Devex: Addressing contraceptive needs of adolescent women in developing regions Ann Starrs, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute “…[M]any young women who want to avoid pregnancy are not receiving the services they need to protect their health and delay childbearing. This is especially true in the poorest countries and…

The Lancet Global Health Blog: Young midwife leaders speak: a declaration of commitment and global call for action “We are 32 midwives from 31 countries around the world who attended the Women Deliver 2016 meeting. … This declaration of commitment and global call for action was borne out of a…

Huffington Post: When There’s No Olympic Opt-Out: Reproductive Rights In The Time Of Zika David Fleming, PATH’s vice president of public health, and Milka Dinev, regional adviser for the Latin American and Caribbean Forum of the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition “…Empowering women to control their reproductive outcomes is a critical,…

WHO: Hormonal contraception and the risk of HIV acquisition in women “The World Health Organization will convene an expert review group later in 2016 to examine the links between the use of various hormonal contraceptive methods and women’s risk of HIV acquisition. The expert review group will assess whether current…

Broadly: The Women Battling the Post-Ebola Teen Pregnancy Epidemic “…August 8 marks two years since the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a public health emergency. These days, [Nurse Aminata] Fullah and other nurses are on the frontlines of another health crisis: teenage pregnancy. … Teenage…

NPR: Puerto Rican OB-GYNs Offer Free Birth Control To Fight Zika “In Puerto Rico the local association of obstetricians and gynecologists has launched a new attack on Zika. Because Zika primarily is a problem for pregnant women, the doctors are trying to reduce the number of pregnant women by offering…

SciDev.Net: Mobile tech enables family planning data access “…Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020), which uses … mobile technology, provides information useful for reporting, planning, operational decisions, and advocacy at the community, country, and global levels. The project is currently implemented in eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa — Burkina Faso,…

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Somalia urged to pass law banning ‘horrendous’ FGM “Somalia’s next government should ensure a law is passed banning all forms of female genital mutilation (FGM), a U.N. official said on Tuesday, describing the deeply entrenched practice as a ‘horrendous rights violation.’ … A bill on FGM is…

NPR: Petition Against Female Genital Mutilation Provokes An Angry Backlash “…[L]ast winter, 17 Indian women from a tiny sect of Islam blew the lid off a guarded secret … They authored a petition asking the government of India to outlaw female circumcision. Until the petition went public in December, many…

The Guardian: Family planning is a key development goal that needs greater investment John Bongaarts, vice president of the Population Council “Family planning is much more than a vital health and human rights intervention … Investments in voluntary family planning are also investments in sustainable development, and therefore should be…