About ISAF

 

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About ISAF

The International Services Assistance Fund (ISAF) is a publicly supported 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to family planning and contraceptive development research to serve the millions of women and families globally who have reached their desired family size and wish to have no more children.

Mission

To encourage and work for women’s reproductive health, rights and empowerment, both domestically and internationally, through research, education, and facilitating the global availability of safe, inexpensive, non-coercive family planning methods.

Goals

Empower women everywhere by expanding their contraceptive options through provision of the QS method of permanent family planning.

Improve women’s quality of life, including through prevention of pregnancy-related complications.
Save women’s lives by preventing maternal death in pregnancy or childbirth.
Save billions in costs of healthcare related to unwanted pregnancies and births.

Experts tell us that smaller families achieve higher standards of living

ISAF is dedicated to contraceptive development research to serve the millions of women and families globally who have reached their desired family size and wish to have no more children.

Watch How

Our Story

ISAF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1976 dedicated to family planning and contraceptive development research, with a focus on obtaining FDA approval of the promising nonsurgical method for female contraception, quinacrine sterilization, or QS. With offices located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and Washington, DC., a small administrative staff and primary volunteers lend their expertise for fundraising and research activities.

  • In 2001, ISAF completed an FDA-approved Phase I trial of QS conducted by Dr. Jack Lippes of State University of New York in Buffalo, the results of which were published in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.
  • In 2006, ISAF obtained FDA approval to commence a Phase 3 clinical trial of QS in the United States. Regional training was completed in the trial protocol of 40 physician investigators and their clinical staff from United States medical schools and clinics.
  • Since 2007, when the FDA stopped the Phase 3 clinical trial, ISAF has presented compelling evidence numerous times and sought approval through FDA ombudsman to proceed with the Phase 3 clinical trial.
  • In December 2016 the FDA declined to lift the hold on the Phase 3 clinical trial despite compelling scientific evidence of QS safety. No women has died or suffered major complications using ISAF QS protocol for more than 30 years.

Medical Advisory Committee

  • Jack Lippes, MD, Chair
  • Susan A. Ballagh
  • Pouru Bhiwandiwala
  • Elizabeth Bianchi
  • Dean Bloch
  • George Denniston
  • James Dingfelder
  • Philip Ferro
  • Henry Foster
  • Philippe Girerd
  • Myron Gordon
  • Marilee Hanson
  • Mildred Hanson
  • Sue Haskell
  • Do Trong Hieu
  • Ronald Levine
  • Leslie Miller
  • Malcolm Potts
  • Ljiljana Randic
  • Susan Richman
  • Marilyn Richardson
  • Ashi Sarin
  • Eric A. Schaff
  • John J. Sciarra
  • Donald F. Swartz
  • Valentin Trujillo
  • Randall Whitney
  • John Yeh