Fewer abortions are taking place worldwide because of increased contraceptive use, a study by the Guttmacher Institute has found, Reuters reports. The study also indicates that 20 million “unsafe abortions, mostly in poorer countries and often carried out by the women themselves using inappropriate drugs or herbal potions, or by untrained traditional healers,” still occur each year and kill 70,000 women.

U.N. Secretary General Calls For Renewed Commitment To Women Worldwide U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Monday called for countries around the world to “renew their commitment to educate girls, end sexual violence, and provide access to modern birth control,” the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. Though Ban acknowledged some gains made…

The Washington Post examines how the “No Toilet, No Bride” campaign in India is helping to increase access to home toilets in rural India. According to the newspaper, “About 665 million people in India — about half the population — lack access to latrines.” Yet, since the campaign launched two years ago, “1.4 million toilets have been built here in the northern state of Haryana, some with government funds, according to the state’s health department” – a movement that women’s rights activists hail as “a revolution.”

Despite a government guarantee of free maternal health care, tens of thousands of pregnant women in India die from mostly “preventable causes,” according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, released on Wednesday, the BBC reports.

According to a U.N. report released Tuesday, millions of children worldwide are subjected to trafficking, abuse, violence and child labor, United Press International reports.

Articles on breastfeeding in the Philippines, and the effects of the rainy season on maternal mortality in Liberia.

“The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Wednesday condemning sexual violence in war zones, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton presiding and appealing for global action to end the scourge,” the Associated Press reports.

‘Microland’ Can Help Fight Poverty, Especially Among Women In a Forbes column, Elisabeth Eaves, deputy editor at Forbes, examines the concept of “‘microland:’ securing rights to small plots of land for the world’s poorest.” The plots not only “provid[e] shelter and a place to work, land confers the ability to…

News Outlets Focus On Participants In AIDS Vaccine Study, Potential Impact Of AIDS Vaccine The Associated Press examines the role of the Thai participants in the recent clinical trial of an experimental HIV vaccine which showed modest potential for preventing infection. “Nearly 16,000 Thais ignored the false rumors that they…

Journal Of Infectious Diseases Explores Why Safe Water Alone Does Not Stop Diarrhea Among Infants Born To HIV-Positive Mothers A study appearing in the Journal of Infectious Diseases explores how well access to safe drinking water reduces rates of diarrhea experienced by 6-month-old infants born to HIV-infected mothers following weaning.…