Delivering on MPTs: Addressing the needs, rising to the challenges and making the opportunities

摘要

The Greek philosopher Plato famously remarked that, "necessity is the mother of invention". Or, in more contemporary language, difficult situations inspire ingenious solutions. Let's hope this popular proverb holds true — the (re)emerging and reenergised research area of multipurpose prevention technologies (MPTs) will undoubtedly need a double measure of inspiration, creative thinking and tenacity to help begin address some of the priority issues within reproductive and sexual health. The underlying facts are both startling and sobering: each year, 40% of the > 200 million pregnancies worldwide are unintended [1] and 448 million treatable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) [i.e. not including syphilis, HIV, herpes simplex virus (HSV), and human papillomavirus (HPV)] are contracted [2]; >80% of HIV infections are now acquired through sexual transmission [3].