Why this Project is Important

Potential Long Term Impact

Making misoprostol available will give midwives the power to save tens of thousands of women from needlessly bleeding to death after delivery. Mothers surviving childbirth improves the health of newborns and well-being of families.

Project Message

Women here give birth at home with the traditional midwife. The health center is far away, closed at night, and there are no drugs. Women die without help in the village.
- Dr. Ndola Prata, Director of Maternal Health Program

Who is Running This Project

Contact

Amy Grossman,
Project contact
Venture Strategies
2140 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 1110
Berkeley, CA 94704-1234
United States
510-665-1880
Email:

Project Sponsor

Marketplace 2005

Organization

Learn more about Venture Strategies for Health and Development and the project team.

Venture Strategies for Health and Development's Current Projects on GlobalGiving

Saving Mothers' Lives in Rural Tanzania

Prevent Nigerian Mothers from Dying in Childbirth

Where this Project is Located

Country

This project is located in Ethiopia and can also be found under Health.

For more information about Ethiopia, read the Human Development Report on Ethiopia or the Wikipedia entry for Ethiopia.

When this Project was Updated

Last Updated

This project was last updated on August 07, 2008.

Date Added to GlobalGiving

This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on September 02, 2005.

Latest Update from the Field

Awareness campaign

By Amy Grossman - VSHD launches “Misoprostol Day” in Ethiopia, May 07, 2008 05:57 PM

In February 2008, Misoprostol Day, an innovative and successful information, education and communication campaign, was held at the annual Women’s Association meeting in the remote region of Tigray. The purpose of the campaign was to engender dialogue among influential women about misoprostol and develop a means to increase availability of the life-saving tablets. Women immediately identified with the message of birth preparedness and misoprostol as a feasible option for their deliveries. The conference highlighted education and empowered women to understand how misoprostol works, its importance for preventing death from excessive bleeding after childbirth and where they will be able to obtain the tablets in the near future. The results of the VSHD-sponsored operations research study with misoprostol distributed by traditional birth attendants in Tigray were also presented.

More than 800 female delegates representing constituents from the regional to village level attended, including high ranking representatives from other women’s groups from SNNPR, Dire Dawa, Harar, and Addis Ababa regions. Mrs. Azeb Mesfin, wife of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and chair of the Social Affairs Committee in Parliament, expressed her commitment to ensuring that misoprostol is available throughout the entire country and women understand how to use it.

Ethiopia is the first country in the world to engage women’s groups on a large scale for share the knowledge of postpartum hemorrhage and misoprostol. Since the initial launch in Tigray, VSHD has implemented a similar strategy in Ahmara, Dira Dawa and Harar regionals and additional campaigns are planned throughout Ethiopia, as well as in other countries.

Attachments:

• Attendees at the Women's Association meeting in Tigray

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