Rewire: Self-managed Abortion Highlights Need to Decriminalize Abortion Worldwide Patty Skuster, senior legal adviser for technical innovation and evidence at Ipas; Kinga Jelinska, co-founder and executive director of Women Help Women; and Susan Yanow, co-founder of Women Help Women “…Laws change slowly, and abortion laws are no exception. … Abortion…

Associated Press: Pakistan launches another vaccination drive against polio (11/12). Associated Press: Myanmar: Bangladesh set to start repatriating Rohingya (11/11). Devex: Taking a systems-change approach to ending NTDs (Cheney, 11/12). The Guardian: Woman who bore rapist’s baby faces 20 years in El Salvador jail (Lakhani, 11/12). The Guardian: ‘They see…

New York Times: Letter to the Editor: Let Women Plan Their Futures John Bongaarts, vice president and distinguished scholar at the Population Council “…[International family planning programs] are helping produce better outcomes for women and their families, including lower maternal mortality and greater economic opportunities. … The policy prescription everywhere…

POLITICO: Trump’s State Department eyes ban on terms like ‘sexual health’ “U.S. diplomats may soon be prohibited from using the phrases ‘sexual and reproductive health’ and ‘comprehensive sexuality education’ under a proposal being floated to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, four people familiar with the issue said. The proposal is…

Foreign Policy: Inside Trump’s Plan to Scale Back U.N. Resolutions on Sexual Health, Violence Against Women “…New State Department directives, outlined in internal memos obtained by Foreign Policy, show how the Trump administration is instructing U.S. diplomats at the United Nations to push back on U.N. resolutions on women’s issues,…

Foreign Policy: The Trump Administration Is Erasing Reproductive Rights at Home and Abroad Stephanie Schmid, U.S. foreign policy counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights “…In April, the U.S. State Department published its annual congressionally mandated Country Reports on Human Rights Practices without the prepared reproductive rights subsection… Deleting reproductive…

Washington Post: Letter to the Editor: Trump’s health policy does not protect life Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity “In the Oct. 11 front-page [Washington Post] article … there was an essential breach between the Trump administration’s words and the effect of its foreign policy. ……

CNN: Zika spreads rapidly in India, with 94 cases confirmed (Gupta, 10/17). CNN: Spain to lead Japan in global life expectancy, U.S. continues to slide (Picheta, 10/18). Devex: The world’s leading ‘cholera hospital’ looks to the future (Bader, 10/18). Devex: Controversy as investigated charity takes on key role in U.K.…

Devex: Opinion: Trump’s first blow against reproductive rights was in the developing world Brian Dixon, senior vice president of Population Connection Action Fund “…Trump kicked off his presidency by enacting the global gag rule, [also referred to as the expanded Mexico City policy] … He then moved to [withhold funding…

Global Health NOW: Driving Change and Saving Lives (Powder, 10/11). Health Policy Watch: Innovative Financing: New Health Bonds Tested For Impact (Anderson, 10/11). Health Policy Watch: Women Suffer In Tanzania’s Deadly Backstreet Abortions (Makoye, 10/8). ImpactAlpha: After a dozen deals, Global Health Investment Fund has overcome a rocky start (Pothering,…