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…

ONE Blog: Matt Damon — husband, father, actor, activist, and co-founder of Water.org As the blog’s Women and Girls guest curator this month, Matt Damon writes, “…Today, nearly 750 million people live without access to safe drinking water, and 2.5 billion people lack improved sanitation. This must change. As a…

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists”: Women and Health: The key to sustainable development Mariam Claeson, director of the maternal, newborn, and child health team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Ana Langer, director of the Maternal Health Task Force at the Harvard School of Public Health,…

The Guardian: Bangladesh urged to combat ‘epidemic of child marriage’ “Child marriage in Bangladesh is an epidemic and requires the government to act on its promises to tackle the problem, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Bangladesh has the fourth highest rate of child marriage in the world, behind Niger,…

The Guardian: Mother’s diet before conception ‘can affect child’s lifelong risk of disease’ “A mother’s diet before conception can affect her unborn child’s genetic make-up and immune system, according to new findings with profound implications for policy and development work. A report launched today by scientists at the Medical Research…

International Business Times: South Sudan Violence: 129 Children Killed In May; Girls Raped And Boys Castrated, Says U.N. “A South Sudanese military spokesperson reportedly questioned the credibility of a statement issued Wednesday by [UNICEF], in which it alleged that at least 129 children were killed during clashes between government and…

Center for Strategic & International Studies’ “Smart Global Health”: Obama’s Kenya Trip Should Elevate Focus on Women and Girls Janet Fleischman, senior associate at the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, discusses President Obama’s upcoming trip to Africa and writes, “the President could cement a lasting legacy by explicitly linking U.S.…

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: Combating meningitis in sub-Saharan Africa and what the future holds “…[P]ublic health officials across [Africa], along with the World Health Organization and PATH, formed the Meningitis Vaccine Project. This partnership — along with the Serum Institute of India — designed, developed, and produced MenAfriVac, the first vaccine for use…

Project Syndicate: How Autopsies Can Save Children’s Lives Scott Dowell, deputy director for surveillance and epidemiology at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation “…As part of the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by the United Nations last September, the international community has pledged to end preventable deaths of children under the…