• Social Marketing Company (SMC) is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company by Orion, USA.

• SMC will mark 39 years of operation in 2013. SMC is regarded as the largest privately-managed not-for-profit social markting organisation in the world for a single country. The Company is registered under the Companies Act, 1913 in Bangladesh and is governed by a voluntary Board of Directors.

• Social marketing in Bangladesh was initiated to challenge the rapid population growth by marketing contraceptive products widely accessible at a price affordable to the general population and bring about behavioural change through extensive mass promotion.

• The major programmes of SMC include family planning, child survival, maternal and child health, and STD/AIDS prevention programme. In addition, SMC implements customer education and health communication programmes.

• Social Marketing Company along with a consortium of national and international partners have been recently awarded the USAID funded Marketing Innovation for Health (MIH) Programme. Under this 4 year cooperative agreement, SMC and its partners will focus on improving family planning, health and nutritional status for women and children with special attention given to 19 priority districts where the CPR is lower than the national average and child mortality is higher. The programme will increase access to affordable FP and health products and services nationally, expand use of FP, particularly of long acting methods, and improve health practices through extensive marketing and BCC campaigns. In addition, it will enhance quality of health services delivered through training and capacity building of private sector providers.

• SMC is now regarded as a significant contributor to the reproductive and child health services in Bangladesh by complementing the public sector distribution with private sector social marketing model. In 2012, SMC provided 3.65 million Couple Years of Protection (CYP) through offering three modern methods – oral pills, condoms and injectables. As BDHS shows, 35 per cent of the modern contraceptive users reported that they use SMC brands.

• Under its family planning programme, SMC social markets a variety of oral pill brands (Combination 3, Noret-28, Femicon, Minicon and Femipil); and condoms (RAJA, HERO, Panther, Sensation, and U&ME); and clinical (Injectable “SOMA-JECT”) contraceptives. To make contraceptive products available and affordable to the less-privileged people of the country, SMC positions its brands of contraceptive products at different price segments so that revenue generated from the moderately priced brands can cross-subsidize the lower-end brands.

• With USAID commodity support, SMC embarked upon an aggressive program in 2012 to deliver Long Acting FP methods - IUD and Implants through graduate providers in private practice as well as through private sector facilities. These providers are being trained by Engender Health with the support of SHOPS Project and OGSB. SMC will be responsible for the branding, packaging and distribution of these contraceptives and also for creating demand through marketing and promotion.

• In May 2008, SMC introduced a micronutrient powder in the brand name of “MoniMix” to address childhood Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA). It also started marketing Zinc dispersible tablets in September 2008 to reduce the severity of diarrhoea in children under 5. As part of its maternal and neonatal health programme, SMC launched Safe Delivery Kit branded as “Safety Kit” in 2008 to ensure clean child delivery at household level.

• In order to combat diarrhoea, the number one killer disease among under 5 children, SMC initiated the Oral Rehydration Therapy Project under the Child Survival Programme in 1985 to decrease child mortality and morbidity due to diarrhoea-related dehydration. Under the programme, nation-wide awareness-building and behaviour change communication campaigns were undertaken and pre-packaged Oral Rehydration Salts was introduced and distributed extensively, enhancing the ready availability of ORS. Since its launch, ORSaline has saved millions of lives among children in Bangladesh.

• The new WHO formula-based packaged oral rehydration salt brand marketed by SMC called ORSaline-N was introduced in 2004. To provide choices to the consumers and to encourage children who are unwilling to take ORS, SMC introduced BNF-flavoured ORS brand ‘ORSaline Fruity’ in August 2003.

• With the objective of becoming self-sufficient and receiving uninterrupted supply of ORSaline-N, SMC’s factory began its operation in August 2004 at Bhaluka, Mymensingh. Currently, the annual production capacity of the factory is 215 million sachets.

• Through its Social Franchised outlets – the Blue Star Programme currently covers around 3,800 providers. SMC seeks to enhance the capacity of the private medical practitioners and health providers to offer quality services for clinical contraceptive methods (injectable) in an effort to increase access to such products.

• SMC’s communication approaches are designed to bring about desired behaviour change. To inform, educate, counsel and motivate people into action, SMC not only uses the mass media which includes mobile film shows, but also conducts intensive training of front-line health providers through its nation-wide Health Providers’ Training Programme (HPTP).

• With a view to increasing the quality of service, SMC has enhanced knowledge and skills of private health practitioners (Graduate and Non-Graduate Medical Practitioners, Rural Medical Practitioners and Pharmacy Salesmen) through various training programmes on family planning methods, ORT/ORS and STD/AIDS prevention, etc.

• SMC has increased availability and accessibility to its contraceptive products and ORS by regularly serving almost 220,000 retail outlets annually. This is done through twelve strategically located sales offices around the country where around 95 sales personnel are working.

• SMC has also constructed its very own 20,000 sft Central Warehouse (CWH) and a three-storied packaging unit, adjacent to its ORS factory in Bhaluka, Mymensingh, which was inaugurated on April 28, 2008. The CWH provides all logistical support in packaging, storing and distribution of all SMC products. The packaging unit at the CWH creates job opportunities for underprivileged female workers.

• SMC’s telephone hotline – “TeleJiggasha” programme provides correct reproductive and health information, problem faced by the youth.

• SMC is one of the pioneers of social and market research in Bangladesh. Every year, SMC sponsors and conducts a number of research studies to gather empirical data and necessary information in developing and evaluating its various projects and activities.

• SMC employs around 750 permanent and contractual staff.