Exciting news for Kenyan men aged between 18 and 50, sexually active in a steady monogamous relationship and have ever pictured themselves carrying the burden of family planning in the relationship. They are codially invited to enrol for a global study on male contraception is happening right here in Kenya.
The development of an effective male contraceptive has for a long time evaded reproductive health scientists eager to allow men the same stake in birth control. Currently, the most common birth control methods for men are condoms, vasectomy and withdrawal during sex.
All the men in the experiment, a phase-two clinical trial, will be required to apply a gel on their shoulders. This gel is supposed to lower the sperm count to a point where they cannot impregnate a woman.
The gel being tested is made up of the hormone nestorone, a progestin hormone commonly used for female contraception and testosterone. The combination gel, referred to as the NES/T within the technical group, is a novel, reversible contraceptive for men designed to be absorbed through the skin on the upper arms and shoulders.
The men in Kenya will join others around the world in using the daily gel for up to 52 weeks to drop the sperm count to zero.
The gel formulation was developed by the Population Council and the US National Institutes of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
Kenya is the first African country to be chosen for a study of the sort, according to Dr John Kinuthia, the Kenya site principle investigator for the study. Kenya’s NICHD’s Contraceptive Clinical Trials Network (CCTN) site is at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
The trial committee will enlist up to 60 couples from Kenya for the study.
“We have done all the regulatory approvals but we’re still in the preparatory stages. Once we are ready in the next couple of weeks we will start enrolling our participants here at KNH,” he said during an interview with the Nation at KNH yesterday.
The gel has been touted as the most promising new method of male birth control. Others that have previously been on trial have been the male pill and an injection. According to the Population Council in New York, results from the NES/T gel trial are expected in 2022.