Advocacy Project to Defend Medical Abortion in the United States September 2004 - Gynuity has expanded its activities to preserve, protect, and defend the availability of mifepristone in the United States thanks to the support of the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund. Four years ago, after nearly a decade of waiting, women in the United States at long last had the option to chose between medical abortion, which relies on two drugs (mifepristone and misoprostol), and traditional surgery to terminate early pregnancy. Despite the proven safety and popularity of medical abortion with mifepristone, access to it continues to be threatened. Most recently, two new pieces of legislation were introduced to Congress aimed first at further restricting the provision of medical abortion with mifepristone, and second, at removing mifepristone from the market altogether.
Our multi-pronged strategy includes:
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Compiling accurate, up-to-date, and complete information on medical abortion and disseminating it to health care professionals, researchers, advocacy groups and the general public;
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Advocating for the continued availability of medical abortion through consensus-building among key players in the field;
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Collaborating with other agencies to provide accurate information to policymakers and legislators and to help them understand the issues raised by proposed legislation; and
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Convening an annual meeting on mifepristone, to facilitate information sharing and strategies and to inspire continued growth in the field.
As part of this project, Gynuity is collaborating with Reproductive Health Technologies Project (RHTP) to monitor policy and the political climate in this area and develop informational resources on medical abortion. This work is meant to complement our existing activities focused on improving medical abortion provision, on putting the control of medical abortion procedures in the hands of women themselves, and on expanding access to the technology worldwide.
For more information about this project please contact Melanie Peña (mpena@gynuity.org).
Follow this link to
download a fact sheet on Mifepristone
Bringing
New Reproductive Health Technologies to Lusophone Africa August 2004 - Gynuity recently launched two new studies
to improve women’s health in Mozambique: Acceptability and
Feasibility of Medical abortion in Low-Resource Settings, and Misoprostol
for the Treatment of Incomplete Abortion. Mifepristone medical abortion
is a well-accepted, safe and effective alternative to surgical termination
of pregnancy. It has proven to be especially useful in low-resource
settings were access to services is often limited. Gynuity’s
study aims to introduce providers to the method in a controlled
environment and to assess acceptability among both women and providers.
This study will enroll 250 women and should take 6 months to complete.
The study on misoprostol for the treatment of incomplete abortion
is part of a body of work Gynuity is undertaking to further develop
misoprostol for this indication. The purpose of the study is to
compare misoprostol directly to MVA for treatment of incomplete
abortion. In Mozambique, 300 women will be enrolled over a period
of 6 months. This study is also underway in Tanzania, Burkina Faso,
and Ghana.
The two-day workshop to launch the studies was conducted in collaboration
with the Center for Training in Reproductive Health Technologies
based in Paris, France. The purpose of the workshop was to prepare
physicians and nurses to implement and oversee the study protocols
at a tertiary level hospital in Maputo. The training reviewed each
protocol in depth, including eligibility, contraindications and
informed consent procedures, complications and issues related to
follow up. Additional topics included management of side effects,
counseling skills, contraception after medical abortion and incomplete
abortion, and the principles of good clinical practice.
Gynuity staff will work closely with local study staff to monitor
protocol implementation and provide technical assistance as needed.
For additional information about either of these projects, please
contact study coordinator Wesley Clark wclark@gynuity.org.
Gynuity
Health Projects and Family Care International Launch Initiative
to Reduce Maternal Deaths in Developing Countries February 2004 - Gynuity Health Projects and Family Care International
have launched an initiative to reduce maternal deaths by bringing
misoprostol, a promising drug for the prevention and treatment of
postpartum hemorrhage, to market in developing countries. Work is
currently underway to identify potential sites for the clinical
trials, develop research protocols, draft assessment tools, and
assemble a research review committee. Possible research sites include
the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Mozambique, and India.
“Postpartum hemorrhage kills more than 350 women every day,”
said Dr. Beverly Winikoff, M.D., president of Gynuity Health Projects,
“despite the fact that promising drugs exist that can prevent
and treat this devastating maternal health problem. Through this
initiative, we hope to put an important resource directly into the
hands of health workers and others who will use it to save lives
that would otherwise be lost.”
Misoprostol, a widely-marketed and available drug that is prescribed
frequently to prevent gastric ulcers caused by arthritis treatment,
has been shown to be effective at preventing and treating postpartum
hemorrhage in hospital settings. The drug, a prostaglandin, has
great potential for treating women in non-health facility settings
because it can be given by mouth, and does not need refrigeration,
and thus can be used by a range of health providers in low-resource,
community-based settings. Since postpartum hemorrhage can kill a
woman in a matter of hours or even minutes, misoprostol can potentially
save women who would have otherwise died en route to or shortly
after arriving at a health facility.
This project aims to make misoprostol available in developing countries
for prevention and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage by:
> Sponsoring large-scale clinical trials on the use of misoprostol
in community and clinical settings,
> Working with small pharmaceutical companies to guide
misoprostol through the regulatory approval process,
> Facilitating the drug’s marketing and distribution, and
> Conducting training, dissemination and educational activities
with policymakers, members of the media and health workers.
“This initiative has the potential to dramatically transform
the way postpartum hemorrhage is treated and prevented in developing
countries,” said Jill Sheffield, president of Family Care
International. “We are excited to be partnering with Gynuity
on this important effort.”
About Family Care International: Founded in 1986, Family Care International
(FCI) is dedicated to improving women’s sexual and reproductive
health and rights in developing countries, with a special emphasis
on making pregnancy and childbirth safer. FCI works to advance the
comprehensive, women-centered approach to reproductive and sexual
health, which has been endorsed by almost every country in the world
at U.N. conferences over the past decade. FCI addresses a range
of urgent health issues, including maternal health, adolescent sexual
and reproductive health, family planning, unsafe abortion, and violence
against women. For more information about Family Care International,
please visit www.familycareintl.org.
About Gynuity Health Projects: Gynuity Health Projects is a new
research and technical assistance organization dedicated to the
idea that all people should have access to the fruits of medical
science and technology development. Gynuity works to make reproductive
health technologies widely available at reasonable cost, in the
context of high-quality services, and in a way that promotes the
dignity and autonomy of each person. Gynuity’s efforts are
focused particularly on resource-poor environments, underserved
populations, and controversial subject matter. For more information
about Gynuity Health Projects, please visit www.gynuity.org.
