Updates

Originally posted by: FrontPage Africa

By: Mae Azango, one of four African journalists to win a prestigious grant from the Pulitzer Center to cover reproductive health issues

Family planning is now a serious problem in Africa, but many women in underdeveloped Countries are denied access to modern contraception due to inadequate supplies and isolation of rural dwellers in most instances. Other women are denied family planning methods because of cultural backgrounds and religious affiliation.

One would ask why family planning is important and should be made an access free service. According to a report conducted by Women Deliver, every year more than 500,000 women and girls die from pregnancy related complications. This has amounted to one death every minute. Read more...

By: Rati Bishnoi, Special Projects Intern

In 2008, while attempting to escape fighting in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, Fadhumo* fled the city with two of her seven children. After seeking shelter in the Bariga Bosasso refugee settlement, she was eventually reunited with her sister and remaining children.

Security was limited, however, and the then-pregnant Fadhumo was raped by two men. “I tried to fight them off but they were much stronger. They beat me viciously, breaking both my wrists. They raped me repeatedly without caring that I was pregnant,” Fadhumo told the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). As a result of the rape, Fadhumo lost her unborn child and fell into a deep depression. Her ability to support herself or her other children diminished. Thankfully, Fadhumo is now rebuilding her life, has re-launched her grocery business and joined a support group for rape survivors. Read more...

By: Lindsey Taylor Wood, Communications Associate at Women Deliver

Nearly 730,000 women are living with HIV in Tanzania. Among them is 61-year old Faith. One of 1,600 women and men participating in the “Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB)” training program, Faith now has access to the entrepreneurial skills-building and HIV awareness-raising activities the program provides.

“I learnt that you need money or a business to generate enough income to be able to travel to town for regular check-ups and to collect antiretroviral drugs. We do not have these services at our village dispensary,” said Faith. Read more...

In the world's poorest countries, mothers risk their lives giving birth. And women and girls bear the greatest burden when it comes to all issues that contribute to poverty and poor health. Every year, an estimated 358,000 women die from complications during pregnancy and childbirth and 8.1 million children die before their fifth birthday.

Can blogging the stories of women and the challenges they face in the developing world turn empathy to action here? Three organizations, ONE, Women Deliver, and Vestergaard Frandsen set out to prove that social media can be a powerful tool to educate, inform, inspire, and make real change on issues like HIV/AIDS, maternal health, child health, clean water, environmental sustainability, and more. Read more...

By: Madeline Taskier, Partnership Coordinator at Women Deliver

In honor of World Breastfeeding Week, I’d like to highlight a new innovation that has the potential to save the lives of babies born to HIV-positive mothers. With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, researchers from Family Health International, University of Cambridge, Drexel College of Medicine, and PATH have developed a low-cost nipple shield which will deliver HIV preventative compounds to a newborn during breastfeeding. Read more...

By: Toyin Ajao, winner of Women Bloggers Deliver Contest

When I put myself in their shoes, I imagine one of the most difficult feelings experienced by any one of the 200,000 Nigerian pregnant women living with HIV is knowing that the deadly virus could be transmitted to their child without the right care. Read more...

Early this month, over 120 ambassadors, ministers, parliamentarians, advocates, youth and media gathered today at the International Peace Institute (IPI) for a high-level policy forum, Prevention and Protection Save Lives: Girls, Women and HIV, co-hosted by Women Deliver, IPI, the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations and Family Care International. Watch the video of the event, and click through to see part II:

Girls, Women, and HIV, Part 1 from International Peace Institute on Vimeo.

By: Mariko Rasmussen, Communications Specialist at Women Deliver

A few months ago I wrote about a program that works to empower young women in Guatemala by providing essential health, education, and social services to an underserved population. Today I’d like to highlight the flip side: a gender project that works with men in rural Ethiopia.

In Ethiopia, the lifetime risk of maternal death is 1 in 40 and the contraceptive prevalence rate is just 15 percent. HIV prevalence in the Amhara region is significant. The Addis Birhan (meaning “new light” in Amharic) program seeks to promote HIV prevention by changing attitudes and promoting equitable relationships through educating and engaging husbands in issues related to reproductive health, including HIV prevention, family planning, gender violence, alcohol and drug abuse, and domestic responsibilities. Read more...

By: Serra Sippel, President of the Center for Health and Gender Equity in Washington, D.C.; originally posted on the Huffington Post

We can end HIV/AIDS right now if we want to. We already know how. We know how it is transmitted; we know how to prevent and treat it. We are just not doing what it takes to end it.

The United States and other countries represented at the United Nations High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, which starts today, can change that. Unfortunately, there are already signs that we are going to stay the same failed course. Some country delegations, led by the Holy See (note: a non-member state with no epidemic that is neither a donor or aid recipient country), are working to block all references in the final outcome document to womens rights and access to sexual and reproductive health services. Despite the fact that sexual transmission is the number one way HIV is spread, despite the fact that women account for half of all people globally living with HIV, some countries would rather pursue a moralistic agenda around sex and women than put an end to AIDS.

By: Rachel Cernansky, winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest

In rural Kenya, a majority of women give birth at home and without a skilled attendant--often because hospitals, and the transportation to even get to a hospital, are simply too expensive and inaccessible for so many women.

Now imagine the situation for HIV-positive women, who should give birth by C-section to reduce the risk of transmission from mother to child. According to the Ministry of Health, only 65 percent of hospitals in the country provide that procedure. It's also more expensive, so even if it's locally available, it's not always a realistic option. Read more...

By: Toyin Ajao, winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest

Yesterday, on the Carbon for Water campaign trail, we met with Francis Odhiambo, the provincial public health officer of the Western Province in Kenya. He had a great impact in helping connect the dots between having safe drinking water, combating diseases and women having safe pregnancies and deliveries. Mr. Francis Odhiambo believed strongly that women suffer twice as much as men on health issues relating to water borne disease because of their daily activities and chores around the house and for their families. Women not only face the hardship of looking for nonexistent safe water, but they also have to trek miles to get stream water and firewood for boiling it. Read more...

By: Mariko Rasmussen, Communications Specialist at Women Deliver

In Lesotho, community health workers are saving lives, one mother at a time. Lesotho is a small Southern African country that faces numerous development challenges. There is a high prevalence of HIV and AIDS – nearly 1 in 4 adults is HIV positive – and there are high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity. The mountainous terrain makes it difficult for many people, especially pregnant women, to reach healthcare services. Partners In Health (PIH), with support from the Elton John AIDS Foundation, began a pilot project in 2009 to increase services to pregnant women in the area surrounding the Bobete health center and reverse this problem. Read more...

By: Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund

This year, world population will hit 7 billion. With this major milestone occurring in my first year as Executive Director of UNFPA, I have an interesting and unique opportunity in leading the organization’s priorities.

One major focus will be today’s large generation of young people. There are an estimated 1.8 billion adolescents and youth aged 10 to 24, accounting for nearly a quarter of the planet's population. Just below 90 per cent of them live in developing countries and that proportion will increase during the next 20 years. They want freedom, participation and dignity and their decisions will define the future. Read more...