User:Vsidonor/sandbox

VSI (Venture Strategies Innovations) was a charitable non-profit organization committed to improving women’s health in developing countries by creating access to effective and affordable technologies on a large scale. The organization, based in California, began programs in 2004, incorporated in 2008, and ended operations in 2014. At it's peak, it had an annual operating budget of US$8.1M.

History
VSI’s initial, pioneering program, "Increasing Access to Misoprostol for Maternal Health" was begun in 2004 as a program within Venture Strategies for Health and Development (VSHD). In 2008, the leadership team of VSHD launched VSI as an independent nonprofit organization. Through its time in the international maternal health field, VSI played a catalytic and central role in the transformation in global attitudes toward the use of misoprostol and an acceptance of its important role in improving women’s reproductive health. VSI’s programs on postpartum hemorrhage and safe abortion involved product registration, policy change and operations research programs to evaluate successful models of distribution to women in need. The outcomes of VSI’s programs on the introduction of misoprostol and mifepristone for obstetric indications have contributed to the increasingly widespread use of these drugs for obstetric indications. The work of VSI and others showed that essential health services can be effectively and safely task-shifted to the lowest levels of the health system, reaching women where they live.

Programs
VSI was committed to improving the health of women and girls in developing countries by connecting them with life-saving medicines and services where and when they need them most. VSI believed that all women deserve access to affordable health technologies to meet their comprehensive maternal and reproductive health needs. Saving women means stronger families, communities and nations, creating a powerful ripple effect that improves millions of lives worldwide.

Postpartum Hemorrhage
Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), or excessive bleeding after childbirth, is the leading cause of maternal death globally. PPH kills a staggering number of mothers each year, most in developing countries where access to life-saving medicines and skilled care is limited and out of reach. Every day, nearly 200 mothers die in childbirth from PPH, yet a simple solution exists.

Due to its tremendous promise to save mothers’ lives, VSI worked to create access to misoprostol, an affordable and effective medicine that can both prevent and treat PPH. VSI’s pioneering efforts with partners to increase access to misoprostol throughout Africa and Asia brought this life-saving solution to mothers who would otherwise have nothing to protect them from PPH.

VSI facilitated the legal registration of low-cost misoprostol for obstetric use (primarily for preventing and treating postpartum hemorrhage) in 30 countries worldwide. VSI worked with generic pharmaceutical manufacturers and local distributors to establish its availability at controlled prices in local markets.

Family Planning
Ensuring access to family planning for women is an essential component to ensuring the sustainable health and development of communities worldwide. An estimated 222 million women in developing countries would like to delay or stop childbearing but are not using any method of contraception (WHO, 2012).

As part of its comprehensive maternal health programs, VSI conducted demonstration projects in Rwanda and Ethiopia and supported governments and partners to create access to family planning counseling and methods, particularly in postabortion care. VSI connected women with family planning services through provider training and policy development.

Post Abortion Care
Unsafe abortion contributes to the deaths of over 47,000 women and girls each year, approximately 13% of all maternal deaths (WHO, 2011). Uncounted millions more women suffer debilitating illness and infertility. Access to safe, effective and globally endorsed medicines and techniques for providing postabortion care will reduce the burden of maternal death and disability and improve the lives of women and their children.

VSI engaged governments and partners to achieve regulatory approval of quality essential medicines like misoprostol for treatment of incomplete abortion and miscarriage. Learn more...

Country Programs
Angola Bangladesh Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Ethiopia Ghana Kenya Liberia Madagascar Malawi Mozambique Nepal Niger Nigeria Pakistan Rwanda Somaliland South Sudan Tanzania & Zanzibar Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe

Notes and references

 * 1) July 30, 2014, Niger Ministry of Health and VSI partner to train providers on solutions for unsafe abortion
 * 2) The New Times, July 22, 2014, "Reproductive expert commends Rwanda provisions for abortion" (Rwanda)
 * 3) March 3, 2014, Cambodia regional workshop on integrating PAC
 * 4) DailyNews, February 15, 2014, "PPH medication could cut maternal deaths" (Tanzania)
 * 5) September 30, 2013, Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care presents new research to address two leading causes of maternal death
 * 6) The New Times, August 28, 2013, "Rwanda: Abortion - when it's down to court order" (Rwanda)
 * 7) Modern Ghana, March 20, 2012, "Curbing maternal deaths: GHS distributes misoprostol to expectant mothers" (Ghana)
 * 8) The Citizen, September 18, 2011, "Doctor whose work puts smiles on mothers' faces" (Tanzania)
 * 9) National Public Radio, June 29, 2011, "Drug given to mothers at birth sparks controversy" (US)
 * 10) IRIN, May 12, 2011, "Health: Childbirth made safer" (Senegal)
 * 11) The Citizen, March 27, 2011, "Women in Rufiji benefit from misoprostol" (Tanzania)
 * 12) The Standard, March 23, 2011, "Pill stops mothers from bleeding to death after birth" (Kenya)
 * 13) Coastweek, March 18, 2011, "New drug and treatment to curb maternal deaths" (Kenya)
 * 14) The Guardian, March 4, 2011, "Ministry promises wide distribution of new drug" (Tanzania)
 * 15) The Guardian, March 3, 2011, "New drug boosts safe motherhood" (Tanzania)
 * 16) Lusaka Times, October 3, 2010, "Zambia: Zambia on course towards attaining MDG 5" (Zambia)
 * 17) Lusaka Times, September 30, 2010, "Maternal deaths still high despite serious Govt efforts" (Zambia)
 * 18) Ghana News Agency, September 2, 2010, "Stakeholders urged to educate the public on safe motherhood" (Ghana)
 * 19) Peace FM, August 23, 2010, "Severe Bleeding Accounts for Maternal Death" (Ghana)
 * 20) The Globe and Mail, June 25, 2010, "When health and moral values collide" (Canada)
 * 21) The Punch, March 7, 2010, "59,000 women bleed to death annually after child birth" (Nigeria)
 * 22) The Guardian, February 8, 2010, "Pregnancy-induced deaths rise in Nigeria, Says Group" (Nigeria)
 * 23) The Nation, February 7, 2010, "Bleeding Mothers" (Nigeria)
 * 24) Addis Zemen, February 2, 2010, "Tablet to reduce maternal mortality soon will be imported to the country" (Ethiopia)
 * 25) Daily Monitor, January 30, 2010, "Tablet Against Maternal Mortality Introduced in Ethiopia" (Ethiopia)
 * 26) The New Vision, June 28, 2009, "Health launches anti-bleeding drug" (Uganda)
 * 27) L’Express de Madagascar, June 23, 2009 "Nouveau Soin a l'accouchement" (Madagascar)
 * 28) Midi Madasikara, June 23, 2009, "Redire de 27% le toux de l'mortalite avec le Misoprostol" (Madagascar)
 * 29) New York Times, May 9, 2009, "A Birth Pill" (US)