Devex: Kindling family planning change in urban slums Gita Pillai and Anju Dadhwal Singh of the Urban Health Initiative (UHI) in India “…Improving equitable access to family planning services and supplies as well as reducing the gap in unmet need for family planning services between the poor and the nonpoor…

Agence France-Presse: Extreme genital mutilation on retreat in Somaliland “It is a ritual supposed to keep women ‘pure,’ but an increased understanding of the severe health risks of extreme forms of female genital mutilation appears to be slowly rolling back its prevalence in Somalia’s northwest…” (Vesperini, 2/20).

Reuters: Pakistani village gives girls pioneering sex education class “…Sex education is common in Western schools but these ground-breaking lessons are taking place in deeply conservative rural Pakistan, a Muslim nation of 180 million people. Publicly talking about sex in Pakistan is taboo and can even be a death sentence.…

Writing in the Health Affairs Blog, Christine Spencer, an associate professor and executive director of the School of Health and Human Services at the College of Public Affairs, University of Baltimore, explores global caesarean section delivery rates. “…World experience with caesarean deliveries provides an opportunity for cross-national learning in the…

Wall Street Journal: China to Maintain Population Controls “China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission defended population policies, saying the government won’t announce a time frame for a complete end to population controls. China Health Minister Li Bin said Thursday at a health briefing that despite recent relaxation of the…

“In advance of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2014, WHO is launching new guidance to help countries ensure human rights are respected in providing more girls, women, and couples with the information and services they need to avoid unwanted pregnancies. … The guidance recommends that everyone who wants contraception…

News sources highlight a speech at the U.N. by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who linked women’s reproductive rights to human development. CNN: Clinton ties ‘broader human development’ with women’s reproductive rights “Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a Friday speech at the United Nations to tie…

Wall Street Journal: A Day in the Life of Melinda Gates “…In recent years, [Melinda Gates has] made it her personal mission to improve the welfare of women in developing countries through the use of contraceptives and the reduction of maternal and newborn mortality. Her work sees her shuttling at…

U.N. News Centre: On International Day, U.N. says more midwife training will help tackle maternity and child deaths “Nearly 800 women continue to die every day from complications of pregnancy and childbirth, the United Nations spotlighted as it marked the International Day of the Midwife with a call for greater…

U.N. News Centre: Mothers and children need more — not less — social protection, says U.N. labor agency “Calling for greater ‘social protection’ for women as the United Nations draws up a new development agenda, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has cited alarming statics, including that some 800 women die…