July 2013 in Review        


 
In the spotlight
Register now for Delhi 2013

The Government of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will co-host this year’s General Membership Meeting, providing us with a unique opportunity to focus on India’s growing role in ensuring global access to affordable, high-quality reproductive health commodities. The world has been witness to the growing global movement to broaden the manufacturing base for reproductive health supplies, develop international quality standards, reduce prices, and expand service delivery. We trust the Delhi meeting will make significant inroads into identifying synergies between civil society, manufacturers, and governments to strengthen the core principles of RH commodity security: method choice, quality, and equity.

 

The membership meeting will take place 10-11 October, 2013 at the Lalit Hotel in New Delhi. It will be preceded by three days of preliminary meetings hosted by the Coalition’s Working Groups, Regional Forums and Caucuses.

 

Meeting registration and accommodation reservations are now available on our website. Please book early, as the visa application process can be lengthy.

 

Mon 7

 

 


Tue 8

 


Wed 9

 


Thu 10

 


Fri  11


MDA

QuRHM TAC

Site Visits

 



RMA (A&A)

SSWG

Caucus (GEMs)

Site Visits

 



RMA (A&A)

Ex Co Mtg

Caucus (NURHT)

Caucus (MHS)

 

General Membership Meeting

Reception

 



General Membership Meeting



 
Coalition on the scene
Innovation Fund receives shot in the arm from Norad

The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) has awarded the Coalition a three-year grant. The grant will enable it to continue adding value to the work of its diverse and growing member base, while at the same time support new initiatives to redress poor market dynamics, recurrent supply stockouts, and unfulfilled supply commitments.  Norad’s support will help the Coalition channel resources to the Global South, reinforce the work of the UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities, and replenish the Innovation Fund, which has, since 2009, seeded the development of new tools and initiatives and  leveraged millions of dollars in subsequent programme funding.

 

With this new grant, Norad joins the ranks of four other donors―DFID, UNFPA, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and USAID―that have, to date, contributed in equal shares towards the realization of the Coalition’s core goals and objectives.  

 
SupplyInsider now in French

This month, the Coalition Secretariat launched the French-language version of the Coalition newsletter, SupplyInsider, providing a new opportunity for partners in Francophone Africa to keep abreast of news and developments within the global reproductive health supplies community.

 

This launch occurs as the Coalition’s regional forum for Francophone West Africa, SECONAF, gears up for two big events. The first will be the inaugural meeting of its Advisory Committee at the Coalition’s 14th Annual Membership Meeting in Delhi in October. The second will be a regional gathering, hosted jointly by SECONAF and the Ouagadougou Partnership, at the Addis Ababa International Family Planning Conference in November. For more information contact Badara Seye, SECONAF Regional Facilitator. 

 
Coalition launches its strategic refresh

On July 11 and 12, representatives of the Coalition’s Executive Committee and its two Regional Forums met in Brussels to formally launch the Coalition’s strategic refresh process. At the two-day event, participants drew on input from last year’s General Membership Meeting as well as the conclusions of a Working Group leaders’ meeting, held last March, to identify the Coalition’s drivers of success or “levers of change.”

 

When the Coalition first developed its strategic plan in 2007, it did so with few signposts to suggest what it might accomplish in the years to come. As a result, its vision was framed in aspirational terms –- an image of what Coalition members hoped the reproductive health supplies environment would look like by 2015.  Now, with a solid track record under its belt, the Coalition is better equipped to take stock of where it is today, identify its levers of change, and ensure that these levers drive future work. 

 

At the July meeting, participants revisited the Coalition’s vision and mission statements and began highlighting the key value propositions likely to inform the Coalition’s key objectives: choice, quality, equity, and access. A second consultation meeting is scheduled for 12-13 September where representatives of all the Coalition’s implementing mechanisms will pool their expertise, complete a theory of change, and begin soliciting feedback from the broader membership.



 
Deadline extended for applications to Executive Committee
The Coalition’s Executive Committee has extended the deadline for applications to fill one of two seats designated for representatives of  governmental or intergovernmental organizations from the world’s poorest countries, especially those identified by the World Bank as having a GDP per capita of US$2,500 or less. The incumbent of this seat will play a key role in ensuring that the Coalition’s policy discussions and decisions remain truly global and encompass the perspectives and priorities of its partners in the developing world. Deadline for applications is 31 August. Please follow the link for the full announcements.  

 
Two Coalition panels accepted for Addis Ababa
Two Coalition submissions have been accepted for panels at November’s International Conference on Family Planning in Addis Ababa. A panel on stockouts — “Getting down to business: The critical steps to getting shelves stocked” — will will discuss work underway to forge a consensus definition of stockouts and showcase successful strategies for reducing and eliminating them.  A second panel will present case studies of successful market shaping efforts (affordability, quality, supply, sustainability, and equity). For more information, please contact John Skibiak.
 
Coalition welcomes seven new members
This brings the total membership to 247.
-- Rural Development Institute-HIHT (India), Technical Support Agencies and Partnerships
-- M4ID (Finland), Technical Support Agencies and Partnerships
-- Christian Health Association of Malawi (Malawi), Civil Society
-- Disease Management Association of India (India), Civil Society
-- Christian AIDS/HIV National Alliance (India), Technical Support Agencies and Partnerships
-- Christian Health Association of Sudan (Sudan), Civil Society
-- The Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka), Civil Society


 
Highlights from the Implementing Mechanisms
Goodbye, RMA, welcome A&A
“Advocacy and Accountability Working Group” (A&A WG) is the new name for the former Resource Mobilization and Awareness Working Group (RMA WG). This month, members of the group voted in the new name, in keeping with a drive toward a greater focus on connecting advocates from both the north and south and leveraging their collective voices to assure the fulfillment of international commitments to improve reproductive health. The new name heralds what promises to be a busy phase for the Working Group, which recently joined the Steering Committee of the UN Commodities Commission’s Advocacy Group.
 
SSWG to represent Coalition at People that Deliver

In June, Leslie Patykewich, leader of the Systems Strengthening Working Group (SSWG), took up the seat previously occupied by Coalition Director John Skibiak on the board of the People that Deliver (PtD) initiative. PtD is the outgrowth of the “Professional Development of Supply Chain Managers” work stream that was developed in 2010 and 2011 under the auspices of the SSWG.

 

PtD’s mission is to build capacity to implement evidence-based approaches to plan, finance, develop, support and retain the national workforces needed for the effective, efficient and sustainable management of health supply chains. The initiative has a longstanding partnership with the Coalition, part of which is the joint management of LAPTOP, the largest known online resource for supply chain management training courses. 

 
Steady gains for GEMS Caucus
Earlier this year, a select group of generic manufacturers of RH supplies came together under the auspices of the Coalition to expand the availability of high-quality, affordable and safe reproductive health products and medicines. This month, the Generic Manufacturers Caucus for Reproductive Health (GEMS Caucus) had much to celebrate as two of its members received positive feedback from the WHO’s Expert Review Panel or ERP. The ERP is a rapid quality risk assessment mechanism for assessing needed pharmaceutical products and allowing for procurement in the lead-up to full prequalification. In its rulings, the ERP can  “advise against” or indicate “no objections” to the procurement of products under review.

In the ERP’s latest ruling, Coalition member Famy Care received a 12-month extension to its first non-objection ruling in connection with two products, an emergency contraceptive pill and a combined oral contraceptive. Another generic manufacturer and member of the GEMS Caucus, CIPLA, was granted an 18-month no-objection for procurement of its emergency contraception pill. More detailed information on ERP rulings and the products are available online.  For more information on the GEMS Caucus, read the recent post on the Impatient Optimists blog.
 
Maternal Health Supplies Caucus to issue grants

The Maternal Health Supplies Caucus met for the first time under the leadership of its acting Chair Milka Dinev, Regional Facilitator for the LAC Forum. At its meeting, the Caucus members discussed plans to award its first technical support grants, made possible as a result of financial support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

 

The meeting welcomed Dr. Graciela Salvador-Dávila of Pathfinder International, who sits on the of UN Commodities Commission’s Maternal Health Supplies Technical Reference Team (TRT).  At the Caucus meeting, she shared the results of a literature review carried out by a  TRT subgroup on barriers that constrain wider use of Magnesium Sulfate. The Caucus also discussed and solicited feedback on the agenda for its annual meeting at the Coalition’s General Membership Meeting in New Delhi.

 
NURHT Caucus issues latest technical brief on implants
The Caucus on New and Underutilized Reproductive Health Technologies (NURHT) has an ongoing commitment to broadening the global discussion on effective RH technologies that meet users’ needs but are not well-integrated into the public or commercial sectors. In keeping with this commitment, the Caucus recently updated and put online a series of peer-reviewed “all you wanted to know” technical briefs on underused technologies on the Coalition website. In July, a 13th brief (on contraceptive implants) was added to the list. For more information, contact the Caucus’ new Coordinator, Heather Clark from the Population Council, at hclark(at)popcouncil.org.


 
Upcoming events

19-20 SepFP2020 Reference Group Meeting, New York
23-25 SepWHO, UNICEF, UNFPA Meeting for Manufacturers and Diagnostics, Copenhagen
25-27 Sep
Tanzania National Family Planning Conference, Dar es Salaam
07-11 OctRHSC General Membership Meeting and satellite events, Delhi
21-22 Oct
Emergency Contraception Jamboree, New York
23-25 Oct
EuroNGOs International Conference, Berlin 
12-15 NovInternational Conference on Family Planning, Addis Ababa


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