Spinoffs
In the late 1960s, the Carolina Population Center provided technical
assistance to family planning programs in North Carolina, and to
countries throughout the world on family planning, fertility control
techniques, training of health workers, commercial marketing strategies
of contraceptive methods, and program development and management.
When
CPC began to change its mission from providing technical assistance to
developing a center devoted to population research, a number of active,
successful technical assistance projects reestablished themselves
beyond CPC and beyond the University of North Carolina. Some people may
wonder why there are so many nonprofit organizations based in the
Research Triangle in North Carolina that address reproductive health
and international development. The answer is that most of them
originated at CPC. The
following are descriptions of successful organizations and businesses
that had their start at CPC.
What
is now Family Health International first began as a grant at the
Carolina Population Center to develop and establish the International
Fertility Research Program (IFRP). USAID funded the project in 1971 to
"accelerate the development and testing of new and improved means of
fertility control for worldwide use." Elton Kessel, an epidemiologist
and the President and Executive Director of the Pathfinder Fund in
Boston from 1966 to 1969, came to the University of North Carolina,
where he founded and directed the program.
The International
Fertility Research Program worked in less developed countries to
improve research in fertility control techniques and to collect and
disseminate data for the improvement of family planning services. In
response to CPC's shift toward research, IFRP separated from CPC and
UNC to become an independent nonprofit organization in 1975.
After
changing its name from IFRP to Family Health International in 1982, FHI
has continued to work in various capacities extending beyond family
planning, including research and technical assistance in the prevention
of HIV/AIDS. In 1987, FHI was awarded USAID's first five-year HIV/AIDS
prevention program in developing countries. In 2006, FHI works in more
than 70 countries and manages more HIV/AIDS programs than any other
organization in the world.
Now
known as IntraHealth, this Chapel Hill–based organization has its roots
at CPC as the African Health Training Institutions Project (AHTIP).
AHTIP began in 1973 as "a five-year program to establish capability in
provision of family health services among health professionals in
African countries." Funded by USAID, AHTIP's goal was to strengthen
teaching skills in African health training institutions. In 1979, AHTIP
was reorganized under the direction of the UNC School of Medicine and
was renamed the Program for International Training in Health (Intrah).
This program took on a more active field-based role.
Intrah
worked to train non-physician health care providers in Africa and the
Near East and later implemented the PRIME I project in 1994, and the
PRIME II project in 1999. These USAID-funded projects worked to improve
reproductive health services and training, and had presence in 23
different countries.
In 2002, Intrah became an independent,
nonprofit organization, known as IntraHealth. IntraHealth has broadened
its portfolio to include USAID's Capacity Project, which is working
globally to improve workforce policies and planning programs, and other
projects in Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Armenia, Paraguay, Iraq, and more.
The
concept of Ipas (formerly known as the International Pregnancy Advisory
Service) is said to have sprung from the collective thought of Elton
Kessel (UNC), Malcom Potts (International Planned Parenthood
Federation), and Ray Ravenholt (USAID) around the same time that ideas
for IFRP were taking shape. Ipas got its start in the early 1970s, with
a mission to further technological advances in abortion procedures.
Prior
to Ipas' creation, USAID supported the development of the technology
for manual vacuum aspiration, used primarily for safe abortions and for
incomplete abortions. However, in 1973, Senator Jesse Helms introduced
the Helms Amendment, which made it illegal for the government to pay
for abortion or to motivate anyone to undergo the abortion procedure
both in the United States and overseas. In order to carry out the goals
of Kessel, Potts, and Ravenholt and pass along new technology, Ipas was
formed separately from the University and from the state and federal
governments. Catherine Cameron, a former UNC student, was instrumental
in obtaining private funding in 1973.
In the 1980s, Ipas expended
its mission to include training, research advocacy, health care, and
information dissemination. In 2006, Ipas continues to focus on the
technology that makes abortions safe. With the belief that unsafe
abortion represents a fundamental social injustice, Ipas advocates for
women's sexual and reproductive rights and works to reduce unsafe
abortions worldwide.
Population Services International (formerly Population Services, Inc.)
http://www.psi.org/
Two
UNC students at the School of Public Health carried their work beyond
the University's walls to begin Population Services International
(PSI). Philip Harvey, a former CPC graduate research assistant, and Dr.
Timothy Black began PSI in 1970 with the goal of improving health
around the world for poor and at-risk populations in less developed
countries. PSI's core values are stated as "bottom line health impact,
private sector speed and efficiency, decentralization, innovation and
entrepreneurship, and a long-term commitment to the people [they]
serve," and reflect their goal to combine the strengths of the private
sector with the ideals of a nonprofit.
In the beginning, the
organization worked primarily in the family planning sector, using
commercial marketing strategies to sell products at subsidized prices.
Harvey and Black wanted to form an organization that could make condoms
available to less developed countries. Due to its controversial nature
and the threat of lawsuits for misusing the postal mail system, UNC and
the Carolina Population Center cut organizational ties with Harvey and
Black's project. PSI has since branched out and now works to promote
health programs dealing with HIV/AIDS, safe water, malaria, and
nutrition. In 2006, PSI's headquarters are in Washington and London,
and its projects employ over 7,000 people in 60 countries.
Adam and Eve
After
Philip Harvey and Timothy Black developed Population Services, Inc., an
organization that used commercial marketing strategies to put
affordable condoms on the shelves of drugstores in developing
countries, Harvey determined that there was a market for mail-order
condoms and other products in the adult entertainment business. As a
result, he began a mail-order business to provide such materials.
Harvey
found increasing demand for adult entertainment and sexually explicit
materials as he experimented with various advertising approaches. He
soon ran into legal trouble for shipping "obscene" items through the
mail. Harvey eventually won these legal battles, and his business grew
into a very successful adult entertainment company. Adam & Eve,
also known as PHE (Philip Harvey Enterprises) operates in Hillsborough,
North Carolina, a town 10 miles from Chapel Hill.
