FHM Engage Showcases Market Development Approach at Global Health Systems Research Symposium, Nagasaki, November 2024

FHM Engage Showcases Applicaiton of Market Development Approach at Global Health Systems Research Symposium, Nagasaki, November 2024

FHM Engage Technical Advisor Amanda Kalamar presented a poster at the Global Symposium for Health Market Research in Nagasaki, Japan this week on Using a Market Development Approach for Family Planning.

Background: A market development approach analyzes a market, such as for family planning services and commodities, to identify market constraints that inhibit barriers to sustainable use. As a first step, it begins with an analytical approach to understanding current market performance in terms of users as well as other actors in the market that play different supporting functions (e.g., stewardship, access to financing, and the rules, regulations, and norms that govern the market).

Methods: Using data from multiple sources, including Demographic and Health Survey data, sales and distributions data, and key informant interviews, the resulting market description puts the user at the center to diagnose who the market is failing and how the market is failing to address user needs​, and identifies the underlying root causes of those failures to inform the design of solutions and the current market’s capacity to address the issue. Frontier Health Markets Engage, a USAID-funded project, applied this market development approach to engage the private sector in India.

Results: The market description analyses revealed several key constraints, including low contraceptive knowledge among adolescents and low use of contraception in early years of marriage, inequities in contraceptive use primarily attributed to user patterns of services in the private sector, and recent amendments to new drug approval processes that have made it more stringent and potentially slower. There is also a lack of incentives for the private sector in India to invest in innovation and range. To address these constraints and catalyze the private sector to serve youth, FHM Engage in India is using an integrated marketplace approach that will provide access to health information, help to steward the private sector market to increase access to quality FP/SRH products and services, and enhance access to credit for private sector market actors to improve product affordability.

Discussion/conclusions: This application highlights how a market development approach for family planning can reveal key insights to inform the design of solutions intended for impact and sustainability. There are three key takeaways and lessons learned for future applications: 1. An adaptable approach with basic standard tools is essential for diagnosis and a shared understanding of who the market will serve; 2. Analysis by experts and involvement of market actors for discussion, interpretation, and implications are critical to agree on key market constraints to address; and 3. Initial partnerships with commitments from market actors across core supply, demand and supporting functions  are important for solution design.

To view the poster, click here.