At a glance, the bright pink object introduced to reporters by four students of the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University’s (UGM) school of midwifery was just like any ordinary plush figure that one would find at a toy store.

A closer look, however, revealed that it was not. It resembled the anatomy of a woman’s uterus with a sack in the middle, where a mockup of a strip of contraception pills was inserted.

“This is indeed a miniature of contraception pills with a uterus doll as a model to explain to users how the pills work,” one of the students, Ineke Wijayanti, said, recently.

Another student, Binta Fadhilatul Ningrum, said the model was created out of their concern over the fact that over 60 percent of contraception pill users in the country failed to understand usage instructions, as explained by paramedics, which could lead to failure.

“This is to help health workers make users better understand how contraception pills work. We expect this to lead to more family planning programs,” Binta said.

Ineke and Binta then demonstrated how to use the model they had invented during a family planning consultation with two fellows, Puput Ayu Wandira and Nabila Aulia, acting as potential users.

The group said the contraception pill miniature (Mikpoil) was created for the university’s entrepreneurship creativity program (PKM Kewirausahaan), funded by a grant from the Research and Technology and Higher Education Ministry.

Since May, they have produced 200 pieces of Mikopil — the name it is branded as — of which 146 have been purchased, mostly by midwives and midwifery students in Java and Sumatra both online and offline.

“This is handy, nice to touch and, most of all, cheap,” said Ineke, adding that a single Mikopil unit, sold for Rp 50,000 (US$3.7), comprised a uterus plush figure, a pill strip miniature and an instruction leaflet.

Together with 30 other teams from UGM, the group will represent UGM at National University Student Science Week (PIMNAS), held at Indonesian Muslim University in Makassar, South Sulawesi, from Aug. 23 to 28.

For the 30th PIMNAS this year, UGM is one of three universities that will send the most number of teams, alongside the Bogor Institute of Agriculture in West Java and the University of Brawijaya in Malang, East Java.

Head of UGM’s student creativity sub-directorate, Ahmad Agus Setiawan, said that for this year’s PKM, of 935 program proposals the university sent to the ministry, 129 won grants.

“We are very grateful that 31 teams have been selected to compete at PIMNAS,” Agus said.

UGM Rector Panut Mulyono expressed hope that UGM would repeat its success in 2014 when the university became the PIMNAS champion.

As many as 420 teams from 89 private and state-owned tertiary education institutions are set to join this year’s PIMNAS, bringing together over 3,000 participating students and supervisors from across Indonesia.

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