Men in Kenya are the first in Africa to now join others around the world in using the daily gel for up to 52 weeks to drop the sperm count to zero.
The NES/T gel has been touted as the most promising new method of male birth control. Others being the male pill and injection.
The trial committee will enlist up to 60 couples from Kenya for the study. They will join more than 420 enrolled couples globally.
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 first phase of clinical trials to test the safety and efficacy of the gel was done in the US last year.
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.
The sites have already launched in Los Angeles, Seattle and Kansas City in the US. Kenya, Chile, England, Italy, Scotland and Sweden are preparing to start the trial within the next month.