IntraHealth International’s “Vital”: U.S. and Senegalese Investments in Family Planning Are Paying Off Sara Stratton, director of West and Southern Africa programs at IntraHealth International, writes, “In Francophone West Africa, acceptance of family planning and use of modern contraception has been increasing over the last four years. … This would…

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Myanmar population control law threatens minorities: rights group “Myanmar’s religious and ethnic minorities may be targeted, abused, and suppressed by a proposed population control law which could be a serious setback for the country’s maternal health advances, according to a U.S.-based human rights group…” (Guilbert, 4/22).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Tanzanian women endangered by illegal abortions “…Abortion is illegal in Tanzania except to save a woman’s life and is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. In Tanzania and other parts of East Africa, the estimated number of unsafe abortions was 2.4 million in 2008, or…

Humanosphere: Investigation: Family planning services unsafe in India’s Bihar state Humanosphere reporter Tom Murphy highlights a yearlong investigation by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), which found “[c]linical reproductive health services provided to women in India’s Bihar state — where few use family planning resources — are woefully…

LiveMint: Shortage of condoms hits govt’s AIDS prevention program “A nationwide shortage of government-supplied condoms has affected two key programs of the health ministry [in India] — human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and family planning. What compounds matters is the size of funds needed to address the shortage…” (Krishnan, 5/12).

Devex: Built to last: How FP2020 accelerates progress on MDG 5 Suzanne Ehlers, president and CEO of PAI “…Last summer, the FP2020 rights and empowerment working group released a statement of principles that puts human rights at the center of all family planning and reproductive health efforts. The 10 principles…

Al Jazeera America: WHO expands list of recommended birth control options “The World Health Organization on Monday added a series of long-acting, hormonal contraceptives to the list of globally recommended birth control methods, which will significantly reduce mothers’ risk of dying during childbirth, experts say. The WHO’s guidelines relax restrictions…

New York Times: Room for Debate: Is Overpopulation a Legitimate Threat to Humanity and the Planet? Multiple authors “A recent Retro Report examines how the apocalyptic predictions about overpopulation made by the biologist Paul Ehrlich, in his 1968 book ‘The Population Bomb,’ have not come to pass. Disease-resistant crops, improved…

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists”: What women, girls and their partners want Angela Mutunga, the East Africa program adviser for Advance Family Planning, discusses six strategies for helping women in developing countries prevent unwanted pregnancies and protect their health (6/24).

Devex: Zika response — a chance to address gaps in women’s rights Giselle Carino, regional director for the Western Hemisphere at the International Planned Parenthood Federation “…[T]he [Zika] epidemic has highlighted two key failures of governments in the [Latin America and the Caribbean] region: a lack of investment in sexuality…