Medi-Help, a medical nonprofit, and its local NGO partners have been working in the DRC Congo, Zambia, Madagascar, and Ukraine where donations of the contraceptive drug mifepristone reached millions of women in need over the last three years.
To promote the use of Mifepristone in many more countries they are seeking donations. Mifepristone became very famous recently when a Texas judge deemed the drug to be unsafe and banned its use nationwide in spite of its 23 years in use. The ruling was challenged and mifepristone was deemed by the U.S. Supreme Court to be safe. Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, such legal disputes could have far-reaching ramifications for the nation’s abortion access and drug regulation. While states that have already outlawed abortion will not see significant change, those states where abortion is still legal, are seeing restrictions to their access to Mifepristone. These include removing the availability of the drug via mail as well as shortening the window for mifepristone's approved use, from up to 10 weeks of pregnancy to seven.
While it is seen negatively by anti-abortion states in the U.S., other places like Afghanistan, which has strict rules on women's freedoms, have understood the benefits of low-dose mifepristone. The donations Medi-Help is seeking will be used to reach more countries and aid in operational research applications. They wish to conduct their own clinical trials to determine the best usage and even potential benefits to using it as a regular contraception, as well as for the prevention of fibroids and reduction of risks for ovarian and breast cancer, which are very common in Africa.
Low dose Mifepristone arriving in Kabul, Afghanistan
Studies into the use of mifepristone were conducted by WHO and also in China, India, and Cuba where the drug is legal. The many successful studies encouraged Medi-Help to purchase over 10 million low-dose mifepristone tablets which over the last three years have been donated to millions of African women living in DRC Congo, Zambia, Madagascar, and refugee camps in Uganda and South Sudan.
The drug works as a hormone blocker which doesn’t cause common side effects associated with traditional contraceptives like depression, loss of sex drive, and high blood pressure. To make the drug widely accessible, Medi-Help aims to support the public sector of countries such as DRC Congo, and Zambia where the drug is legal, and then find ways to provide it to organizations and neighboring governments where it is not yet available.
In the last 12 months, Medi-Help sponsored large shipments of low-dose mifepristone sent directly from India to Ukraine, Papua New Guinea, and even Afghanistan, providing treatment to over 500,000. These women now have access to a drug that as a low dosage version, is not yet available to women in America and Europe; mainly because of its abortion drug stigma.
Medi-Help needs more donations to continue to help women all over the world gain access at minimal costs of 5 USD per year for contraception or fibroid treatment, They believe it is a human right for women around the world to be able to choose their contraception.
“We have proven the use of the drug as the only affordable fibroid medical treatment for over 20,000 women and as an oral contraception with minimal side effects for millions of women throughout Africa, Ukraine, and now Afghanistan,” says Daniel Waldvogel, President of Medi-Help.org. “Now we see the potential for helping millions more women across the globe once they understand this drug and see the amazing benefits of the low dosage mifepristone tablets we have introduced in Africa.
Media Contact:
Name: Daniel Waldvogel
Email: [email protected]
