Short Summary
Many women in LMICs want to delay or avoid pregnancy but lack access to reliable contraception
Mobile clinics offer a practical way to reach hard-to-reach populations with same-day contraception services and counseling
Evidence suggests this model can be scalable, cost-effective, and particularly impactful when focused on areas with limited existing coverage
The Problem
What’s the problem?
Despite the global rise in modern contraception methods (e.g., long-acting implants and IUDs), access remains highly uneven, especially in rural or hard-to-reach areas
In many LMICs, women who want to delay or avoid pregnancy still face substantial barriers, including long travel distances to health facilities, limited method choice, frequent stockouts, and interrupted services
These gaps lead to unintended pregnancies, higher maternal health risk, and increased strain on health systems
Why does it matter?
Limited access to contraception leads to high rates of unintended pregnancies, which in turn increases the health risks associated with pregnancy and unsafe abortion
It also limits people’s agency to plan family size and spacing, with knock-on effects for economic security and wellbeing
Neglectedness:
While mobile outreach has been implemented by large providers in many countries, coverage remains uneven
Significant gaps persist in areas that are difficult to reach or poorly served by existing programs
An estimated 78 million women in LMICs still want to use contraception but cannot access it, suggesting room for additional, well-targeted efforts
The Solution
What’s the proposed solution?
Mobile clinics that deliver modern contraceptive methods directly to underserved communities
These clinics would offer same-day services, including short- and long-acting methods, alongside counseling and follow-up care
The model is designed to reach populations for whom health facilities are inaccessible or unreliable
Why do we trust this solution?
Mobile outreach has been widely used across LMICs and is supported by program evaluations showing increased uptake and continuation of contraception when services are implemented well
Mobile clinics have been shown to be successful in delivering a range of services, such as primary and preventative care, vaccinations, and crisis response
How robust is the evidence?
The evidence base is moderately strong and includes multi-country observational studies, program evaluations, and expert assessments.
While randomized trials are limited, findings are consistent across settings and supported by extensive implementation experience
The Impact
What impact could this have?
Based on our modeling, a single mobile clinic could serve close to 10,000 clients per year and generate roughly 8,800 years of contraceptive use annually
A charity operating 25 clinics could therefore support around 220,000 years of contraceptive use per year, corresponding to avoiding approximately 66,000 unintended pregnancies
Estimated cost-effectiveness:
Mobile clinics have the potential to be extremely cost-effective
We estimate that a charity operating 10 mobile clinics could provide a year of contraception protection for around $9.8, falling to $7.4 at a scale of 25 clinics
These estimates place the intervention well within typical cost-effectiveness thresholds used in global health
Ideal Founder Profile
Who is best suited to do this? *
This charity would be well-suited to founders with experience in healthcare delivery, operations, or logistics, particularly in low-resource or remote settings
What might our ideal candidate look like?
Experience working in LMICs would be a strong asset, as would familiarity with managing field teams, supply chains, and service delivery in challenging environments
The ability to work closely with existing providers and community partners would be important for successful implementation
*We think candidates with the following skills will have a comparative advantage/be especially promising for founding this idea, but we would like to still encourage applicants from people who do not match this criteria who are enthusiastic about this idea and believe they may be well-suited for reasons not captured here
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