VSI on FacebookVSI on TwitterVSI News feedVSI on YouTube
 
Home » Press Center » VSI Newsroom » Kenya & Mozambique Registrations
August 6, 2009

VSI achieves two registrations of misoprostol for treatment of incomplete abortion and miscarriage

Venture Strategies Innovations (VSI), in collaboration with our manufacturer and local distributor partners, has achieved registration of misoprostol for treatment of incomplete abortion and miscarriage in Mozambique and Kenya.  In addition to the benefits of misoprostol for prevention and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), especially in women who deliver outside of health facilities, the low-cost, easy-to-administer tablet is highly effective at treating incomplete abortion and miscarriage.  This paves the way for making the tablets more readily available for post-abortion care programs in these two countries.

It is estimated that around 67,000 women die each year from abortion-related complications, the equivalent of 13% of all maternal deaths (WHO, 2007). In many developing countries, complications of unsafe abortion constitute the second leading cause of maternal mortality after PPH, which is responsible for approximately 25% of the 536,000 maternal deaths each year (WHO, 2007).

Since 2003, VSI’s partner organization Venture Strategies for Health and Development (VSHD) has engaged key policymakers in discussions about the important role that misoprostol has to play in reducing maternal mortality from PPH.  VSHD co-sponsored one of the first such policy meetings in Nairobi, Kenya in 2004, which included a call to action to ensure that misoprostol is made available to all pregnant women whose lives could be saved by using it.  

The new registrations of misoprostol in Mozambique and Kenya represent a significant step towards expanding access to an affordable drug that can prevent deaths from two of the major killers of women worldwide.