Updates

By: Serra Sippel and Zeda Rosenberg; Originally posted on Huffington Post

Nearly 20 years ago, the global community gathered at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo and declared -- for the first time -- that a woman's right and ability to control her reproductive health was fundamental to her well-being and key to global development. That meeting sparked two decades of advances for women, and the pace has been accelerating. In just the past year, the London Summit on Family Planning led to unprecedented pledges to increase access to products and services for women in developing countries, a UN Commission called for increased access to life-saving maternal health products, and the UN created new policy standards to end violence against women and girls. Read more...

By: James Kityo, The Key Correspondents Programme

The Key Correspondents Programme is covering the Women Deliver 2013 global conference live from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia May 28 – 30.

Former sex worker and single mother Rose lives in Bwaise on the outskirts of Uganda’s capital Kampala. These days Rose, 23, provides for her three children by working in a salon plaiting hair, a skill she acquired through training from the Uganda Youth Development Link drop in centre. Read more...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

By: Sharon L. Camp, President and CEO of The Guttmacher Institute

An estimated 40 million abortions took place in the developing world last year. Most of these procedures were clandestine and unsafe, taking a terrible toll on women’s lives. Every year, 47,000 women die from unsafe abortion and millions more are injured—some seriously and permanently. These deaths and injuries are almost entirely preventable. Read more...

By: Saundra Pelletier, CEO of WomanCare Global

As a new member of the Women Deliver Board of Directors and as CEO of WomanCare Global, I am so looking forward to attending the May 2013 Women Deliver meeting.  We will be thousands of voices strong, united in our call to bring women better choices for improving their health. In particular, I am eager to learn more about the work so many organizations are doing in family planning.

Less than a year ago many of us assembled in London for a groundbreaking family planning summit, where we committed ourselves to mobilizing resources so that an additional 120 million women and girls in the world’s poorest countries receive family planning information, services and supplies by 2020. Read more...

By: Jaime-Alexis Fowler, Associate Director of Public Relations and Online Communications at Pathfinder International; Originally posted on Pathfinder International

This post is part of Pathfinder's "Women Who Dare" series in celebration of International Women's Day 2013.

Jill Sheffield is the founder and President of Women Deliver, an international advocacy organization dedicated to advancing political action around and investment in maternal health. Jill is a tireless advocate for women’s health who credits her time spent in a Kenyan maternity hospital as the inspiration for her work. Jill’s daring work has been a contributing factor to increased international attention to maternal mortality, an area of continued need given the stalled progress on lowering maternal mortality.  Read more...

By: Gary Darmstadt and Monica Kerrigan; Originally posted on Impatient Optimists

What's Your Method? is a blog series featured in the Impatient Optimists, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation blog. The series offers a window into many of the contraceptive options for women and girls around the world. Each day, the series will publish one or more posts on these methods from some of partners working everyday to ensure that these methods truly become options for the millions of women and girls who want and need them. Read more...

By: Dana Hovig, CEO of Marie Stopes International; Originally posted on Impatient Optimists

Bill Gates recently asked people to tell him their hopes and dreams were for 2030. For me there can only be one: that by 2030 we are finally living in the golden age of family planning. One in which everyone has access to whatever type of contraception they want, no matter where they live or what their circumstances are. If we are to reach this golden age though, we must keep an ever watchful eye on results and impact, and make sure family planning services are available to the people who need them most. Read more...

By: Purnima Mane, President and CEO of Pathfinder International; Originally posted on Huffington Post

In March of this year, on International Women’s Day, I asked, “Is 2012 the Year for Women and Girls?”  Now, as the year winds to a close, I find myself looking back on my call for stronger partnerships, more global coalitions and wondering, are those enough? 2012 was a year for women. We saw tremendous renewal of the commitment by world leaders to ensure that countries and communities have the political support and financial resources needed to improve access to sexual and reproductive health. Read more...