 | In The Spotlight Dr. Marleen Temmerman to succeed Julia Bunting as Coalition’s next Chair This month, members of the Coalition’s Executive Committee approved the nomination of Dr. Marleen Temmerman as the Coalition’s next Chair. Marleen succeeds Julia Bunting, whose term as Chair ends in October at the Coalition’s Annual Membership meeting in Delhi. A long-time friend of the Coalition, Marleen is currently Director of the Department of Reproductive Health and Research at WHO. She is also a physician, an author, a former Senator in the Belgian Parliament, a university professor, and founder of the International Centre for Reproductive Health (ICRH).
Committee members unanimously approved Marleen’s nomination at their first semiannual meeting of 2013, which took place on April 25-26th at the London offices of IPPF. The event also served as the occasion to say goodbye to representatives from the World Bank, PAHO and WAHO; and to welcome two new Committee members: the Chinese Contraceptive Supplies Administration (represented by Mr. Zhang Ruiheng) and the InterAmerican Development Bank (represented by Emma Iriarte). The Committee also announced a call for three additional Committee members, two from the Global South and one able to address the concerns and interests of the manufacturing sector. Announcements for these new posts will be issued shortly.
Finally, the Committee reviewed the Coalition’s progress over the last six months, including the status of more than eight funding proposals submitted since July of last year. They discussed three new initiatives that will form the centerpiece of the Coalition’s next four-year agenda: combatting stockouts; shaping markets; and fulfilling global promises. On the second day of the meeting, members reflected upon opportunities and challenges of navigating the increasingly complex, and rapidly evolving terrain of the new RMNCH landscape. |
| Coalition on the scene Coalition at Women Deliver, Kuala Lumpur Market shaping panel Coalition Director John Skibiak will moderate a panel presentation offering a behind-the-scenes perspective on shaping the contraceptives market. Panelists include Denise Harrison (USAID), Hema Srinivasan (CHAI), Klaus Brill (Bayer Healthcare), Venkatesh Iyer (FamyCare), and Lembit Rago (WHO).
Maternal Health Supplies Caucus co-hosts event The Coalition's Maternal Health Supplies Caucus, along with the Maternal Health Supplies Working Group, co-hosted an event on Monday 27 May, leading up to the Women Deliver conference. In Our Hands: Successful strategies to prioritize essential maternal health commodities brought together key global- and country-level stakeholders to discuss critical issues concerning the security of maternal health supplies. Read more here. |
| Ringing in the new As the Coalition embarks on pioneering work in Market Shaping and Preventing Stockouts, the Secretariat welcomes on board two key staff members who will help shape and lead these functions. Anita Deshpande joins the staff as Senior Programme Officer in Market Dynamics. With experience from health ministries, the Global Fund, and NGOs, Anita has a Master in Public Administration from Harvard and a Master of Science in Business Administration from the University of California in Berkeley.
Ellen Tompsett brings experience from the World Food Programme and Amazon.com. She has a Master of Business Administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Middlebury College, Vermont, USA. She comes on board as the Coalition’s Senior Programme Officer in Reducing Stockouts. Anita and Ellen will support the Market Development Approaches and Systems Strengthening Working Groups respectively, taking over from Bonnie Keith, who recently left the Coalition to join partner organisation, JSI. Bonnie's energy and enthusiasm will leave large shoes to fill.
To strengthen Coalition systems, Jamee Kuznicki has joined the Washington D.C. office as Programme Assistant while the Brussels team welcomes Helen Clodong as Office Assistant. Our updated staff page can be found here. |
| More arrivals! Congratulations are in order for Secretariat colleague, Lou Compernolle, whose is currently on maternity leave. For the duration of her leave, Nienke Blauw (nienke.blauw@gmail.com) will assume responsibility for all matters related to the Resource Mobilization and Awareness Working Group (RMA WG) and SECONAF. Mercedes Mas de Xaxas (mmx@popact.org) of Population Action International will coordinate all matters related to the Coalition’s objective on Fulfilling Commitments. |
| New fact sheets trace Coalition’s added value on three major work areas. As the Coalition embarks on its three major workstreams – Market Shaping, Preventing Stockouts, and Helping Partners Deliver on Promises – members will be kept apprised of developments on an ongoing basis. For an overview on the Coalition’s special added value in all these areas, members can refer to three fact sheets on the issues here. |
| Increase to contraceptive implants Implanon® and Implanon NXT® in the poorest countries Public and private sector partners have forged an agreement that will expand contraceptive access and options for millions of women in some of the world’s poorest countries. Under the agreement, Merck MSD will reduce the cost of IMPLANON®1 – the only single-rod, long-acting, reversible contraceptive implant – and its next generation implant, IMPLANON NXT®, by approximately 50 percent for the next six years in the targeted poorest eligible countries of focus for the reproductive health community. Click here to read full story. |
| Procurers meet to address the challenge of ensuring quality In late April, the Quality Reproductive Health Medicines (QuRHM) Program hosted more than 30 procurers and donors to a three-day meeting on hormonal contraceptives and other essential medicines. Held at UNFPA headquarters in New York, participants were updated on developments within the QuRHM Program, including the initial results of situational analyses being carried out in Tanzania, Senegal, Ethiopia and Nepal. Considerable discussion was also devoted to efforts now underway to minimize the risk of potential supply disruptions should there be too few WHO/ERP/SRA-approved manufacturers of any given contraceptive. Key donors acknowledged this threat and are exploring a number of scenarios to mitigate it. This could include reviews of data provided through the WHO PQ/ERP process – or even provisions to reassess ERP findings, should new data or information become available. The meeting closed with a renewed commitment to mainstream quality-related issues across the Coalition; to identify opportunities for country level work with QuRHM; and to use the Coalition website to disseminate information on QuRHM- and other quality-related issues. For more information, contact Lester Chinery at Concept Foundation. |
| Female condom receives new certification status This month, Shanghai Dahua’s Woman’s Condom received the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) certification mark. The SABS certification mark is important in assuring buyers in South Africa that the product meets international safety and quality requirements.
Dahua and PATH, both Coalition members, have been working with a male condom manufacturing company, located in Durban, to take the Woman’s Condom to South Africa. Market introduction activities are now underway and the Woman’s Condom is soon expected to be available in South Africa through limited channels; first through the private sector, and eventually in the public sector.
The SABS certification mark, combined with Shanghai Food and Drug Administration approval (2011) and the CE Mark (2010), continues to build confidence about the quality of the product among donors, purchasers, and potential users. |
| Coalition welcomes three new members this month for a total membership of 230 -- Centro de Investigaciones en Salud (CEINSA), Costa Rica-- Girls' Globe, Sweden -- Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG), Uganda |
| Upcoming events
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Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition
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