World Contraception Day 2021: History, theme and significance of global event to raise awareness about family planning

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, it has negatively impacted the well-being of women in multiple ways, including contraception, family planning and gender-based violence

FP Staff
September 26, 2021

The international community observes World Contraception Day on 26 September to recognise the right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children. The importance of it was asserted at the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994, and is reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development under target 3.7. “By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes”.

Continued: https://www.firstpost.com/health/find-out-the-importance-of-contraception-day-in-a-world-plagued-by-covid-19-9999531.html

26.09.2021

Commentary

Featured

family planning programs

Sustainable Development Goals

unmet need for contraception

World Contraception Day

Family Being: Curbing Escalating Rate Of Unplanned Pregnancies In Nigeria

May 8, 2021

By The Society For Media Advocacy On Health,
Nigeria

Unplanned pregnancies, which is referred to a pregnancy that is either
unintended which occurred when no children or no more children were desired, or
is mistimed, occurred earlier than desired has been escalating in Nigeria
recently.

The 2018 global family planning report showed that Nigeria recorded over 1.3
million unplanned pregnancies in 2018 and only 13.8 percent of Nigerian women
use contraceptives within the period.

Continued: https://leadership.ng/family-being-curbing-escalating-rate-of-unplanned-pregnancies-in-nigeria/

08.05.2021

Featured

News

Demographic Health Survey

family planning programs

maternal mortality

Society for Media Advocacy on Health

unplanned pregnancies

The link between America’s rising maternal mortality rates and abortion

It's not a coincidence that maternal mortality rates began rising as abortion became harder to get

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
APRIL 19, 2021

Last week was Black Maternal Health Week, which reproductive justice activists started in 2018 to raise awareness of the grim fact that maternal mortality rates for Black women are up to three times higher than they are for white women. For the first time ever, the White House also joined in, with President Joe Biden issuing a proclamation noting that "America's maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the developed world" and calling on "all Americans to recognize the importance of addressing the crisis of Black maternal mortality and morbidity in this country."

The reasons for this crisis are multifaceted. As Vice President Kamala Harris explained in an interview with STAT, "systemic disparities and implicit bias" in health care are major contributors.

Continued: https://www.salon.com/2021/04/19/the-link-between-americas-rising-maternal-mortality-rates-and-abortion/

Nigeria – Ogun worries over unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion among youths

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

The Ogun State Government says it will focus and capture more adolescents in its family planning initiatives and programmes due to the increasing number of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortion among the youths.

The Executive Secretary, Primary Health Care Development Board, Dr. Elijah Ogunsola made this revelation in Abeokuta at a meeting with the State’s Technical Working Group on Reproductive Health, to draft the 2020-2024 Costed Implementation Plan (CIP).

Continued: https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2021/03/02/ogun-worries-over-unwanted-pregnancy-unsafe-abortion-among-youths/

02.03.2021

family planning programs

Ogun State goverment

Technical Working Group on Reproductive Health

US anti-abortion “gag rule” hits women hard: what we found in Kenya and Madagascar

February 4, 2021
Sara E Casey, Emily A Maistrellis, Terry McGovern

US President Joe Biden has reversed a Trump administration policy that prohibited US funding for nongovernmental groups that provide or refer patients for abortions.

The Global Gag Rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy, was enacted in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan. Since its introduction, the policy has been instated by each Republican president and rescinded by each Democrat president.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/us-anti-abortion-gag-rule-hits-women-hard-what-we-found-in-kenya-and-madagascar-154434

Health Providers Worldwide Welcome Biden Reversal of Anti-Abortion Rule

By restoring funding cut off by his predecessor, President Biden ended four years of what abortion rights advocates called a concerted assault on women’s reproductive health in the developing world.

By Bhadra Sharma, Ruth Maclean, Oscar Lopez and Rick Gladstone
New York Times
Jan. 29, 2021

KATHMANDU, Nepal — When President Donald J. Trump scrapped tens of millions of dollars in aid to women’s health care providers around the world four years ago, the Family Planning Association of Nepal was forced to dismiss more than 200 people and close clinics in at least four parts of the country, one of Asia’s poorest.

Family planning education and birth-control distribution slowed or stopped in Nepal, which relies heavily on American financial assistance for public health programs. While abortion is legal in the country, the options for safe procedures were abruptly narrowed.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/world/asia/gag-rule-abortion.html

International abortion rule led to lapsed health aid in some African countries, report shows

By Caroline Kelly, CNN
Thu August 20, 2020

(CNN) A State Department review of the Trump administration's policy to bar funding for foreign nonprofits that perform or promote abortions found it has also affected efforts to treat tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS and to deliver nutritional assistance, among other programs, and has had significant impact in sub-Saharan Africa.

The review, published Tuesday, looks at the impact of the Trump administration's 2017 decision to reinstate the "Mexico City Policy" -- which had previously impacted only family planning assistance -- and extend it to all applicable US global health funding under the "Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance" policy.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/20/politics/abortion-global-rule-usaid-state-department/index.html

Reversing Nigeria’s Rate Of Unintended Pregnancies

Reversing Nigeria’s Rate Of Unintended Pregnancies

on March 14, 2020
By Society for Media Advocacy On Health, NIGERIA

Unintended pregnancies, which refer to the number of pregnancies that occurred at a time when women (and their partners) either did not want additional children or wanted to delay the next birth, have been on the surge in Nigeria in recent time.

The 2018 global family planning report revealed that Nigeria recorded over 1.3 million unplanned pregnancies in 2018 and only 13.8 percent of Nigerian women use contraceptives in the year under review.

Continued: https://leadership.ng/2020/03/14/reversing-nigerias-rate-of-unintended-pregnancies/

14.03.2020

Featured

News

Demographic Health Survey

Dr Amina Aminu Dorayi

family planning programs

Izundu Kosi

Pathfinder International

In Mozambique, Canadian aid funds a rare service: safe abortions

In Mozambique, Canadian aid funds a rare service: safe abortions
In an African nation where abortion was only recently legalized, the barriers to access are public education, medical training and money. An $18-million Canadian project is trying to help, and Mozambicans say it’s saving lives

Geoffrey York, Africa Bureau Chief
Manica, Mozambique
Published February 25, 2020

For years, the blood supply at Manica District Hospital was falling to worryingly low levels. So many women needed emergency transfusions, after undergoing dangerous abortions at home, that its blood stocks often became depleted.

“They would come here almost in shock from hemorrhaging,” said Flora Diomba, clinical director of the hospital in central Mozambique. “Women were trying to get rid of their pregnancy at any cost.”

Continued: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-in-mozambique-canadian-aid-funds-a-rare-service-safe-abortions/

Nigeria – Sexual Reproductive Health: Role of Media

Sexual Reproductive Health: Role of Media

IJEOMA UMEH
Dec 2, 2019

The critical role of journalists in bringing Sexual Reproductive Health matters to public attention, making government accountable and promoting good outcomes formed crux of discourse during a two day workshop for media executives on Sexual Reproductive Health Reporting organized by Marie Stopes International Organization Nigeria (MSION) on November 14 to 16 in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital.

The workshop brought to the front burner the grey issues of unmet need, low use of contraceptives and its contribution to maternal mortality in Nigeria and other developing countries.

Continued: https://nigerianobservernews.com/2019/12/sexual-reproductive-health-role-of-media/