Updates

By: Mary Krane Derr, Writer, Poet, Multi-Issue Nonviolence Activist, originally posted on Conversations for a Better World

Recently, Conversations for a Better World launched a contest for good ideas. They asked, "How can we ensure that every woman who chooses can access the Pill or other contraceptive options?" Below is the winning idea.

Jen Roth and I recently co-founded All Our Lives, a multinational nonprofit group eager to resolve this urgent problem, among others that constrain women’s and children’s lives and well-being.  We are pro every life, born and unborn, and pro women’s right to make their own nonviolent sexual and reproductive choices.  Guaranteeing family planning access for all women on Earth who wish it will help prevent millions of unsought pregnancies and maternal and fetal injuries and deaths.

By: Karl Hofmann, CEO and President of PSI, originally posted on The Huffington Post

In April, the Lancet released some encouraging statistics on maternal health: maternal deaths dropped from about 526,000 in 1980 to around 340,000 maternal deaths worldwide in 2008. This is a decline worth celebrating, but not a reason to pull back; if anything, this study should drive us to do more: to advocate for necessary policy changes and to push for funding increases for maternal health. We know progress is possible.

More than 3,200 people - everyone from world leaders to midwives working in rural Africa - will convene in Washington, D.C., today to attend the Women Deliver Conference 2010. We are meeting to map out this progress.  more...

By: Tamar Abrams, originally posted on The Huffington Post

Ali Larter, the luminous star of TV shows such as "Heroes" and films including "Legally Blonde" and "Obsessed." Is also a newly minted advocate for reproductive rights for women and girls. At the Women Deliver conference taking place in Washington DC this week, women in native African garb pass Parliamentarians and scientists, while First Ladies from Ghana and Zanzibar mingle with Arianna Huffington and UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon. And wandering among the thousands of delegates from over 140 countries is Ali Larter. If she weren't accompanied by a small retinue and the occasional camera, she would likely be overlooked. So why has the successful young actress with a lingering cold flown all the way to Washington for a policy-wonkish conference spanning three days? Because the United Nations Foundation asked.

Source: RH Reality Check

By Carmen Barroso, International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR)

When we speak about universal access to contraceptives and the huge unmet need for family planning services that exists in the world today, the image that usually comes to mind is that of poor women in Africa. Indeed, in most countries, poor women have a much higher rate of unmet need than do women with higher incomes, and in Africa, unmet need for contraception is much higher than in other regions. More than 60 percent of women of reproductive age have an unmet need for contraception in Africa. more...

At the Women Deliver 2010 conference, White Ribbon Alliance along with UNFPA will be debuting a multimedia exhibition called, "Stories of Mothers Saved." To celebrate the exhibit, they are hosting a countdown to Women Deliver with blog posts from people all over the world who have contributed to their multimedia exhibition. These blog posts include, Francois Zoungrana from Burkina Faso, Jameel Aldrbashi from Palestine, Smita Maniar from India, and Ahsan Mehboob from Pakistan.

The Globe and Mail wrote a terrific editorial on the current issues around Canada’s attempts to incorporating maternal health in discussions at the G8 Summit. As the article says:

“Canada has expressed a desire to champion the issue of maternal, reproductive and child health at the G8 summit.

So it is strange in the extreme that the country has yet to respond to an invitation to attend a global conference on the subject, to be held June 7-9, in Washington, just weeks before the G8 gathering.”

Recent research indicates that between 25 per cent to 40 per cent of maternal deaths could be avoided by ensuring access to family planning. This data was cited in the 2009 Report of the UN Secretary-General to the Commission on Population and Development, World Population Monitoring, E/CN.9/2009/3, on page 20, citation 35, which is an article by Oona M.R. Campbell and Wendy J. Graham, “Strategies for reducing maternal mortality: getting on with what works”, that appeared in The Lancet, vol. 368, 2006.

On October 25, 2009, the NY Times published a story about a bill that has been introduced in the Philippines to increase contraceptive use.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21^st century. As the international community gears up for the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, the reproductive health and rights community is starting to look closely at the links between RH and climate change.

According to a representative from IPPF, and as a result of advocacy activities by Tanzanian civil society, the Tanzania government has tripled is national budget line allocated for contraceptives to $7.65 million.