White House Blog: The Zika Virus: What You Need to Know Amy Pope, deputy assistant to the president for homeland security, answers “some questions that many Americans may have about the Zika disease and who it could impact…” (2/8). Center for Global Development’s “Global Health Policy Blog”: Another Emergency Funding…

New York Times: Leveraging Ebola to Tackle FGM Liriel Higa, assistant to Nicholas Kristof and Charles Blow at the New York Times “The outbreak of Ebola [in Guinea] … seems to have led to surprising progress in the movement to curb female genital mutilation [FGM] in the poor West African…

Associated Press: U.S. ships Zika test for pregnant women; Puerto Rico at risk “The U.S. government is shipping Zika virus tests for pregnant women to health departments around the country, but it warns there could be temporary shortages, as travelers try to tell if they returned with an infection that…

Project Syndicate: Zika and Reproductive Rights Françoise Girard, president of the International Women’s Health Coalition “…The Zika crisis has highlighted an obvious reality: Not providing women with reproductive health information and services places their lives — and those of their children — at grave risk. … The movement for reproductive…

U.S. Department of State’s “DipNote”: The Role of Religious Leaders in the Global Effort to End FGM/C Arsalan Suleman, acting U.S. special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), discusses the importance of engaging community leaders, including religious leaders, in efforts to end female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C).…

The Guardian: Rise in use of contraception offers hope for containing global population “The number of women using contraceptives in developing countries has soared to record levels in recent years, such that projections for global population growth could be cut by as much as one billion over the next 15…

Center for Strategic & International Studies: Accelerating the Momentum In this report, Janet Fleischman, senior associate, and Cathryn Streifel, program manager and research associate, both with the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, examine “the U.S. strategy for women’s and family health in Senegal at the community, facility, and national levels,…

Kaiser Family Foundation: U.S. Government Funding for Women and Family Health The Kaiser Family Foundation released a series of issue briefs and an overview on U.S. funding for programs that address women and family health, including international maternal and child health (MCH), which include immunization activities; international family planning and reproductive…

The Guardian: Liberia needs to muster the courage to ban FGM Mary Wandia, FGM program manager at Equality Now “…Unlike neighboring countries such as Guinea and Sierra Leone, Liberia has already managed to significantly reduce FGM prevalence … However, unless tough legislation is enacted and properly implemented, it may be…

NPR: Should The U.S. Reconsider Its Stand On Foreign Aid For Abortion Clinics? “…[Zika] has been directly linked to a birth defect that results in an abnormally small head and brain damage. In Latin America, where many countries have strict bans on abortion, some citizens and government officials are asking…