Expanding Access to Essential Maternal Health Commodities
Please join the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative, the Maternal Health Task Force, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the ninth event of the series on Advancing Policy Dialogue on Maternal Health.
Expanding Access to Essential Maternal Health Commodities
Featuring:
- Dotian Wanogo Ali, Chief Technical Advisor Reproductive Health Supplies, UNFPA Madagascar (Invited)
- Melodie Holden, President, Venture Strategies Innovations
- Elizabeth Leahy Madsen, Senior Research Associate, Population Action International
- John Skibiak, Director, Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (Invited)
- Moderated by Werner Haug, Director of Technical Division, UNFPA
Please RSVP to globalhealth@wilsoncenter.org with your name and affiliation.
About the event: Postpartum hemorrhage, eclampsia, and unsafe abortion are some of the leading causes of maternal deaths in developing countries. Maternal health supplies such as oxytocin, misoprostol, manual vacuum aspirators, and magnesium sulfate are crucial tools needed for effective interventions to address these issues. In order to expand access to these maternal health commodities increased research and coordination is needed to improve supply chain mechanisms and health care training.
Melodie Holden, president, Venture Strategies Innovations, will discuss what maternal health supplies are available and share lessons learned for distributing these supplies to trained health care workers. Elizabeth Leahy Madsen, senior research associate, Population Action International, will discuss the access challenges and gaps in supply chain mechanisms. John Skibiak, director of the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition, will address the feasibility of integrating maternal health supplies into existing family planning supply mechanisms. Dotian Wanogo Ali, chief technical advisor of reproductive health supplies, UNFPA, will share experiences and lessons learned for implementation of family planning and maternal health supply chains in Madagascar.
About the Maternal Health Policy Series
The reproductive and maternal health community finds itself at a critical point, drawing increased attention and funding, but still confronting more than 350,000 deaths each year and a high unmet need for family planning. The Policy Dialogue series seeks to galvanize the community by focusing on important issues within the maternal health community. The Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative is pleased to present this series with its co-conveners, the Maternal Health Task Force and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and is grateful to USAID’s Bureau for Global Health for further technical assistance.
If you are interested, but unable to attend the event, please tune into the live or archived webcast. The webcast will begin approximately 10 minutes after the posted meeting time. Powerpoint presentations will be available online prior to meeting time. You will need Windows Media Player to watch the webcast. To download the free player, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download.
Directions: Woodrow Wilson Center at the Ronald Reagan Building: 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW (“Federal Triangle” stop on Blue/Orange Line), 5th floor conference room. A map to the Center is available at www.wilsoncenter.org/directions. Note: Photo identification is required to enter the building. Please allow additional time to pass through security.