ASHONPLAFA re-launches pill in Honduras with PSP-One support

In August 2007, the Honduran NGO ASHONPLAFA held a series of events to re-launch its social marketing pill brand, Perla. The purpose of those events, held in Tegucigalpa, Choluteca, San Pedro Sula and la Ceiba, was to provide information about the product to pharmacies and clinicians to promote its sale. At total of around 1,060 pharmacy staff attended the events, in addition to ASHONPLAFA’s clinical staff.

Perla’s re-launch is part of a broader PSP-One strategy to increase the sales of ASHONPLAFA’s products to strengthen its social marketing program. The first step was to modernize the look of the product, which had been in the market and unchanged for 9 years (this was also done for ASHONPLAFA’s condom brands). PSP-One then conducted a market study to determine which segments of the Honduran population are currently using Perla and whether there was demand for a lower-priced pill. The study revealed that although Perla is the brand most sold in pharmacies, there is demand for a lower-priced pill. Based on these results, ASHONPLAFA decided to introduce a new, lower-priced pill into their portfolio and to increase the price of Perla for the re-launch. This will improve the organization’s cost recovery and improve access to pills to all segments of the population.