 | In The Spotlight Coalition and CHAI to co-lead FP2020 Market Dynamics working group This month, the FP2020 Steering Committee invited Coalition Director John Skibiak and Alan Staple of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) to co-lead the FP2020 Market Dynamics Working Group. This is one of four FP2020 technical Working Groups convened from civil society, multilateral, technical and donor organizations to provide advice and support in the areas of: Market Dynamics, Performance Monitoring and Accountability, Rights and Empowerment, and Country Engagement. Through the convening power of the Coalition and technical guidance from CHAI, the new Market Dynamics Working Group aims to ensure healthy markets that support increased access to quality assured and affordable contraceptive methods to meet the goals of FP2020. It aims to achieve this through better data collection, better visibility into the market dynamics arena, and improved coordination of market interventions at both the provider and consumer levels. For more information on the new MD Working group, please write to: MD@Familyplanning2020.org. |
| Coalition on the scene New TRT “goes live” on the Knowledge Gateway Thanks to the creation of 12 Knowledge Gateway platforms, the Technical Reference Teams (TRTs) of the UN Commission on Lifesaving Commodities have been buzzing with activity. With ongoing technical support from the Coalition, the platforms today include more than 400 members. The most recent TRT to join the Knowledge Gateway is the Resuscitation Equipment TRT, with 31 members. The Maternal Health Supplies TRT now has seven separate sub-groups with more than 50 members. To register with a TRT or simply send a message to its convener(s), visit the Coalition website. For all other information, contact Anna Harvey. |
| Coalition to co-host panel at Women Deliver The Coalition and Johns Hopkins University will jointly host a panel on the issue of market dynamics at Women Deliver in May. The panel will look at prospects to enhance the market efficiencies needed to better align contraceptive supplies with growing global demand for them. Speakers will include representatives from Bayer, CHAI, FamyCare, USAID, and WHO. The panel builds on the Coalition’s role as co-chair of the FP2020 MD WG, and will offer a platform to review today’s very crowded landscape on market shaping. |
| Coalition welcomes new Francophone forum facilitator Badara Seye has joined the Coalition as its new Francophone Forum (SECONAF) facilitator. He brings over two decades of regional experience in more than 20 countries and is a familiar face to many in the RH community. Badara has a strong background in monitoring and evaluation, capacity building, evidence-based advocacy, and communications, all of which will help develop SECONAF into an even more active network. He will be based in Dakar, Senegal at the PATH offices. Badara, who holds a General University Studies Degree in Economics from Dakar University and a Master of Science in Economics from the Kiev Institute of National Economy, will collaborate closely with partners from across the region and function as a liaison between the region and the global supplies community”. Badara’s appointment comes at a critical moment for the Coalition as we embark on a new funding phase, and an ambitious agenda focusing more closely on the regional and country levels. Badara can be reached at bseye@rhsupplies.org. |
| Price of implants halved This month witnessed a historic advance for reproductive health supplies and access. An unprecedented group of public and private sector partners has finalized an agreement in which Bayer is halving the price of its contraceptive implant, Jadelle®, from US$18 to US$8.50 per unit, effective 1 January 2013, in more than 50 countries globally.
The Jadelle Access Program – developed and supported through a partnership between Bayer HealthCare, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), the Governments of Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and Sweden, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) – builds on momentum generated at the July 2012 London Family Planning Summit, where global leaders pledged to increase access to family planning by an additional 120 million women by 2020.
The Coalition is a firm believer in the power of partnership, and we congratulate those who have made this achievement possible. More information is available here. |
| Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awards new grant to Coalition The Coalition extends its gratitude to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on this month’s award of a generous grant to support key Coalition objectives over the next four years. The Foundation’s contribution adds to that of our other core donors who have jointly supported the Coalition’s work since 2009. Initially, it was the Foundation’s support that enabled the establishment of the Brussels-based Coalition Secretariat in 2006. In addition to increased support for the Secretariat’s core operations, this new grant now makes possible three additional initiatives: to improve contraceptive market dynamics, to eliminate stockouts, and to ensure the fulfillment of global and national commitments to FP commodity security. |
| Generic manufacturers meet in Bangkok The Coalition has long championed the direct involvement of pharmaceutical manufacturers in the dialogue on reproductive health commodity security – once the largely exclusive domain of public-sector, non-commercial development agencies. In 2006, on the eve of opening-up its membership to this critical sector, Coalition members took a groundbreaking stand by calling for the procurement only of RH supplies that had been either prequalified by WHO or approved by a stringent regulatory drug agency. This stand has moved the Coalition ever since, to initiate and support efforts by the manufacturing sector to achieve prequalification.
Building on this groundwork, a group of generic manufacturers – nearly all Coalition members -- met in Bangkok this month. Hosted by the Concept Foundation, the group discussed strategies for positioning standard-approved generic contraceptives and RH medicines as affordable products, and for promoting generic manufacturers as key players in the reproductive health arena. For more information on this meeting, please contact Lester Chinery. |
| Bayer’s new reporting mechanism on adverse reactions The Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition is harnessing its global network of members to help publicize a new online reporting system for adverse reactions (ADR). Clients experiencing an adverse reaction to any drug manufactured by pharmaceutical company Bayer can download a form to report their experience. Although online access to reporting tools is widely used in the developed world, mechanisms like Bayer’s Adverse Event Short Report Form (ADR) are making reporting more accessible to clients in developing countries. Read more here. |
| Third International Conference on FP now accepting abstracts The Third International Conference on Family Planning will be held 12 -15 November 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, hosted by the Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia and the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The conference will provide a platform to highlight successes that have been achieved in family planning around the world and address remaining hurdles. Abstracts will be accepted through 1 May 2013. Find more information about the upcoming conference and submit an abstract. |
| Coalition welcomes six new members this month for a total membership of 225 -- Days for Girls International, United States.-- Ministry of Health, Uruguay. -- Centro de Investigación Educación y Servicios, Bolivia. -- Reprolatina, Brazil. -- Empower School of Health, India. -- Re: Generation Consulting LLC, United States. |
| Highlights from the Working Groups RMA Working Group host webinars on rights-based family planning “How do we uphold rights in SRH when funds are not sufficient? What role do donors play in supporting rights? How do we get buy-in from the private sector? How do you incorporate culture into a rights-based programme?”
These, and other questions poured in from all over the world at the two Coalition-hosted webinars this month―one in English, one in Spanish. The webinars introduced a new conceptual framework on Voluntary, Human Rights-based Family Planning (FP) Programmes which will feed into the FP2020 Rights and Empowerment Working Group, and inform an upcoming WHO consultation to draft guidelines on implementing and monitoring a rights-based approach to FP programmes. The two webinars served as an effective vehicle for introducing the new framework to more than 100 participants from 38 countries, many from the Global South. Presentations, speaking notes and recordings are available here. |
| RMA Working Group to increase country-level participation The Resource Mobilization and Awareness Working Group (RMAWG) has launched a new workstream -- the Country Action Workstream -- to encourage heightened country involvement in key global initiatives. Led by Edward Kinabo (JHUCCP) and RMA WG’s co-chair Moses Muwonge (SAMASHA Medical, Uganda), the group’s work will concentrate on Uganda and Tanzania and ensure that country-level partners can engage in global processes and replicate country successes by consistently and systematically sharing lessons learned. They will draw on regional expertise to develop sound strategies. For more information, contact Lou Compernolle. |
| Upcoming events
If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please click here and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line. |
Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition
Rue Marie-Thérèse, 21 · 1000 Brussels, Belgium · Tel: +32 (0)2 210.02.22 · Fax: +32 (0)2 219.33.63
www.rhsupplies.org · communications@rhsupplies.org
