While contraception may be a hot topic currently in the healthcare debate, it is unquestionable that longer lasting and remote-controlled contraception can revolutionize family planning and significantly increase the efficacy of birth control. The Gates Foundation has always been searching for new solutions to some of the world’s biggest and more prevalent problems, and they have made it their goal to increase contraception access to 120 million women who are in need of it. Their latest microchip offers a promising solution to the current problems in contraception coverage. Currently, some of the longest lasting contraception only lasts a few years in the form of depo-provera shots. The problem is that there is no way to reverse this if the woman changes her mind during the period in which depo-provera is active.
This is why the new remote-controlled contraception microchip is so revolutionizing. It is a microchip that can be implanted underneath the skin and can release birth control hormones every day for up to 16 years. The user will be able to have a remote control that can switch the birth control hormones on and off at their convenience. This means that without a visit to the doctor’s office, a woman can either turn the microchip, and therefore the birth control, on and the shut it off whenever she wants to conceive a child.
Using the microchip to deliver medications can be applied to many other drugs. For example, there are already clinical trials for using the microchip to deliver hormones for osteoporosis treatment. The chip is made of tightly sealed platinum and titanium, but electrical current from the remote control can “melt” the seal to allow hormones or other medication to flow out. If all of the clinical trials go according to plan, expect to see this new form of remote-controlled contraception on the market around 2018.