The Coalition's Strategic Plan explicitly acknowledges the right of individuals to choose the supplies they need to satisfy their evolving reproductive health needs. This principle of choice commits the Coalition to address reproductive health options and to support the research needed to fill diagnostic, drug, and contraceptive methods gaps. The Caucus on New and Underused Reproductive Health Technologies was established with this commitment in mind. It is a community of practice whose membership cuts across all three of the Coalition's Working Groups.

The Caucus functions as an intermediary within the Coalition – Caucus members belong to both the Caucus and at least one of the Coalition’s Working Groups. This dual membership allows Caucus members to encourage Working Group discussions and activities that align with the Caucus’ goal and purpose. The goal of the Caucus is to help improve choice of reproductive health technologies. The purpose of the group is to contribute to country level efforts to achieve MDG 5, by both supporting work to achieve universal access to RH services and products, and by facilitating their use to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity. Members of the group are undertaking the following approaches towards meeting this goal:

• Broaden the discussion within the Coalition of technologies that meet users needs and have desirable effects on reproductive health, but are not well integrated into the public or commercial sectors globally
• Collaborate with the Working Groups to identify specific initiatives that contribute to improved choice at national level 

The Caucus is currently engaged in the following activities:

• Develop and disseminate peer reviewed technical briefs on selected reproductive health technologies
• Identify new technologies for inclusion in the Coalition’s work
• Develop tools for forecasting the demand for selected new and underused methods
• Ensure coherence between the work of the Coalition and the WHO with regards to new and underused reproductive health technologies
• Share guidance on introduction strategies for new and underused methods, including best practices and challenges

Heather Clark
Staff Associate
Population Council
New York, NY, USA
Email: hclark(at)popcouncil.org  

Jamee Kuznicki
Program Assistant
Washington, DC, USA
Email: jkuznicki(at)path.org