By: Smita Gaith, Women Deliver
Today, TedxChange and Melinda Gates launched the No Controversy website, in the hopes that people around the world will share their stories, read about the experiences of others, and become educated on the importance of contraception and family planning. The launch, which is available on Livestream, comes three months ahead of the July 11 Family Planning Summit that will take place in London. The Summit, supported by the Department for International Development (DFID), The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and other partners, seeks to generate political commitment and greater resources to meet the family planning needs of women in some of the least wealthy countries by 2020. Read more...
Updates
TedxChange asks “How Have Contraceptives Changed Your Life?”
April 5th, 2012
International Organizations Convene for Rio+20 Discussions
April 5th, 2012
By: Smita Gaith, Women Deliver
Last month, staff from Women Deliver met with high-level members of several international organizations focused on the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and youth. The meeting was organized to discuss the lack of emphasis on gender, SRHR, and young people in the Zero Draft document for Rio+20, which takes place this June.
The Rio+20 summit, a UN conference on sustainability, will include seven priority areas: decent jobs, energy, sustainable cities, food security and sustainable agriculture, water, oceans and disaster readiness. Despite the undisputed link between women’s health, reproductive rights, and family planning accessibility with these priorities, gender- and SRHR-related topics have not received as much attention as many believe it should have. Read more...
Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly Debates First Resolution on Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health
April 4th, 2012
The 126th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly took place in Kampala, Uganda from March 31 to April 5. This meeting was the first time the IPU has debated a resolution on maternal, newborn and child health. The resolution was drafted in September by the governments of Canada, India, and Uganda, and is known as ‘Access to Health as a Basic Right: The Role of Parliaments in Addressing Key Challenges to Securing the Health of Women and Children.’ The IPU Assembly, which meets every year as a focal point for worldwide parliamentary dialogue, drew over 600 members of parliament from more than 120 countries to Kampala, Uganda. Read more...
Youth as Changemakers: What the Past Dreamt, the Present Thought, and the Future Became
April 4th, 2012
By: Yemurai Nyoni, Zimbabwe (President: Zimbabwe Young People's Network on SRH; Executive Committee Member: African Youth and Adolescents Network on Population and Development) to participants at the Africa Regional RMNCH Advocacy Strategy Implementation Meeting hosted by PMNCH and the Africa MNCH Coalition
Today we have the largest youth population in history. This demographic trend translates to the need for deliberate investment in the development of young people in the broader global development context, because our gains in this regard rely greatly on what we do and don't do for young people.
As a young person, I appreciate that efforts have been made by African governments to involve us in the development processes that affect us. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Storytelling for Health and Empowerment
April 2nd, 2012
By Smita Gaith, Women Deliver
Future Generations’ “Between Us (Women): Sharing Pregnancy Histories as Part of Community Education for Maternal and Neonatal Health” is about far more than just telling stories.
The innovative program—which is currently being tested in Peru by Future Generations—is designed to help women share their voices and experiences with others to save the lives of mothers and newborns living in some of the remotest regions in the Latin American country. Read more...