http://www.womendeliver.org/updates Women Deliver News en info@womendeliver.org Copyright 2013 Women Deliver 2013-03-21T18:56:00+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/christine-obuyas-dream-job-helping-mothers-and-babies-affected-by-hiv http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/christine-obuyas-dream-job-helping-mothers-and-babies-affected-by-hiv#When:18:16:26Z By: Sarah Nakimbowa, The Key Correspondents Programme The Key Correspondents Programme is covering the Women Deliver 2013 global conference live from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia May 28 – 30. Her name is Christine Obuya, but she is known as Pastor and she earned her nickname for her dedication to reducing the rate of HIV transmission from mothers to their children. As a midwife at Iganga government hospital in Uganda, Obuya has seen firsthand the importance of integrating HIV with sexual and reproductive health services. And as an HIV activist Obuya, 63, has had a huge impact on women in her community, but it was almost a very different story. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-21T18:16:26+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/women-sustainability-why-they-need-each-other-in-a-post-mdg-world http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/women-sustainability-why-they-need-each-other-in-a-post-mdg-world#When:14:02:22Z By: Carmen Barroso, Regional Director of IPPF-WHR; Originally posted on Huffington Post There's a lot of talk about investment these days; as the global economic crisis stumbles on, social services are cut from the USA to Uruguay, and the planet faces ever more urgent environmental threats. But next week, women and policymakers from around the world will gather in Malaysia to foment a revolution. Their call? Investment of a different kind, investment in girls and women for the sake not only of people, but also for the planet. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-21T14:02:22+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/women-and-water-a-path-to-empowerment http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/women-and-water-a-path-to-empowerment#When:13:00:36Z By: Mina Das This post is part of a series created in partnership by WASH Advocates and Women Deliver. For more information, please contact Cecilia Snyder csnyder@WASHadvocates.org. NISHTHA means devotion or commitment in Bengali and is also the name of a small organization in West Bengal, India that was founded by women. NISHTHA has over 35 years of program experience in the areas of health and hygiene, women and girl empowerment, legal advocacy, water resource installation and maintenance, vocational support, and education for sustainable agriculture. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-21T13:00:36+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-the-private-provider-is-essential-to-improving-the-health http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-the-private-provider-is-essential-to-improving-the-health#When:14:00:25Z By: Susan Mitchell, Vice President, International Health, Abt Associates and Director, Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector Project Often overlooked, the private provider is essential to improving the health of women and children. We’ve passed the 1,000-day mark to meet the Millennium Development Goals, and it is clear we need to bring all our resources to bear if we are to come close to achieving our goals. Effective engagement of the private sector is key. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-20T14:00:25+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/celebrate-solutions-path-develops-simple-affordable-technologies-for-mother http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/celebrate-solutions-path-develops-simple-affordable-technologies-for-mother#When:13:00:20Z By: PATH On the eve of the Women Deliver conference, our thoughts turn to the world’s mothers. At PATH, we’re dedicated to developing simple, affordable technologies to make sure becoming a mother is a time of joy the world over. In some parts of the world—notably sub-Saharan Africa—childbirth remains an extremely dangerous time in a woman’s life. Some 300,000 women worldwide die each year just before or after delivery. Excessive obstetric bleeding—postpartum hemorrhage—causes 1 in 4 of these deaths. Read more...   Blog, 2013-05-20T13:00:20+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/men-step-up-on-family-planning http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/men-step-up-on-family-planning#When:22:13:25Z By: Babatunde Osotimehin, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund; Originally posted on CNN Opinion Our failure to give women in certain parts of the world the ability to decide the timing and number of their children is deeply damaging -- not just for the women themselves but for societies, too. Lifting the obstacles is not something that can be tackled half-heartedly. Modern family planning programs were introduced widely in the developed world decades ago. Providing voluntary family planning is one of the most cost-effective ways of improving health. Yet, over 200 million women, overwhelmingly in the poorest countries, who want access to modern family planning still can't get this help. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-17T22:13:25+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/menstravaganza-breaking-the-silence-around-menstruation http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/menstravaganza-breaking-the-silence-around-menstruation#When:13:00:44Z By: Danielle Keiser This post is part of a series created in partnership by WASH Advocates and Women Deliver. For more information, please contact Cecilia Snyder csnyder@WASHadvocates.org. Now and since the dawn of time, girls and women have bled every month. Even though many accept it is as natural and normal process in human life, menstruation is still treated as the ultimate taboo in many cultures and societies.  If it is discussed, it is done so with shame, embarrassment and disgust. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-17T13:00:44+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/now-is-the-time-to-invest-in-girls-and-women http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/now-is-the-time-to-invest-in-girls-and-women#When:18:51:24Z By: Jill Sheffield, Founder and President of Women Deliver; Originally posted on Huffington Post Last month, Malala Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize nominee in history. Less than six months earlier, she was shot at point-blank range by those who wanted to silence her for promoting girls' education in her native Pakistan. In a world that too often punishes and oppresses women, and tells girls that they cannot achieve, Malala is a beacon of hope. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-16T18:51:24+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-the-journey-to-motherhood-is-one-from-which-some-do-not-r http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-the-journey-to-motherhood-is-one-from-which-some-do-not-r#When:14:00:35Z By: Dr. Joachim Osur, Program Director, Ipas Africa Alliance Illness or death during pregnancy in my country, and throughout the region of Africa, is so common as to be considered a necessary risk of creating a family. This is particularly true for women of fewer means or in rural areas. Each case represents a family crisis or tragedy — but to me they represent opportunities lost and rights denied. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-16T14:00:35+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/the-worm-in-your-water http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/the-worm-in-your-water#When:13:00:22Z By: Dr. Neeraj Mistry, Managing Director of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases This post is part of a series created in partnership by WASH Advocates and Women Deliver. For more information, please contact Cecilia Snyder csnyder@WASHadvocates.org. To remind ourselves why it is so vitally important to make improvements to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), all we need to do is take a look at what’s in the dirty water. Lurking in infested water sources are parasitic worms that cause diseases such as human hookworm and schistosomiasis. These infections spread easily in communities that don’t have access to clean water or sanitation facilities. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-15T13:00:22+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-let-us-see-to-our-invisible-women http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-let-us-see-to-our-invisible-women#When:14:00:20Z By: Paula R DeCola, External Medical Affairs,  Pfizer Inc It has been quite a journey leading up to this third Women Deliver (WD) conference. In London 2007, the WD conference focused on advocating for better progress in reducing maternal mortality, since the numbers of deaths were the same as those reported at the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women. Then onto WD conference 2009 in Washington DC, where we saw a decline in maternal deaths in a number of high burden countries, and of course campaigning for continued progress, as well as for expanding advocacy to encompass the insidious neglect of the girl child. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-13T14:00:20+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/women-deliver-2013-social-media-scholarship-winners http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/women-deliver-2013-social-media-scholarship-winners#When:14:00:31Z Women Deliver is delighted to announce the winners of the social media contest to attend Women Deliver 2013 global conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was a chance to win a ticket to the decade’s most important event for girls and women for the social media savvy. Applicants were able to compete in three competitions by either submitting a photo demonstrating how women deliver; designing the next Women Deliver social media badge; and/or tweeting a dream for the future. Thank you to the hundreds of participants for your submissions. Each one conveyed passionate dedication to improving the lives of girls and women. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-10T14:00:31+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-marie-stopes-international http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-marie-stopes-international#When:13:00:17Z By: Faustina Fynne-Nyame, Ghana Country Director for Marie Stopes International There are still more than 200 million women and girls around the world who want to use contraceptives but cannot access them. For some, not being able to control the number and spacing of their children is a matter of life and death. Some 287,000 women die each year – mostly in developing countries – as a result of pregnancy and childbirth. A further 47,000 die having risked their lives through unsafe abortion. For others meanwhile, having too many children to support locks them into extreme poverty. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-09T13:00:17+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/celebrate-solutions-investing-in-girls-futures http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/celebrate-solutions-investing-in-girls-futures#When:13:20:30Z By: Kristin Lindsey, Chief Executive Officer, The Global Fund for Children Women as a whole have made great strides towards equality, but the fact remains that too many girls in the developing world live in circumstances that are unfair at best, and dangerous at worst. Who are these vulnerable girls? They are child brides. Roughly one-third of all girls in developing nations are married before they turn 18, and in certain countries the number climbs even higher. What does the future hold for a child bride? A lifetime of illiteracy and a drastically increased risk of dying from complications during pregnancy or childbirth. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-06T13:20:30+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-women-lead-strong-women-save-lives http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-women-lead-strong-women-save-lives#When:13:00:46Z By: Belkis Giorgis, PhD, Management Sciences for Health At Management Sciences for Health (MSH), we say that leaders aren’t born:  Leadership is learned. If we only look to those in official positions of power, whether in the health system or in political offices, we may be missing the most influential leaders to develop and empower: the women in the households and on the frontlines of the health system. Head of household As health caretaker for her family, a woman requires all the characteristics of a good leader. She has to multi-task, prioritize, negotiate, manage, inspire, and persuade. The stakes are high: the strength of her leadership can ensure the survival of her family. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-06T13:00:46+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-achieving-real-change-for-women-and-girls http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-achieving-real-change-for-women-and-girls#When:13:00:03Z By: Dr. Helene D. Gayle, President and CEO of CARE USA and Dr. Julia Newton-Howes, President and CEO of CARE Australia Next month, representatives from leading NGOs, advocates, government officials and donors will gather at the Women Deliver 2013 Conference in Kuala Lumpur to ensure that the health and rights of girls and women remain at the forefront of global humanitarian and development agendas. Since the first conference in 2007, there has been an unprecedented expansion of global commitments to the health and welfare of women and girls. Real progress has been made indicated by a 47 percent decline in maternal mortality worldwide between 1990 and 2010. Read more... Blog, 2013-05-02T13:00:03+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/chances-to-win-a-scholarship-to-women-deliver-2013 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/chances-to-win-a-scholarship-to-women-deliver-2013#When:22:19:53Z This contest is now closed. Women Deliver held a contest to win free registration to the Women Deliver 2013 global conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was a chance to win a ticket to the decade’s most important event for girls and women for the social media savvy. Read more... Blog, 2013-04-30T22:19:53+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/celebrate-solutions-mentor-mothers-help-to-curb-vertical-transmission-of-hi http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/celebrate-solutions-mentor-mothers-help-to-curb-vertical-transmission-of-hi#When:18:22:26Z By Lindsay Menard-Freeman, Women Deliver In the U.S. and Europe, the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child has been virtually eradicated.  Yet, worldwide approximately 900 children are newly infected with HIV every day; most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Without intervention, 40% of pregnant women living with HIV are likely to pass the virus to their babies, and each year more than 200,000 children will die from HIV and AIDS related illnesses.  While the establishment of programs to prevent transmission has grown in recent years, there is evidence to support the need for education and counseling to supplement medical intervention. And programs like mothers2mothers (m2m) are bridging the gap between services and support.  Read more...   Blog, 2013-04-29T18:22:26+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-malaysia-worlds-no.1-in-condoms http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-malaysia-worlds-no.1-in-condoms#When:13:00:02Z By: The Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council The Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council (MREPC) is proud to support Women Deliver 2013 to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Here is a corporate video of MREPC. Read more...   Blog, 2013-04-29T13:00:02+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-jhpiego-works-to-keep-women-and-mothers-alive-and-healthy http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-jhpiego-works-to-keep-women-and-mothers-alive-and-healthy#When:13:00:21Z By: Jhpiego Jhpiego, a global health non-profit and affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, works to prevent the needless deaths of women and their families. For 40 years and in more than 155 countries, Jhpiego has been innovating to save lives by developing low-cost solutions to global health challenges. Read more...   Blog, 2013-04-25T13:00:21+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-vouchers-investing-in-womens-health http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-vouchers-investing-in-womens-health#When:13:30:52Z By: Ben Bellows, Associate, Population Council, Reproductive Health Programme When women survive, families, communities, and countries thrive. Investing in the health and well-being of women and girls should be a top development priority. Yet progress toward meeting Millennium Development Goal 5, which calls for improving maternal health, lags furthest behind all eight MDGs. Read more...   Blog, 2013-04-22T13:30:52+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/celebrate-solutions-transforming-lives-through-girl-centered-advocacy http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/celebrate-solutions-transforming-lives-through-girl-centered-advocacy#When:13:00:49Z By: Dr. Denise Dunning, Program Director, Public Health Institute Girls and women in Liberia are successfully advocating for their rights in the face of pervasive gender-based violence. During Liberia’s 14-year civil war, 75% of girls and women were victims of rape and 90% experienced some form of physical or sexual violence. To combat this devastating legacy in post-conflict Liberia, the Adolescent Girls’ Advocacy & Leadership Initiative (AGALI) is improving girls’ rights, health, education, and livelihoods. Read more... Blog, 2013-04-22T13:00:49+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-family-planning-can-level-the-playing-field-for-women-eve http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/partner-spotlight-family-planning-can-level-the-playing-field-for-women-eve#When:14:30:50Z By: Suzanne Ehlers, President and CEO, Population Action International Like many Americans, I just completed the annual ritual of filing my taxes. In the process, I noticed, as some of you might have, the box asking whether I wanted to donate $3 of those taxes to the presidential election campaign fund. The fund helps pay for presidential election campaigns, and is designed to level the playing field for candidates. Now, I don’t know how many people check that box or how much money it brings in. But it got me thinking… What if there was a box for international family planning? If you could allocate $3 of your taxes to women around the world, would you check that box? Read more... Blog, 2013-04-18T14:30:50+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/mothers-the-women-behind-todays-women-in-the-world http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/mothers-the-women-behind-todays-women-in-the-world#When:13:09:00Z By: Adam Lewis, Rabin Martin; Originally posted on Rabin Martin “We are agents of change, we are drivers of progress, we are makers of peace – all we need is a fighting chance.” This quote from Hillary Clinton at the 2013 Newsweek/Daily Beast Women in the World summit certainly captured the theme of the conference. Of course, by “we,” the former Secretary of State is referring to women – and how fitting for someone who is herself an agent of change, a driver of progress and a maker of peace to call for more rights for women. Read more... Blog, 2013-04-18T13:09:00+00:00 http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/celebrate-solutions-daughters-of-sex-workers-pave-a-new-path-ahead http://www.womendeliver.org/updates/entry/celebrate-solutions-daughters-of-sex-workers-pave-a-new-path-ahead#When:13:09:35Z By: Joanna Hoffman, Women Deliver Sixteen-year old Aparna Bhola may be young, but she is also a confident, knowledgable teacher to the teenage girls that gather for her sex education class. She is a member of Kranti, an organization based in Nepal and India that provides women rescued from prostitution and their daughters with education and new opportunities. Her mother, Malti, was a sex worker, and often struggled to access medical treatment and better opportunities in the face of violence and discrimination. Malti’s story is not uncommon—in 2009, it was estimated that 3 million women are trafficked through India every year. Read more... Blog, 2013-04-15T13:09:35+00:00