The La Cruz Health Area in Costa Rica’s northern Guanacaste province has begun providing contraceptive implants to women under a program supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), reported the Costa Rican Social Security Agency (CCSS) last week.

More than 400 women have opted for the new offering, which has been included among the public healthcare area’s other birth control methods for the past two months.

The sub-dermal implant consists of a small bar measuring 4 cm by 2 millimeters and containing etonogestrel (a hormone that prevents ovulation) which is placed – using a simple procedure – under the skin of a woman’s arm, explained Ericka Solano Delgado, CCSS integral care director.

The decision to offer the implant is an outcome of an evaluation conducted by the CCSS’ Women’s Health and Comprehensive Adolescent Care Programs together with the United Nations Mesoamerica Health Project whose work is centered in the northern Brunca and Huetar Atlántica regions of Costa Rica. The report recommended offering the implant through the CCSS as a way to aid in reducing teenage pregnancy.

The device is already included in the CCSS’ official list of medications, however its availability will gradually spread to the entire country as health personnel are trained on its benefits and the implantation procedures.

The training is aimed at medical, nursing, psychology, social work and pharmacy staff all of whom can provide counseling on contraceptive methods; and obstetric doctors and nurses, who are the only practitioners who will prescribe the method and conduct the implants.

Solano Delgado added that officials in the Central Pacific region and the Hospital México are next up to receive the training.

 

Contraceptive implants are a hormone-based and highly effective birth control method approved in more than 60 countries, and used by millions of women around the world. The typical implant is a small flexible tube measuring about 4 cm in length and is inserted under the skin (typically in the upper arm) by a health care professional. After it is inserted it prevents pregnancy by releasing hormones that prevent ovaries from releasing eggs and thicken cervical mucous, similar to the effect many birth control pills, according to information on Wikipedia.

Benefits of the implant include fewer, lighter periods; improved symptoms of premenstrual syndrome; long-lasting, up to three years; smoker- and breastfeeding-safe; and the convenience of not needing to remember to use it every day. In some cases, negative side effects do occur, the most common being irregular bleeding for the first six to 12 months. Less common symptoms include change in appetite, depression, moodiness, hormonal imbalance, sore breasts, weight gain, dizziness, pregnancy symptoms, and lethargy, added Wikipedia.