Letter from the Executive Director

Imagine a world in which each and every child is not only wanted and cared for but is healthy and strong. Imagine a world in which a mother can be confident that her child will live to see his teenage years. Or a world in which a young couple feels secure in making choices about when to have children and how many to have.

Unfortunately this is not reality for many young women around the world. They face extraordinarily high risk of exposure to HIV/AIDS, and serious lasting physical damage, if not death, from unintended pregnancies. Often isolated in communities lacking basic necessities, they are without knowledge of their options for better reproductive health, or the means to access them. Our mission is to change that through the development of safe, acceptable and affordable products to prevent pregnancy and HIV infection.

When women and men have access to improved reproductive health, not only do their families thrive, but their communities are strengthened. Indeed, in many parts of the world, entire economies are rising - or falling - on their government's ability to protect its citizens from the scourge of HIV/AIDS, rising infant mortality rates, and deaths from unintended pregnancies. Those who cannot are caught in an irreversible downward spiral of poverty and maternal and infant disease or death.

CONRAD exists to facilitate the rapid development of safe, acceptable, affordable products and methods that provide contraception and/or prevent the sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS and other infections.

We accomplish this by

• Nurturing promising research in institutions worldwide
• Engaging in pre-clinical research
• Conducting clinical trials
• Partnering with private industry to get new products on the market
• Collaborating with other agencies, foundations, and non-governmental organizations
• Training investigators throughout the world in pre-clinical and clinical research technologies

Our work does not begin in the laboratory or even in the scientist's mind, but with the needs of women and men everywhere who are struggling for a better life for themselves and their families. As a multifaceted organization involved in all aspects of product development, we place high priority on those needs, doing much of our work in real settings, with real people. Our broad scope, global network and focus on reproductive health enables us to help to ensure that the emerging and changing needs of women and men in under-resourced parts of the world are acted on in swift and prudent ways.

Sincerely,

Henry Gabelnick, PhD
Executive Director