a byline with the reporter’s name and Direct Relief in the following format: "Author Name, Direct Relief." If attribution in that format is not possible, include the following language at the top of the story: "This story was originally published by Direct Relief."
  • If publishing online, please link to the original URL of the story.
  • Maintain any tagline at the bottom of the story.
  • With Direct Relief's permission, news publications can make changes such as localizing the content for a particular area, using a different headline, or shortening story text. To confirm edits are acceptable, please check with Direct Relief by clicking this link.
  • If new content is added to the original story — for example, a comment from a local official — a note with language to the effect of the following must be included: "Additional reporting by [reporter and organization]."
  • If republished stories are shared on social media, Direct Relief appreciates being tagged in the posts:
    • Twitter (@DirectRelief)
    • Facebook (@DirectRelief)
    • Instagram (@DirectRelief)

Republishing Images:

Unless stated otherwise, images shot by Direct Relief may be republished for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution, given the republisher complies with the requirements identified below.

  • Maintain correct caption information.
  • Credit the photographer and Direct Relief in the caption. For example: "First and Last Name / Direct Relief."
  • Do not digitally alter images.

Direct Relief often contracts with freelance photographers who usually, but not always, allow their work to be published by Direct Relief’s media partners. Contact Direct Relief for permission to use images in which Direct Relief is not credited in the caption by clicking here.

Other Requirements:

  • Do not state or imply that donations to any third-party organization support Direct Relief's work.
  • Republishers may not sell Direct Relief's content.
  • Direct Relief's work is prohibited from populating web pages designed to improve rankings on search engines or solely to gain revenue from network-based advertisements.
  • Advance permission is required to translate Direct Relief's stories into a language different from the original language of publication. To inquire, contact us here.
  • If Direct Relief requests a change to or removal of republished Direct Relief content from a site or on-air, the republisher must comply.

For any additional questions about republishing Direct Relief content, please email the team here.

Covid-19 Has Interrupted Reproductive Health Care. IUDs Are Providing a Solution.

Direct Relief, partnering with Bayer, is donating IUDs to nonprofit women’s health care providers across the United States.

News

Covid-19

Healthcare provider Zemaida Hernandez stocking Bayer IUD products on pharmacy shelves at the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics, in Goleta, California. The clinics are among the hundreds of community health centers across the U.S. that received Bayer-donated IUDs to bolster reproductive health services for uninsured women. (Photo by Erin Feinblatt for Direct Relief)

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, Dr. Daniel Cruz Galarza said he’s seen more pregnant women, not fewer.

“There is less distraction, less activities to do outside the home…[and an] increased number of pregnancies in my clinic related to the lockdown,” said Cruz, a physician at COSSMA in Cidra, Puerto Rico.

Español

Those pregnancies are often unplanned. Cruz explained that many of his patients are between the ages of 14 and 18, and many don’t have the economic resources to care for a child.

“We help these people to have a plan, to try to get out of that cycle” of unplanned pregnancies, Cruz said.

Bayer-donated IUDs at COSSMA, a federally qualified health center, in Cidra, Puerto Rico, on December 10, 2020. COSSMA is among the hundreds of community health centers across the U.S. that received Bayer-donated IUDs to bolster reproductive health services for uninsured women. (Photo by Gabriel González for Direct Relief)
Bayer-donated IUDs at COSSMA, a federally qualified health center, in Cidra, Puerto Rico, on December 10, 2020. COSSMA is among the hundreds of community health centers across the U.S. that received Bayer-donated IUDs to bolster reproductive health services for uninsured women. (Photo by Gabriel González for Direct Relief)

For some of COSSMA’s patients, a LARC – that’s “long-acting reversible contraception,” such as an implant or intrauterine device – is a great choice. “You put them in and they forget them,” Cruz said.

But LARCs can be cost prohibitive – both the device and, in most cases, the insertion, which requires the skilled work of a doctor or nurse practitioner. Cruz said that in Puerto Rico, an intrauterine device (IUD) may cost as much as $200 to insert. But at COSSMA, “the insertion is free, and the expensive thing is the device.”

Dr. Daniel Cruz Galarza, a healthcare providers at COSSMA, a federally qualified health center, in Cidra, Puerto Rico, consults with a patient on December 10, 2020. COSSMA is among the hundreds of community health centers across the U.S. that received Bayer-donated IUDs to bolster reproductive health services for uninsured women. (Photo by Gabriel González for Direct Relief)

That’s where Direct Relief, partnering with the pharmaceutical company Bayer, comes in. As part of a multi-year effort, Bayer has donated IUDs to Direct Relief for distribution to nonprofit women’s health care providers across the United States. COSSMA is one of 300 providers in 45 states and territories to receive Bayer IUDs since 2020.

“Life-Altering” Services

All across the country, health care providers have seen Covid-19 affect reproductive health with more unplanned pregnancies. More sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Patients – many of them adolescents or those in unstable living situations – dropping through the cracks.

Debrisha Johnson, a nurse practitioner and the chief medical officer of Bee Busy Wellness Center in Houston, Texas, said that reproductive health visits at many health care providers were frequently pushed back early in the pandemic, as they weren’t considered essential services.

When those services were available again, the demand at Bee Busy surged – and Johnson said she saw increases both in pregnancy and STI rates.

“It really opened our eyes to how important those services are,” she said. “They’re not life threatening but they’re life altering.”

But despite – and sometimes because of – the pandemic, providers say that many women are asking for long-term contraception options like the IUD, and that being able to offer the device to their low-income patients has made a significant difference to their lives.

Bayer-donated IUDs at COSSMA, a federally qualified health center, in Cidra, Puerto Rico, on December 10, 2020. COSSMA is among the hundreds of community health centers across the U.S. that received Bayer-donated IUDs to bolster reproductive health services for uninsured women. (Photo by Gabriel González for Direct Relief)
Bayer-donated IUDs at COSSMA, a federally qualified health center, in Cidra, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Gabriel González for Direct Relief)

At Bee Busy, which has also received IUDs through the Direct Relief/Bayer program, Johnson said the supply of devices has made a huge difference to her patients. “We weren’t able to do this,” she said. “When you have a person [for whom] an IUD is the best choice based on their health history…this [program] has allowed us to do that.”

An “Empowering” Option

Dr. Hei-Hah Wong, the associate medical director at Los Angeles’s Saban Community Clinic, said the IUD has always been a great option – and during the pandemic, that’s even more the case.

With an IUD, which requires a one-time insertion rather than repeated visits, “you don’t have to come in, you minimize your exposures,” Wong said. “The IUD has always had that selling point, but I feel like with the pandemic it becomes a little more exciting in that way.”

In part because of the pandemic, Wong has seen a long tradition of what she calls “paternalism” – strict requirements and supervision of women on birth control – relax. “We’re realizing that women are empowered, they have the information they need, we can guide them over the phone,” she said.

Whitney Magowan, a registered nurse and the medical office coordinator at Dream Centers in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said her health center didn’t offer IUDs before receiving the Direct Relief donations.

“To have that option just opened a wonderful door,” she said. “For many of our patients, they do not have stable lifestyles, and so for them to remember to take a daily pill or a regimen of some sort is not on their radar.”

Cruz described a patient who became a mother at the age of 15, eventually having three children. No one had fully informed her about family planning techniques, he said, and an IUD was a great option for her.

Now, she’s a nurse, he said.

Giving is Good Medicine

You don't have to donate. That's why it's so extraordinary if you do.