VSI aims to improve access to family planning and reproductive health and maternal health in three ways: improving the availability of Misoprostol, a lifesaving drug that can reduce post-birth hemorrhaging; working with governments to incorporate Misoprostol into their national guidelines; and promoting task-shifting and training.
VSI's work with Misoprostol includes ensuring that high-quality versions of the drug are available at an affordable price, planning for the tablets' availability through both commercial and public channels, developing policies to enable their use by different kinds of healthcare providers, and researching alternative modes of distributing the drug at the village level. In addition as of mid-2011, VSI has successfully facilitated the inclusion of misoprostol in national guidelines or essential medicines lists in Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia and Kenya.
VSI also strives to increase access to family planning by advocating for task shifting. According to VSI, the answer to a lack of properly trained physicians is to broaden the scope of what existing nurses, health workers, volunteers and others are capable of doing. VSI aims to demonstrate that lower level providers - or the woman herself - can administer misoprostol and other drugs crucial to the improvement of maternal health. VSI uses the following guidelines task shifting map.
