Roll Call: Senate appropriations process continues to devolve”Senate appropriators have abandoned plans to mark up two spending bills Thursday that have become mired in a partisan dispute over abortion policy. The Appropriations Committee announced it will postpone consideration of its fiscal 2020 Labor-HHS-Education bill and its State-Foreign Operations bill. As…

Sierra Club’s Sierra Magazine: The Global Gag Rule Puts a Choke Hold on Contraception Journalist Karen J. Coates discusses the Mexico City policy and its implications for family planning and reproductive health services globally. Coates concludes, “Earlier this year, U.S. lawmakers introduced the Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights Act (a.k.a.…

amfAR: Issue Brief: The Expanded Mexico City Policy: Implications for the Global Fund This new amfAR brief examines the implications of the Trump administration’s expanded Mexico City policy for the Global Fund and estimates Global Fund investments that are subject to the policy. “…The Expanded Mexico City Policy (EMCP or…

CIDRAP News: Study finds evidence of COVID-19 in air, on hospital surfaces (Beusekom, 4/13). Devex: How is COVID-19 affecting malaria programs? (Ravelo, 4/15). Devex: Australian NGOs start campaigning for international COVID-19 support (Cornish, 4/15). Devex: A virtual pledging conference? Venezuela could be first (Welsh, 4/15). The Guardian: Food rations to…

Devex: Yves Daccord: COVID-19 demands ‘radical’ collaboration (Root, 4/16). The Economist: App-based contact tracing may help countries get out of lockdown (4/16). Reuters: Polish MPs debate tighter abortion rules, protests muted amid coronavirus (Koper et al., 4/14). Science: How a team of scientists studying drought helped build the world’s leading…

CNSNews.com: Foreign Ops Funding Bill Includes Measures Targeting Trump’s ‘Policy of Protecting Life’ “The Appropriations Committee in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday will consider a draft bill on foreign affairs and aid funding — including contributions to the United Nations … [T]he funding bill also contains several specific…

The Lancet: We must all support women in the fight for abortion Editorial Board “…The Guttmacher-Lancet Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) explained why protecting safe abortions should be a high priority. … Importantly, the Commission concluded: ‘to move the SRHR policy agenda forward, advocates and policy…

Agence France-Presse: Over 600 people test HIV positive in Pakistan city (Jaffry, 5/26). Agence France-Presse: Malaria back with a vengeance in crisis-hit Venezuela (5/25). Al Jazeera: Years of war and poverty take toll on Afghanistan’s health care (Latifi, 5/25). BBC News: Working the night shift on malaria’s frontline in Sierra…

The Hill: Reflecting on three years of Trump’s Global Gag Rule Reps. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Andy Levin (D-Mich.) “As two members of Congress committed to a strong U.S. foreign policy and the effective provision of foreign assistance, we are deeply troubled by what we see around the world three…

The Hill: We must repeal the Global Gag Rule to protect girls’ and women’s lives Terry McGovern, Harriet and Robert H. Heilbrunn professor and chair at the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University “…[The Mexico City policy] directly violates the national sovereignty of countries receiving U.S.…