Updates

By: Yousra Yusuf, Women Deliver

Today, at least 222 million women worldwide have an unmet need for modern contraceptives.  Family planning is a proven life-saving solution with the power to avert 70% of maternal deaths, yet many people around the world do not have access to the contraceptive information and services they need.  This past year in Jordan, the USAID-SHOPS national media campaign was introduced to increase oral contraceptive use among women. The campaign has already seen promising results—there has been a 33% country-wide increase  in oral contraceptive pill sales. Read more...

By: Jill Sheffield, President, Women Deliver and Robert Engleman, President, Worldwatch Institute

Jill Sheffield and Robert Engelman will discuss the links between investing in women and achieving sustainability goals in “Women’s Health: A Missing Sustainability Issue?” on Friday, October 26 at the BSR Conference 2012.

In June 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, convened more than 100 heads of state to begin development of Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs), which would reduce poverty while preserving the environment. Unfortunately, the conference missed a historic opportunity to affirm the critical link between investing in women and achieving sustainability goals. Read more...

By: Numfor Alenwi, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from Cameroon

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

For young people in my country, the need for comprehensive education is needed to overcome myths and misconceptions about contraception. In Cameroon, only 37% of the demand for family planning is satisfied. Read more...

By: Ife Smith, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from Trinidad and Tobago

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

In Trinidad and Tobago, the rates of teenage pregnancy and HIV prevalence are quite high. The adolescent birth rate in Trinidad and Tobago is 33 births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19, and there were 15,000 people living with HIV in 2009. Statistics show that at the end of 2009, an estimated 240,000 people were living with HIV in the Caribbean.

By Amy Lieberman; Originally posted on Devex

There is some suspicion around the increasing role of the private sector on global health care delivery, especially in developing countries, admits Geralyn Ritter, senior vice president of pharmaceutical company Merck’s global public policy and corporate responsibility department. But the reality remains: The private sector now provides about half of the health care services in Africa and for roughly 80 percent of families in South Asia. Read more...

By: Cinthia Sagrario Interian Varguez, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from Mexico

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

As a sexual human being, I feel I have the right to access contraceptive information and services even though, unfortunately, there are still harmful myths and taboos about young people’s sexual and reproductive health. Young people in my indigenous Mayan community face particular obstacles from their culture and religion when seeking out comprehensive, unbiased information.

By: Mallah Tabot, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from Cameroon

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

With more methods of contraception available, girls and women are increasingly provided with the freedom to choose if and when to be mothers. This freedom, however, generates controversy. Read more...

By: Cassien Havugimana, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from Rwanda

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

Young people have the right to contraceptive information and services. These rights are important not only for the youth, but also for all people in my home country of Rwanda. Read more...

By: Florence B. Mwitwa, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from Tanzania

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

For many young people in my community, talking about contraception is just not comfortable. This is not only true for young people, but also for adults, who might have trouble broaching the topic or supporting young people in their choices. Read more...

By: Idrissa A. Conteh, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from Sierra Leone

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

In Sierra Leone, general knowledge about sexual and reproductive health is terribly low. Limited understanding about sexual health among youth is a major obstacle that restricts young people’s access to contraception and other critical reproductive health services. Read more...

By: Alan Deivid Figueroa Frías, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from Bolivia

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy. 

More than ever before, young people in Mexico and around the world are using the internet to research contraceptives and other reproductive health issues. This brings a new level of responsibility to information technology, and social media in particular. Read more...

By: Maureen Oduor, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from Tanzania

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

In Tanga, Tanzania, young people aren’t a priority when it comes to family planning – from services, to education, to advocacy and awareness. Too often, young people don’t use family planning services because of fear or shame. There needs to be a serious increase in efforts to empower young people in this community to make a change. Read more...

Originally posted on Every Mother Counts

The Sixth Annual World Contraception Day is coming up on September 26th. This worldwide campaign envisions a world where every pregnancy is wanted and this year, we’re setting the blogosphere on fire with posts, perspectives and conversations all about contraception. Women Deliver, in partnership with the Gates Foundation’s Impatient Optimists, is sponsoring the blog-fest focused on this year’s WCD theme: Your Future. Your Choice. Your Contraception. Read more...

By: Jos Dirkx, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from South Africa

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

The basic human rights of women regarding their health, bodies and sexuality are under threat, and have been called into question during recent debates on contraceptive use and reproductive rights. Read more...

By: Aiste Dackauskaite, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from LithuaniaWomen Deliver 100 Young Leader from Lithuania Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from ZimbabweWomen Deliver 100 Young Leader from ZimbabweWomen Deliver 100 Young Leader from Lithuania

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

The benefits of contraception for young people seem self-evident – it enables them to protect their health, control their life, and plan their future. However, UN research shows that Lithuania has one of the lowest levels of contraceptive use in Europe. Why aren’t people, especially young people, using contraception in Lithuania? Read more...

By: Wanzala E. Martin, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from Uganda

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012.

I am from Uganda, a country that many consider one of the earliest and best success stories in reducing HIV in the world. Whether or not you agree with this assertion, one fact for sure is that Uganda has experienced substantial declines in HIV prevalence and incidence during the past decade, especially among adolescents. This reduction can largely be attributed to increased access to contraception coupled with better funding to the health sector. Read more...

By: Janna Oberdorf, Women Deliver

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

Happy World Contraception Day! For those of you who aren’t familiar, every year on September 26th we celebrate World Contraception Day (WCD), a global campaign with a vision for a world where every pregnancy is wanted. Read more...

By: Smita Gaith, Women Deliver

In 1998, Russia’s federal government withdrew funding for national family planning programs, leaving the task to municipal and regional governments. In response, USAID and John Snow Inc. stepped in to fund the Women and Infants’ Health [pdf] (WIN) pilot project from 1999 to 2003, followed by the scale-up phase called Maternal and Child Health Initiative (MCHI) from 2003 to 2006. Read more...

By: Graça Machel and Desmond Tutu; Originally posted on Washington Post

Graça Machel was the first education minister of Mozambique. Desmond Tutu is archbishop emeritus of Cape Town and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. They are members of The Elders, a group of independent leaders working for peace and human rights.

“If adults know child marriage is wrong, why do they allow it to happen?” a teenage girl asked one of us during a visit this year to Bihar , a state in northeast India where, despite national law to the contrary, 69 percent of girls are married before age 18. Read more...