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For International Women’s Day, global online voters selected 10 inspiring start-up enterprises to compete in the Women Deliver Social Enterprise Challenge in May 2013

Global advocacy organization Women Deliver today announced the finalists of the Women Deliver 25, an online competition that features innovative social enterprises that benefit girls and women around the world. More than 13,500 votes were cast online to select ten organizations to receive scholarships to the Women Deliver 2013 conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (May 28-30, 2013), where they will participate in the Women Deliver Social Enterprise Challenge. Read more...

High-level participants join program for advocacy organization’s landmark meeting in Kuala Lumpur
A number of influential leaders are confirmed to participate in the Women Deliver’s third global conference, Women Deliver 2013, which will take place on May 28-30 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Speakers at the conference will include:

• Melinda Gates, Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General & Executive Director of United Nations Women
• Helen Clark, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
• HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway
• Dr. Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health, Karolinska Institute; Co-founder & Chairman, Gapminder Foundation

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UNFPA and UNICEF call for accelerated efforts as the practice begins to decline

UNITED NATIONS, New York, 6 February 2013—Fewer girls are subjected to the life-threatening practice of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) according to new data from the United Nations, released on 6 February, the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. The data show that FGM/C is becoming less prevalent overall and the younger generation is less vulnerable to the practice. In the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East, where the practice of FGM/C is concentrated, on average, 36 per cent of girls aged 15-19 have been cut compared to an estimated 53 per cent of women aged 45-49. The decline is particularly sharp in some countries: in Kenya, for example, women aged 45-49 are three times more likely to have been cut than girls aged 15-19.  Read more...

Support for HPV vaccine pilot programmes approved for eight developing countries

GENEVA – More than 180,000 girls in eight developing countries are set to receive protection against the leading cause of cervical cancer thanks to human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines funded by the GAVI Alliance. In an announcement made on World Cancer Day, the Alliance confirmed that Ghana, Kenya, Lao PDR, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone and Tanzania will become the first countries to receive GAVI support to start HPV vaccine demonstration programmes. Read more...