Commentary The benefits and limitations of donating new contraceptive technology: The case of the International Contraceptive Access (ICA) Foundation and the LNG IUS Program in Brazil q,qq Laura Miranda a , John Townsend b , Anibal Faúndes a , Luis Bahamondes a,⇑ a Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Campinas Faculty of Medical Sciences, Campinas, Brazil b The Population Council, Washington DC, USA article info Article history: Received 2 May 2019 Received in revised form 3 January 2020 Accepted 5 January 2020 Available online xxxx abstract Ó 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Levonorgestrel-intrauterine system, inequity Women’s health Brazil ICA Foundation 1. Introduction The International Contraceptive Access (ICA) Foundation was established in Finland in December 2003 as a public–private part- nership between Bayer AG, a global pharmaceutical company, and the Population Council, an international nonprofit nongovernmen- tal organization. The objective of the Foundation was to provide public service-delivery organizations with the levonorgestrel 52 mg intrauterine system (LNG IUS) on a not-for-profit basis to serve the reproductive needs of women in resource-poor settings in developing countries. By the end of 2018, the ICA Foundation had donated nearly 130,000 units of LNG IUS to organizations serving low income com- munities and humanitarian settings, public hospitals training physicians and nurses in family planning, and global partners with a network of service delivery facilities in 36 low income or devel- oping countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean [1]. Annual donations in 2018 reached nearly 25,000 units globally. Brazil has been the country which has received the largest number of LNG IUS, with 32,740 units until February 2019 [2]. Other large donations were made to service delivery organizations in Nigeria and Kenya and through NGO networks such as International Planned Parenthood Federation, Population Services International, and Marie Stopes International. The objective of our commentary was to describe the benefits and limitations of the donations of the LNG IUS to Brazil. 2. Description of the program 2.1. Benefits and limitations of the program The donations of LNG IUS to Brazil were managed by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Campinas Faculty of Medical Sciences and the Center for Research of Women’s Health of Campinas (CEMICAMP), Campinas, São Paulo state, Brazil [2]. From 2007 to February 2019, the University received 32,740 units of LNG IUS. Currently, the devices are dis- tributed to 21 health centers, 15 of which are based at university teaching hospitals. Information from client records was received https://doi.org/10.1016/j.contraception.2020.01.003 0010-7824/Ó 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. q We certify that the data contained in this manuscript is original and has not been published, has not been submitted, nor will it be submitted elsewhere. qq Conflict of interest: Luis Bahamondes was advisory member without remu- neration of the ICA Foundation Board of Trustees, Finland and received an honorarium from Bayer Pharma. John Townsend was the Chair of the ICA Foundation Board of Trustees, Finland and a Senior Associate at the Population Council. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: bahamond@caism.unicamp.br (L. Bahamondes). Contraception xxx (xxxx) xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Contraception journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/con Please cite this article as: L. Miranda, J. Townsend, A. Faúndes et al., The benefits and limitations of donating new contraceptive technology: The case of the International Contraceptive Access (ICA) Foundation and the LNG IUS Program in Brazil, Contraception, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. contraception.2020.01.003