Instituto Chileno de Medicina Reproductiva Receives $2.8 Million Grant From The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

SANTIAGO, Chile -- The Instituto Chileno de Medicina Reproductiva (ICMER) has received a $2.8 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to implement a reproductive health training program over the next three years.

ICMER's new program, "Building up Human Resources for Reproductive Health in Latin America," will provide opportunities for training in all aspects of reproductive and sexual health, including biomedical, psychosocial, educational and health care service.

Immediate beneficiaries of this program will be Latin American healthcare teams working to improve reproductive and sexual health. The program intends to strengthen the sustainability and impact of these teams through a multidisciplinary training program drawn from diverse academic, research, educational and service institutions concentrated in Chile and Mexico.

"An indirect but most desired impact of this program is on the well-being of men, women and adolescents of the entire region," said Dr. Horacio B. Croxatto, president of ICMER's board of directors. "With this support from the Foundation, we will be able to create and implement a training curriculum for healthcare teams that we hope will provide profound benefit for much of the Latin American population."

For more information about ICMER or its new reproductive health-training program, please visit <www.icmer.org>.

ICMER is a private not-for-profit charitable organization committed to improving sexual and reproductive health in Latin America. Since its inception in 1985, the organization's focus has been on expanding informed and responsible choices in sexual and reproductive matters and improving the accessibility and quality of services, particularly those provided to the most vulnerable groups in the community.