Updates

“The World We Want – Beyond 2015, A Toolkit for National Deliberations”, an advocacy toolkit for the post-2015 development framework, was released last month by the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), Beyond 2015 and the United Nations Millennium Campaign. The toolkit is designed to aid civil society organizations in organizing and facilitating national deliberations on the new global agenda. Read more...

This year has been one of forward momentum, innovative solutions and inspiring individuals. As 2011 comes to a close, it’s time to celebrate achievements and look at some of the most memorable milestones and events of the past year. Moving into 2012, we are armed with the knowledge of what success looks like. We must continue to work to ensure that girls and women are at the heart of development efforts, now and in the years to come. Read more...

By: Madeline Taskier, Strategic Partnerships Associate at Women Deliver 

This fall, the Aberdeen Women’s Centre in Freetown, Sierra Leone is bringing hope to thousands of women affected by obstetric fistula. In October, the centre, which provides a variety of maternal and child health services, began offering a free phone hotline, follow up services, and surgery for women suffering from this debilitating condition.

Obstetric fistula, like maternal mortality, is an almost entirely preventable condition experienced by at least 2 million women in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia every year. When a woman has obstructed labor delaying delivery of her baby, a hole can form in the tissue between her bladder, vagina, and rectum causing uncontrollable leakage of feces or urine and can result in a stillborn birth. Performing surgery to repair the fistula is successful 90 percent of the time, but many women in these regions often do not have access to trained surgeons and have little knowledge of existing treatments. Read more...

By: Stuart Halford, Advocacy Officer, International Planned Parenthood Federation

(This editorial reflects the thoughts and views of the author, and not necessarily those of the International Planned Parenthood Federation)

Late last year, Yemen, on behalf of the G77, and China put forward a resolution that was adopted by the General Assembly. The resolution entitled “Follow-up to the International Conference on Population and Development beyond 2014”extended the Programme of Action (PoA) and called for an United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) in 2014, to assess the status of ICPD’s implementation. It noted that the goals and objectives of the ICPD remained valid beyond 2014, but that many governments were still not on track to achieving them. Read more...

By: Victoria Hale, PhD, CEO at Medicines360

Most people have one life changing, “ah-ha” moment in their lives, but in my case, I had two. The first moment came when I was sitting in the back of a New York City taxi, and the driver asked me what I did for a living. When I told him that I was a pharmaceutical scientist, he said, “Oh, you have all the money!” And, in that moment, my first company, OneWorld Health, was born.

OneWorld Health is a first-generation non-profit pharmaceutical company created as an innovative, gutsy initiative to develop drugs to treat people with neglected tropical diseases. This charity model is entirely dependent on others—that is, on large grants from philanthropists and on the for-profit pharmaceutical industry for the delivery of medicines to the poor. Read more...

A week from today, our global population will reach 7 billion. In order to highlight the magnitude of this occasion, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), continues to promote dialogue through their 7 Billion Actions Campaign. The campaign, a worldwide advocacy effort which began July 11th and ends October 31^st, aims to encourage discourse on what it means to live in a world with so many people, and to encourage action on issues that affect us all.

Interview with Jill Sheffield, President, Women Deliver from 7 Billion Actions on Vimeo.

A Call for Engagement by the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Community

By: Alicia Ely Yamin is Director of the Program on the Health Rights of Women and Children at the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. She served on the 2011 PMNCH Commitments Report advisory Panel.

It is understandable that the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) communities have generally maintained a critical distance from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) process, as MDG 5 represented a dramatic departure from the hard-won, holistic vision of reproductive health set out in the 1994 Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and reaffirmed in the subsequent Beijing Declaration. Read more...

By: Jill Sheffield, President of Women Deliver; originally published in the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Reference Report 2011

Improving maternal health gives a high return on investment. The loss of a woman’s life or health is not just a loss to her family, but it is also a loss to the community and the nation as a whole. While nations need to keep building towards the ultimate goal of strengthening health systems, there are investments that can be made today, right now, to decrease maternal death and injury. Most of these solutions are low-cost, highly effective, and can begin to show results almost immediately. Read more...

We at Women Deliver congratulate this year’s three Nobel Peace Prize winners—Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee (pictured at right at Women Deliver 2010), and Yemeni peace activist Tawakkul Karman—on being recognized by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for their “non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” Read more...

By: Serra Sippel, President of the Center for Health and Gender Equity

The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) deadlines are coming up in 2014 and 2015 respectively, and will quickly pass. What will come next? Deadline extensions? A single health MDG? A combined solution of a new mechanism with new deadline? When it comes to maternal health—to women’s health—does this matter? 

Consider the ICPD goal of universal access to reproductive health through the primary health system by 2015. The goal was adopted in 2007 as a target for reaching MDG 5 on maternal health. Universal access to reproductive health through primary care is not merely access to contraceptive supplies, or safe delivery in pregnancy. Read more...

Get Involved: Add Your Own Perspectives At The Conversations For A Better World Blog Series

By: Bridget Akudo Nwagbara, Chair of the Youth Health Workers Advocates, Nigeria – MNCH

Social media has revolutionized the way people across the globe interact with one another. At the recent, the Social Good Summit, initiatives like Shot@Life, which was launched with the intent to leverage online communities to deliver health care to marginalized and vulnerable populations, were lauded. Young people are leading this revolution! And as such, they should be the target of more initiatives that use social media. Read more...

Get Involved: Add Your Own Perspectives At The Conversations For A Better World Blog Series

By: Hasinihaja Tsiaro Barijaona Raharison, one of the Women Deliver 100 Young Leaders and an Oxfam Action Partner

In Madagascar, there remains a lack of information about contraception. Myths and misconceptions surrounding contraceptive use are common among young people, and confusion and ignorance has led to incorrect or low use of modern contraceptive methods and high amounts of concern about contraceptive side effects. Myths persist, including stories that modern contraceptive methods are responsible for infertility and that taking a bath or shower after sex, rinsing a woman’s vagina with soda, or taking inappropriate pills after sex are effective at stopping unwanted pregnancies. Read more...