Comparing Injectables

Characteristic	DMPA	NET-EN	Monthly Injectables
Time between injections	3 months.	2 months.	1 month.
How early or late a client can have the next injection	2 weeks early, 4 weeks late.	2 weeks.	7 days.
Injection technique	Deep intramuscular injection into the hip, upper arm, or buttock. (Also, see Progestin-Only Injectables, New Formulation of DMPA.)	Deep intramuscular injection into the hip, upper arm, or buttock. May be slightly more painful than DMPA.	Deep intramuscular injection into the hip, upper arm, buttock, or outer thigh.
Typical bleeding patterns in first year	Irregular and prolonged bleeding at first, then no bleeding or infrequent bleeding. About 40% of users have no monthly bleeding after 1 year.	Irregular or prolonged bleeding in first 6 months but shorter bleeding episodes than with DMPA. After 6 months bleeding patterns are similar to those with DMPA. 30% of users have no monthly bleeding after 1 year.	Irregular, frequent, or prolonged bleeding in first 3 months. Mostly regular bleeding patterns by 1 year. About 2% of users have no monthly bleeding after 1 year.
Average weight gain	1–2 kg per year.	1–2 kg per year.	1 kg per year.
Pregnancy rate, as commonly used	About 3 pregnancies per 100 women in the first year.	Assumed to be similar to DMPA.
Average delay in time to pregnancy after stopping injections	4 months longer than for women who used other methods.	1 month longer than for women who used other methods.	1 month longer than for women who used other methods.