The Road Ahead for Young People and Family Planning
Yesterday was International Youth Day, and governments, donors, and public health professionals are paying more attention to the unique needs of the world’s young people and the importance of their civic engagement and participation. Unfortunately, most young people do not have access to basic sexual and reproductive health care and information. This not only undermines their health and wellbeing, but significantly affects their abilities to stay in school and participate in their communities.
John H. Gibbons, a physicist who was the chief White House science adviser to President Bill Clinton and who was a leading authority on using science to conserve energy, died July 17 at a retirement facility in Crozet, Va. He was 86.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/john-h-gibbons-science-adviser-to-congress-and-clinton-dies-at-86/2015/07/30/65286c82-316b-11e5-8f36-18d1d501920d_story.html
In April, Gayle Smith was nominated by U.S. President Barack Obama to serve as the next administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the world’s largest bilateral development agency. But she must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before taking on the role, and sources close to the process tell Devex that Smith’s confirmation is in trouble.
https://www.devex.com/news/gayle-smith-s-bid-to-run-usaid-hits-a-snag-86515
Just as it seemed the Global Financing Facility (GFF) for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health might fade into obscurity, Canada, Japan, the U.S., and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have stepped in with $214 million in new commitments. They were made during the official high-level launch of the GFF in Addis Ababa, alongside the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD3). These new commitments bring the GFF’s resource envelope from $800 million to $1.14 billion. Not only do the new pledges bring the GFF closer to its goal of raising US$2.6 billion by 2020, they send an important signal that the GFF is a viable funding mechanism.
http://healthreporters.info/2015/07/16/global-financing-facility-gets-lifeline-in-addis/
Two hundred and fourteen of the 234 girls rescued from Boko Haram this week are pregnant. Ripped from school and forced into early motherhood, the girls’ plight is a stark and painful reminder of the immediate and long-term consequences of violating women’s human — and sexual and reproductive — rights.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzanne-ehlers/what-boko-haram-can-teach-us-about-the-sustainable-development-goals_b_7251620.html
Despite the government’s efforts to improve water management through advanced technology, South Korea faces severe water shortage problems.
The U.S.-based Population Action International lists Korea as a water-stressed country, with water availability per capita at 1,472 cubic meters in 1995, and projected to be 1,327 cubic meters by 2025. Countries with a yearly water supply of 1,000 to 2,000 cubic meters per person are considered water-stressed.
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20150413000960
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan instated the “Global Gag Rule,” a policy that bars foreign non-government organizations that receive U.S. assistance from providing information on family planning methods — everything from contraception to abortion — even with their own funding. The policy has been a long-held immovable block for both foreign and homegrown reproductive rights activists until President Obama lifted the onerous ban in 2009. On Monday, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) led a bipartisan group of 16 senators, six of whom are women, in introducing the Global Democracy Promotion Act as a way to ensure that the policy will never be reinstated.
Sandwiched between the State of the Union address and the anniversary of Roe v. Wade is another January tradition: the release of Bill and Melinda Gates’ Annual Letter. International development practitioners like me read the letter to learn from their projections and trend forecasting. Our community of family planning crusaders has also watched the letter carefully in recent years to monitor the foundation’s commitment to women’s access to contraception.
This year’s letter talks of “big bets” for the next 15 years, and does not mention family planning by name. It talks of access to contraception and information about spacing pregnancies safely. It speaks to the issue of child health and survival, and of making childbirth safer. And though our beloved monikers of “family planning” and “reproductive health” are nowhere to be found, I am not discouraged. I see our vital issues everywhere — and not just in the health section.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzanne-ehlers/im-all-in-on-women_b_6556484.html
With Republicans gaining control of both chambers, it’s no secret that the 114th Congress is going to be hostile to reproductive rights.
In just the first week, anti-choice politicians introduced six bills restricting abortion access, and international family planning programs are also expected to be targets of attack in the coming months.
However, there’s one thing President Obama can do to strengthen reproductive rights—and his own legacy—without Congressional approval: allow funding of safe abortion care for women overseas who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest, or whose pregnancy threatens their lives.
“In this special edition, we focus on women’s reproductive health. Annette Young and Aurore Dupuis head to Laos where it’s a bumpy road, in more ways than one, as the UN rolls out a family planning programme in one of the country’s remotest districts. Plus, we talk to one of Washington’s leading advocates on why family planning needs to be a global priority. We also bring you a report from Uganda about the health consequences of giving birth at an early age.”