Spotlight On

Mission:
EngenderHealth works worldwide to improve the lives of individuals by making reproductive health services safe, available, and sustainable. We provide technical assistance, training, and information, with a focus on practical solutions that improve services where resources are scarce. We believe that individuals have the right to make informed decisions about their reproductive health and to receive care that meets their needs. We work in partnership with governments, institutions, and health care professionals to make this right a reality.

Current Programs: EngenderHealth has been making reproductive health services available to people around the world for 60 years, and over time we have worked in almost 90 countries across five continents. Today we work in over 40 countries, specializing in family planning, maternity care, informed choice, services for men, and prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. These summaries describe current and recent programs.

• Family Planning. EngenderHealth works globally to improve access to quality family planning services. Between 1990 and 2001, EngenderHealth trained more than 100,000 health professionals worldwide in clinical and counseling skills. We introduce or improve contraceptive services in areas that have almost no access to these methods. When we make family planning available, we do more than enable individuals to limit family size; we safeguard individual health and rights and improve the quality of life for women, their partners, and their children.

• Maternal and Child Health. Complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death and disability for childbearing women in many parts of the world. EngenderHealth works to improve the quality of emergency obstetric care in clinics. The agency develops teaching materials for clinic staff on how to prepare for emergencies and to save women's lives in an emergency childbirth. In rural Cambodia, for example, EngenderHealth partnered with other agencies to train highly respected midwives in obstetric skills; these midwives are now an integral part of the strategy for saving the lives of mothers and infants throughout the country.

• Ensuring Care After Unsafe Abortions. Too many women die each year from unsafe abortions. EngenderHealth works in post-abortion care (PAC) to save lives and prevent unintended pregnancies. We strive to ensure that all women who seek help at a health facility after an abortion receive treatment for complications, family planning counseling, and referrals. Working with local partners, the agency has worked at more than 200 sites in 12 countries, creating or redesigning PAC programs that safeguard women's health after unsafe abortions.

• Preventing HIV/AIDS. Every day, 1 million people contract a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and more than 15,000 become infected with HIV. EngenderHealth began integrating interventions related to STIs and HIV into its work in the mid-1990s. Today, the agency works in 20 countries to prevent the transmission and, in some cases, to diagnose and treat the consequences of STI. By training physicians and counselors, as well as program managers to integrate HIV and STI counseling into their reproductive health work, EngenderHealth plays an integral role in the global fight against HIV/STIs.

• Involving Men As Partners. Many family planning programs focus primarily on women, but EngenderHealth's Men As Partners (MAP) program puts men's needs on the agenda. Having opened the first vasectomy clinic in the U.S. in 1969, EngenderHealth understands that men need access to modern male contraceptive methods and to more comprehensive reproductive health services. Drawing on its extensive history, EngenderHealth's MAP program works with local partners in 19 countries, including Pakistan, South Africa, and Bolivia, to increase men's awareness and support for the reproductive health of their partners as well as their own and to give men access all available options.

Funding Needs:
Your generous support will help EngenderHealth meet the most critical reproductive health and family planning needs worldwide. For years, funding for our work has come from the U.S. government through USAID (the U.S. Agency for International Development), as well as from private foundations and individual donors. Today, government support for international reproductive health programs is complicated by restrictive requirements and policies. Foundation support allows us to continue work when government funding has been reduced or discontinued, as well as to expand our work into new program areas or regions.




Every month, the "Spotlight On" highlights the activities of a different 501(c)3 nonprofit organization located in the tri-state region (NY, NJ, or CT). The selection of organizations for the "Spotlight On" is based on criteria such as programmatic interests, geographic focus, and size, to ensure the broadest possible representation of the region's nonprofit sector.

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