Prosalud Inter-Americana (PSIA)
PSIA is a 501 (c) (3) organization that supports non-governmental (NGOs) non-profit organizations throughout Spanish speaking South America, that work to improve sexual and reproductive health by lowering the incidence of negative health outcomes in: unwanted pregnancy (especially among adolescents), HIV/AIDS infection, and maternal mortality and morbidity through education.
The PSIA network consists of the NGOs APPRENDE (Peru and Bolivia), COPPRENDE (Ecuador), and PROSALUD (Venezuela, Argentina and Chile).
PSIA is currently working to improve reproductive health in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela through a network of locally based NGOs. PSIA promotes responsible sexuality through education or the provision of accurate and timely information that is culturally sensitive and age appropriate. Informing adolescents remains one of our greatest challenges as teenage pregnancy and HIV infection are at unacceptably high levels.
Currently, the network members are relying on toll free information lines and web pages to deliver information. These activities are supported by in-school and community based workshops and the distribution of printed educational materials. In some instances, agreements have been made with local health service providers to attend to our target population at reduced cost.
PSIA traces its origins to Venezuela. PROSALUD Venezuela, a member of the PSIA network, began operating in 1993 and implemented one of the most successful contraceptive marketing programs ever with the support of Schering AG. In 1998, PROSALUD was ranked as the #2 contraceptive social marketing program in the world with respect to “percentage of target population covered.” In 2001 it was ranked #1 with regards to the sale of oral contraception in relation to population served. At one point in time, it was simultaneously operating the national AIDS hotline, the national Emergency Contraception hotline and the national teenage pregnancy hotline (subsequently, the lines were unified). It has distributed millions of brochures nationwide and thousands of its video on reproductive health to Venezuelan schools. Based upon this success, PSIA expanded its activities to other countries in the region with the goal of replicating the Venezuelan program.
The Peruvian Association for the Prevention of Unwanted Pregnancies (APPRENDE) began in 2001 and has successfully imitated the Venezuelan initiative. The Ecuadorian Corporation for the Prevention of Unwanted Pregnancies (COPPRENDE) began its activities in 2003, as did the Association for the Prevention of Unwanted Pregnancies (Bolivia). Both programs have replicated the Venezuelan program but to a smaller scale. PROSALUD (Argentina) began its work in 2004.
PSIA is managed by its founder and President, Alan Lambert. A graduate of both Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, he assists the member NGOs in intervention design and cost control and management.
