Inventory of the Ipas Records, 1975-2011

This series contains Ipas and non-Ipas publications and audio/visual materials. For a complete list of the Ipas publications in this series, please contact Research Services staff. Electronic publications have been removed from the collection and transferred to Duke's Electronic Records server. Please contact Research Services staff if you are interested in using this material. F

Ipas's first Latin America/Caribbean (LAC) programs began in Mexico in 1983 with demonstration training projects in MVA (MVA) technique for treating abortion complications. Extensive programs, primarily in training for women's reproductive health service delivery and health systems research, were conducted starting in the late 1980s. The primary LAC program countries from 1987 - 2003 were Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil and Bolivia (all of which had in-country Ipas offices over this time period), with smaller projects at various times in Peru, Paraguay, Colombia and Chile. Ipas has sold MVA instruments throughout the entire continent. By the mid-1990s, Ipas stepped up efforts in policy and marketing in the LAC region, as overall organizational capacity was enhanced in these areas.

Areas of highest impact and results in the LAC region by Ipas include: assisting governments in national scale-up of post abortion care initiatives to improve quality of and access to treatment of abortion complications, contributing to reductions in maternal mortality; research cost studies on services; quality of care and instructional tools for improving post abortion care services and preventing repeat abortion via post abortion family planning; establishing legal abortion services where laws have allowed; provision of post abortion care services by mid-level and primary care providers; reproductive health services for adolescents; publicizing the issue of sexual violence against women; and advancement of women's sexual and reproductive rights as part of human rights. Ipas's LAC programs were under the direction of various staff during this time period - most notably Harrison McKay (Director of Programs in the late 1980s), Joan Healy (Director of Programs in the 1990s), and Virginia Chambers, Ipas's first LAC Desk Director (regional director) beginning in 1998.

Ipas was founded in 1973 to complete development of the Manual Vacuum Aspirator (MVA) technology and to undertake its distribution worldwide with the overarching goal of ending women's preventable deaths and disabilities from unsafe abortion. Ipas focused its MVA marketing and distribution efforts on the product's attributes as a safe, low cost medical instrument appropriate for all types of health care facilities, especially low-resource and outpatient settings where trained mid- and lower-level clinical providers (in addition to physicians) could provide these critical services for women.

Ipas dedicated staff to its MVA marketing efforts starting in the early 1990s. Starting in 1997, major grants allowed the organization to greatly expand marketing efforts by hiring marketing professionals, undertaking country-based marketing activities to improve local access and supply, positioning MVA as a safe and appropriate alternative to other post-abortion and abortion methodologies, forming private and public partnerships for product distribution, performing more sophisticated market segmentation analyses, expanding the product line, and increasing training options and tools. Sales and distribution of MVA increased dramatically accordingly, resulting in more women being served worldwide. Ipas also re-designed the MVA aspirator to make it more durable, easier to use and maintain, and lower in cost; the new MVA was launched in 2004.

Ipas's marketing efforts were under the direction of various staff during this time period. Katie Early (McLaurin) headed up marketing activities in the 1980s, and Jennifer Potts was International Marketing Associate in the 1990s. Starting in 1997, Kim Beer was the first Director of Marketing and Gil Barner joined in 2000 as Vice President of Reproductive Health Technologies. The unit was renamed Technology and Logistics (T&L), followed by Product, Promotion and Distribution (PPD) between 2000 and 2004. Darryl Rubenchik became Vice President of PPD in 2002, followed by Nadine Burton in 2003.

Ipas's first Africa programs involved establishment of clinics for treatment of women's complications resulting from incomplete abortion and provision of contraceptives in Ghana in 1981. In 1983, Ipas sponsored demonstration training projects in Nigeria in MVA technique for treating complications resulting from incomplete abortion. Hospital-based MVA training projects followed in Nigeria, Zaire, Zambia, Kenya in the late 1980s, and research projects commenced in the early 1990s in Zimbabwe and Kenya. Starting in the mid-1990s, Ipas programs in Africa expanded dramatically, due to donor grants dedicated to organizational efforts in east and southern Africa, along with growth in overall organizational capacity in policy/advocacy and marketing. In 2000, Ipas established the Africa Alliance for Reproductive Health and Rights to coordinate and support country- and region-wide activities and extend programming to countries where Ipas did not have a country office. By 2000, Ipas had in-country offices in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana and South Africa, and a regional office in Kenya for the Ipas Africa Alliance. Ipas sold MVA instruments throughout the entire continent during this time period.

Areas of highest impact and results in the Africa region by Ipas include: assisting governments in national scale-up of postabortion care initiatives to improve quality of and access to treatment of abortion complications; conducting health systems and cost research studies on services; developing quality of care and instructional tools for improving postabortion care services and preventing repeat abortion via postabortion family planning; establishing comprehensive abortion care services in countries where laws were supportive; creating national standards and guidelines for best practices in comprehensive abortion care; advocating for reform to expand legal indications for abortion services; documenting coverage and utilization models in safe abortion care; provision of postabortion care services by mid-level and primary care providers; provision of reproductive health services for special needs populations, such as refugees, adolescents and people with HIV/AIDS; and advancement of women's sexual and reproductive rights as part of human rights.

Ipas's Africa programs were under the direction of various staff during this time period - most notably Harrison McKay (Director of Programs in the late 1980s), Joan Healy (Director of Programs in the 1990s), Jennifer Potts (Africa Desk Director, or regional director) and Khama Rogo (Vice President for Africa and VP for Medical Affairs) in the late 1990s, Eunice Brookman-Amissah (Vice President for Africa and Director of Ipas Africa Alliance) starting in 2000, and Uche Ekenna as Africa Desk Director starting in 2003.