World Contraception Day: Body Calls on Stakeholders to Make Access to Modern Contraception Easy

World Contraception Day: Body Calls on Stakeholders to Make Access to Modern Contraception Easy

Sept 26, 2018

A body made up of journalists, the Network of Reproductive Health Journalists of Nigeria (NRHJN), a key advocacy stakeholder has called on government and other stakeholders to join hands in closing the wide gap of access to all forms of modern method of contraception.

In a press statement to mark the World Contraception Day 2018, the network said the promotion of safe, accessible modern family planning methods at this point in time in Nigeria, is therefore very crucial towards achieving the global goal of Family Planning by 2020 (FP2020) and the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Continued: https://oraclenews.ng/world-contraception-day-body-calls-on-stakeholders-to-make-access-to-modern-contraception-easy/

Her future depends on our actions today

Her future depends on our actions today
by Francoise Girard
International Women's Health Coalition
Tuesday, 11 July 2017

Family planning programs still tend to focus on married women, leaving adolescent girls without access to contraceptives

At 1.8 billion, the world’s youth population is at an all-time high. Many are young women and girls who are sexually active and want to prevent pregnancy, stay healthy, and plan their futures.

Yet information and services about contraception remain out of reach. Without that access, these girls are more likely to drop out of or be expelled from school, and they are more susceptible to unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, early and forced marriage, and sexually transmitted infections including HIV.

Continued at source: Reuters: http://news.trust.org/item/20170710104937-vm6ri

Contraception is Lifesaving but Often Out of Reach

Contraception is Lifesaving but Often Out of Reach
Family Planning Donors Should Assess Effects of US Funding Restrictions

Nisha Varia
Advocacy Director, Women’s Rights Division
July 10, 2017

Tomorrow, the Family Planning Summit will take place in London. There, governments, donors, and civil society will meet to review progress and recommit to enabling 120 million more women worldwide to access a modern form of contraception by 2020.

Family planning is lifesaving. Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the second leading cause of death for adolescents ages 15 to 19 globally and cause 800 women and girls to die each day. The World Health Organization estimates that at least 22,000 women die from abortion-related complications each year.

Continued at source: Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/07/10/contraception-lifesaving-often-out-reach

In London, Reviving Ambitious Goals: Q&A with Duff Gillespie

In London, Reviving Ambitious Goals: Q&A with Duff Gillespie

July 10, 2017
Dayna Kerecman Myers

United around the goal of expanding contraceptive access for women and girls in the world’s poorest countries, family planning leaders convene today in London. The meeting—co-hosted by the UK Government, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in close partnership with the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) Secretariat—marks the 5-year anniversary of the inaugural London Summit on Family Planning. Attendees at that first Summit set an ambitious goal: to empower 120 million additional women and girls in the 69 lowest-income countries to use modern contraception by 2020. Today, they aim to take stock of the progress and obstacles, re-energize family planning champions, and confront the ever-growing challenge of fueling the ambitious goal amid a massive funding gap.

Continued at source: Global Health Now: https://www.globalhealthnow.org/2017-07/london-reviving-ambitious-goals-qa-duff-gillespie

Canada: In the world’s worst crises, access to sexual and reproductive health and rights is paramount

In the world’s worst crises, access to sexual and reproductive health and rights is paramount

As countries prepare to meet in London for the Family Planning 2020 conference on July 11, Canada has a unique opportunity to remind the international community that promoting sexual and reproductive rights during humanitarian crises saves lives — just like clean water, shelter and food.

By: Gillian Barth, Sandeep Prasad
July 7, 2017

Every day, some 2,000 refugees pour into northwestern Uganda from South Sudan. Fearing conflict, over 600,000 refugees — mostly women and children — have migrated this past year alone. South Sudan is the fastest-growing refugee crisis, but the pattern is not isolated to the world’s youngest country.

In Yemen, more than half of women’s demand for contraception is unmet. Along with the reality of contraceptive failure, this led to over 550,000 unintended pregnancies in 2016. Women who want access to contraceptive and safe abortion services don’t have such a choice.

As the international community scrambles to meet basic needs like water, shelter, food and sanitation, access to sexual and reproductive health and rights — including abortion — are often treated as low priority. The consequences are grave.

Continued at source: Open Canada: https://www.opencanada.org/features/worlds-worst-crises-access-sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-rights-paramount/

UK: Women are having abortions because their contraception doesn’t work

Women are having abortions because their contraception doesn't work

Ann Furedi, Chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas)

7 July 2017

Women who have abortions are not careless about contraception. They are not ignorant and they are not generally unable to get hold of it. The uncomfortable truth is that contraception lets women down.

Yes, sometimes we don’t use it properly – a condom is bound to fail if you don’t get it out of the packet, and you can’t expect the pill to be reliable unless you take it reliably. But that’s only part of the story.

Continued at source: The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/women-having-abortions-contraception-doesnt-work/

Possible impact of a Trump Presidency on Global SRHR

22 November 2016, EuroNGOs

With the election of Donald Trump as the next President of the United States, questions are being raised on what this could mean for women’s rights worldwide. While the views of President-elect Trump may be somewhat ambiguous, the views on SRHR of people close to him are very clear.

For example, Vice-President-elect Mike Pence is staunchly anti-choice and does not believe in the utility of contraception. In addition, Donald Trump has appointed two figures to his Transition team who are leaders in the anti-choice and anti-LGBT movements. They are Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn who led the Congressional inquiry into the spurious allegations against Planned Parenthood in 2015 and Martin Blackwell of the Family Research Council, a group designated as a ‘hate-group’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its positions on LGBT people.

[continued at link]
Source: EuroNGOs