GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog summarizes a recent forum on reproductive health issues during which panel members of the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health of Aspen Global Health and Development discussed how “reproductive health was intimately connected to the world’s population boom, climate change, water and sanitation crises, economic downturns, educational rates, and development overall.” The article continues, “And yet, reproductive health and family planning is generally not a focus on the world stage. In fact, the topic is often avoided.”

Panel members included Maria Otero, U.S. under secretary of state for Democracy and Global Affairs; Jan Eliasson, former president of the U.N. General Assembly and former foreign minister of Sweden; Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and chair of the Global Leaders Council; U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin; and Frederick Sai, a former president of International Planned Parenthood, a Council member and an expert on family planning and population issues (Donnelly, 9/21).