Family planning could soon offer Kenyan men more direct options after the World Health Organization (WHO) released new standards to guide the development of male contraceptives, with the first products potentially becoming available within five to 10 years.
Researchers and drug manufacturers are working on three methods that could prevent pregnancy through different approaches. The methods aim either to lower sperm production, prevent sperm from moving or fertilising an egg, or stop sperm from being released during ejaculation.
WHO said the earliest any of the methods under development could reach the market is five years, while others could take up to 10 years.
The new standards set out what researchers and manufacturers should consider when developing the next generation of male contraceptives.
Among the requirements is that the methods should be safe, effective, reversible, acceptable to users and affordable.
Kenyan obstetrician-gynaecologist Dr John Kinuthia took part in the process that produced the standards. Kinuthia, who heads research and programmes at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), served on the Target Product Profile Development Group responsible for helping develop the standards for future male contraceptive methods.
The group held monthly meetings between January and December 2025.
A key requirement in the standards is reversibility. This means users should be able to stop using a method and have their normal fertility return.
“The goal of MC development is to identify new methods that are effective, reversible, safe, acceptable, affordable and available,” the report, Target product profiles for development of novel male contraceptive methods, says.
WHO has also linked the development of male contraceptives to the need to broaden the choices available to both men and women in family planning.
Pascale Allotey, head of WHO’s department of sexual, reproductive, maternal, child and adolescent health and ageing, said contraception should not be treated as a duty that falls on women alone.
“Choice is a gender equality issue,” Allotey said.
“Contraception isn’t one-size-fits-all. Men and women both need a range of options that reflect what science and innovation can now offer, weighed against convenience, invasiveness, behaviour, reliability and accessibility. Real choice means the confidence and control to choose a method, change it, or stop it.”
The move could have implications for family planning in Kenya, where contraceptive use remains largely centred on women.
The 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) found that 57 per cent of currently married women were using a modern contraceptive method.
At the same time, 14 per cent had an unmet need for family planning. This includes women who wanted to delay or stop having children but were not using a contraceptive method.
The development of new male contraceptives could therefore provide couples with additional ways of preventing unwanted pregnancies, while giving men more options to participate directly in family planning decisions.
The WHO standards are intended to guide the work needed to bring such methods from development to possible use, with safety, effectiveness, reversibility, affordability and acceptability forming key requirements.