Mary Ann Leeper

Last updated

Mary Ann Leeper is the founder of the Female Health Foundation (1994) where she became the chair and board member. She was president and COO for ten plus years before retiring in 2013. Leeper also co-founded another organization called the Business Woman's Initiative against HIV/AIDS. [1] With Leeper's aid, the newest version of the female condom will be introduced to women in locations with high rates of HIV/AIDS. The launch of this new female condom is cheaper and will reach more women. Leeper gives lectures and presentations in colleges and universities across the world. [1] Her main goal is to “help millions of women protect themselves against the spread of HIV and AIDS”. She also stated, “It is not a simple goal, but it is one I am determined to do everything possible to achieve.”

Contents

Education

Mary Ann Leeper earned her Bachelor of Science at Drexel University. She received a Master of Science at Temple University. Leeper later received her master's degree in business at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management. She returned to Temple University to study for her doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry. [2]

Career

Before retirement, Leeper gave lectures to colleges and universities regarding global entrepreneurship, gender bias, corporate social responsibility, women's issues in the developing world, and prevention programs against HIV/AIDS. [3] She was also an assistant professor at Temple University Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine along with being a biochemist and director of Neenah Paper Company. Her main focus and overall works revolve around global entrepreneurship, gender bias, women's issue in the world, and lastly female sexual health and protection. [2]

Female condom

Her most recent contribution was the launch of the female condom. She switched from polyurethane material to synthetic latex, which overall saves manufacturing costs and makes the condom much more affordable. The female condom is an over the counter contraceptive, which has been FDA approved for over 20 years. The female condom gives females an option in choosing the best contraceptive, while remaining sexually active. The female condom contains just as high of a success rate as the male condom. It has between 93% and 95% pregnancy prevention success, which is lower than oral contraceptives, injectables, or the IUD. [4]

Awards

United Nation have given her various recognition awards for her work on women's sexual and reproductive health.[ citation needed ]
Women's Entrepreneurship from Temple University's School of Business (November 2003) [ citation needed ] As a senior strategic advisor, Leeper has received several prestigious awards, starting from the University of Temple and a recognition award in 2005 and certain United Nations and global health agencies. Along with Mary Ann Leepers’ amazing accomplishments, she also plays a big role in theFemale Health Company’s. She gathers with the MAC, CDC, Department of Health, Female Health Company, and CVS to discuss her personal goal to make female condoms a strong accessible to all women in the country. [5]

Boards/Committees

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Condom</span> Device for birth control and STI prevention

A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external (male) and internal (female) condoms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Safe sex</span> Ways to reduce the risk of acquiring STIs

Safe sex is sexual activity using methods or contraceptive devices to reduce the risk of transmitting or acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially HIV. "Safe sex" is also sometimes referred to as safer sex or protected sex to indicate that some safe sex practices do not eliminate STI risks. It is also sometimes used colloquially to describe methods aimed at preventing pregnancy that may or may not also lower STI risks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual and reproductive health</span> State of the reproductive system without evidence of disease, disorders, or deficiencies

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a field of research, health care, and social activism that explores the health of an individual's reproductive system and sexual well-being during all stages of their life. Sexual and reproductive health is more commonly defined as sexual and reproductive health and rights, to encompass individual agency to make choices about their sexual and reproductive lives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS in South Africa</span> Health concern in South Africa

HIV/AIDS is one of the most serious health concerns in South Africa. The country has the highest number of people afflicted with HIV of any country, and the fourth-highest adult HIV prevalence rate, according to the 2019 United Nations statistics.

Abstinence, be faithful, use a condom, also known as the ABC strategy, abstinence-plus sex education or abstinence-based sex education, is a sex education policy based on a combination of "risk avoidance" and harm reduction which modifies the approach of abstinence-only sex education by including education about the value of partner reduction, safe sex, and birth control methods. Abstinence-only sex education is strictly to promote the sexual abstinence until marriage, and does not teach about safe sex or contraceptives. The abstinence-based sex education program is meant to stress abstinence and include information on safe sex practices. In general terms, this strategy of sex education is a compromise between abstinence-only education and comprehensive sex education. The ABC approach was developed in response to the growing epidemic of HIV/AIDS in Africa, and to prevent the spread of other sexually transmitted infections. This approach has been credited by some with the falling numbers of those infected with AIDS in Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe, among others. From 1990 to 2001 the percentage of Ugandans living with AIDS fell from 15% to between 5 and 6%. This fall is believed to result from the employment of the ABC approach, especially reduction in the number of sex partners, called "Zero-Grazing" in Uganda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PATH (global health organization)</span> Global health nonprofit

PATH is an international, nonprofit global health organization. PATH is based in Seattle with 1,600 employees in more than 70 countries around the world. Its president and CEO is Nikolaj Gilbert, who is also the Managing Director and CEO of Foundations for Appropriate Technologies in Health (FATH), PATH's Swiss subsidiary. PATH focuses on six platforms: vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, devices, system, and service innovations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Female condom</span> Device for birth control and STI prevention

A female condom is a barrier device that is used during sexual intercourse as a barrier contraceptive to reduce the probability of pregnancy or sexually transmitted infection (STI). It is inserted in the vagina or anus before intercourse to reduce the risk of exposure to semen or other body fluids. The female condom was invented by Danish MD Lasse Hessel in 1990 and approved by the FDA for sale in the US in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Pisani</span> British-American epidemiologist, public health consultant and author

Elizabeth Pisani is a British-American epidemiologist, public health consultant, author and journalist. She is an academic researcher and the director of Ternyata Ltd., a public health consultancy based in London, UK. Her research investigates the ways in which politics, economics and culture influence public health. This has included markets for substandard and falsified medicines and HIV. Before this, Pisani was a journalist who worked as a correspondent for Reuters in several Asian countries.

With less than 0.1 percent of the population estimated to be HIV-positive, Bangladesh is a low HIV-prevalence country.

Since HIV/AIDS was first reported in Thailand in 1984, 1,115,415 adults had been infected as of 2008, with 585,830 having died since 1984. 532,522 Thais were living with HIV/AIDS in 2008. In 2009 the adult prevalence of HIV was 1.3%. As of 2016, Thailand had the highest prevalence of HIV in Southeast Asia at 1.1 percent, the 40th highest prevalence of 109 nations.

Cases of HIV/AIDS in Peru are considered to have reached the level of a concentrated epidemic.

Edward C. (Ted) Green is an American medical anthropologist working in public health and development. He was a senior research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health and served as senior research scientist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies for eight years, the last three years as director of the AIDS Prevention Project. He was later affiliated with the Department of Population and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins University (2011–14) and the George Washington University as research professor. He was appointed to serve as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (2003–2007), and served on the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council for the National Institutes of Health (2003–2006). Green serves on the board of AIDS.org and the Bonobo Conservation Initiative. and Medical Care Development.

The Catholic Church is a major provider of medical care to HIV/AIDS patients. Much of its work takes place in developing countries, although it has also had a presence in the global north. Its opposition to condoms, despite their effectiveness in preventing the spread of HIV, has invited criticism from public health officials and anti-AIDS activists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CONRAD (organization)</span> Nonprofit organization in Arlington, United States

CONRAD is a non-profit scientific research organization that works to improve global and reproductive health, particularly in women in developing countries. CONRAD was established in 1986 under a cooperative agreement between Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). CONRAD’s products are developed primarily for women in low-resource settings, in that they are designed to be safe, affordable and user-friendly. CONRAD is led by Scientific and Executive Director Gustavo F. Doncel, M.D., Ph.D. Primary funding for CONRAD comes from the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with additional funding from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

HIV prevention refers to practices that aim to prevent the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV prevention practices may be undertaken by individuals to protect their own health and the health of those in their community, or may be instituted by governments and community-based organizations as public health policies.

The Society for Family Health (SFH) is a pan-African non governmental organisation (NGO), founded in 1983 and incorporated in 1985.

Multipurpose prevention technologies (MPTs) are a class of products designed to address at least two health issues simultaneously, often focusing on sexual and reproductive health which includes contraception, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention, other sexually transmitted infection (STI) preventions, such as genital infection by human simplex virus (HSV) infection and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. For example, MPTs can combine contraception and HIV prevention, contraception and other STI prevention, or the prevention of multiple STIs. Since the simultaneous use of multiple products with a single indication against each specific sexual and reproductive health issue is inconvenient, this method may affect adherence. As a result, the goal of developing a MPT as an all-in-one product is to combat this issue.

Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye is a Nigerian pharmacist and professor. She was appointed the Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on 3 November 2017 by the President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari. Before her appointment as NAFDAC boss, she was the founding Chair of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and a Professor of Pharmaceutics, Manufacturing Science and Drug Product Evaluation at the College of Pharmacy, Roosevelt University in Schaumburg, Illinois, where she spent 7 years. She was also a Professor of Pharmaceutics and Manufacturing for 21 years at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She is Senior Fulbright Scholar and Specialist and 2008 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Fellow. She is also a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science and Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy. Her research interests are in the areas of pre-formulation, early phase development of solid, semisolid and liquid dosage forms, and IND-based and intellectual property-driven late phase drug product development. She is the founder and President of Elim Pediatric Pharmaceuticals Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Through Duquesne University, she was able to develop an anti-retroviral (HIV/AIDS) pediatric fixed-dose combination and received intellectual property on the formulations in the UK and South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Lesotho</span> Overview of the status of women in Lesotho

In 2017, 1.1 million women were living in Lesotho, making up 51.48% of the population. 33% of women are under 15 years of age, 61.4% are between 15 and 64 years old and 5.3% are over 64 years old. They received full legal status in 2008 with the passage of The Lesotho Bank Savings and Development Act of 2008. Women in Lesotho die at a disproportionate rate from HIV/AIDs. Historically, women have wielded power as heads of households, with control over household financial decisions. The government has taken steps to ensure more equal representation of genders in government with quotas, and women in Lesotho are more highly educated than men. Still, domestic abuse, sexual violence, lack of social mobility, and aforementioned health crises are persistent issues. Social and economic movements, like the mass immigration of men to South Africa, and the rise of the garment industry, have contributed to both the progress and problems facing women in Lesotho today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Ngugi</span> Nurse and public health researcher

Elizabeth Ngugi was a Kenyan Professor of Community Health at the University of Nairobi, and a nurse by trade. Her major contributions to her university's program was her research and work with local prostitutes to prevent HIV/AIDS transmission. Ngugi is described as the first Kenyan nurse to become a professor.

References

  1. 1 2 "Mary Ann Leeper, PhD".
  2. 1 2 Hope, Gibbs. "100 Truly Amazing Women". trulyamazingwomen.com.
  3. "Personal Web Page - Mary Ann Leeper". faculty.darden.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  4. "Female condoms: Is this the future of safe sex?". The Independent. 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  5. "100 Truly Amazing Women: Mary Ann Leeper, senior strategist, Female Health Company". trulyamazingwomen.com. Retrieved 2015-12-08.