Independent Online: Forced sterilization: complaint lodged “A group of HIV-positive women, who were coerced or forced into being sterilized, are seeking redress for what happened to them and are asking that the law be changed to stop the discrimination. Her Rights Initiative (HRI) and Oxfam lodged a formal complaint on…

Huffington Post: One Way Forward in Ending Modern Slavery: Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancies Jenny Eaton Dyer, executive director of Hope Through Healing Hands, and Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick, assistant professor at the School of Public Policy at Central European University “Last month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Sen.…

The Guardian: Women’s rights activists alarmed by U.K. unease over development targets “…The U.K. is understood to be unhappy with some of the targets contained in the proposed set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and wants to reopen negotiations. Women’s rights groups said on Thursday that renegotiating the targets at…

The Lancet: Family planning in Iran Editorial Board “Last week, Amnesty International published a report in response to changes in Iranian law, which they say ‘pose a major threat to the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls in Iran.’ … There are two bills currently under consideration.…

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Sierra Leoneans halt genital mutilation amid Ebola fears: U.K. minister “The Ebola epidemic that has ravaged West Africa appears to have brought the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) to a near halt in Sierra Leone, a British minister said on Friday. International development minister Lindsay Northover…

CNN: Melinda Gates’ advice to girls: ‘Use your voice and you can affect change’ Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation “The most rewarding part of my job is meeting women and girls from all over the world who are striving for the same goal: a good…

Reuters: World Bank backs contraception, sexual health in Sahel region “Broadening access to contraceptives in Africa’s arid Sahel region and improving women’s sexual health are key parts of a $200 million World Bank project in the conservative Muslim region, its coordinator said…” (Piper, 3/31).

News outlets report on cervical cancer screening in developing countries. Inter Press Service: Mozambique Tackles its Twin Burden of Cervical Cancer and HIV “…Cervical cancer is the most frequent cancer among Mozambican women aged 15-44, says [Amir Modan of the United Nations Population Fund in Maputo]. Health authorities are tackling…

News outlets report on Namibia’s Supreme Court ruling that health care workers sterilized three HIV-positive women without their informed consent. Agence France-Presse: HIV-positive women forcibly sterilized in Namibia, says court “Namibia’s Supreme Court on Monday found that HIV-positive women were forcibly sterilized after giving birth — a decision hailed by…

Devex: Top 3 bilateral donors to family planning “…The world’s largest bilateral donor, the United States spent $585 million on family planning and reproductive health programs in fiscal year 2013. While significantly smaller compared with U.S. aid to HIV and AIDS, which accounted for more than 60 percent of the…