SAFAIDS brings ‘She Decides Southern Africa’ to Namibia

SAFAIDS brings ‘She Decides Southern Africa’ to Namibia

By Southern Times
Aug 20,2018
Lahja Nashuuta

Windhoek - Gender activists from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region launched the She Decides Southern Africa campaign on 13 August in Windhoek.

The campaign, part of a global effort to protect women and girls, was launched along with the 10th edition of the SADC Gender Protocol Barometer ahead of the 38th SADC Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government held from 17 to18 August 2018.

Continued: https://southerntimesafrica.com/site/news/safaids-brings-she-decides-southern-africa-to-namibia

How Trump’s abortion gag rule policy impacts the global AIDS crisis

How Trump's abortion gag rule policy impacts the global AIDS crisis

By Rory Smith, CNN
Tue July 31, 2018

(CNN)New findings presented last week at the 22nd International AIDS Conference reveal how President Donald Trump's expansion of the so-called global gag rule -- which restricts US health assistance funding to non-US NGOs that offer abortion services -- is likely to have widescale negative effects on the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Four hundred seventy non-US NGOs working in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS across the world might be subject to the expanded global gag rule, according to new data presented at the conference. These organizations received $900 million from fiscal year 2013 to fiscal year 2015.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/31/health/trumps-gag-rule-effects-hiv-aids-intl/index.html

Trump abortion ‘gag rule’ hurts AIDS fight, advocates say

Trump abortion 'gag rule' hurts AIDS fight, advocates say
The ban on abortion funding hurts clinics that provide a broad range of health services, experts said at the International AIDS Conference.

by Maggie Fox
Jul.27.2018

The Trump administration’s rollout of the so-called global gag rule, which keeps foreign aid from going to groups that provide abortion services, is already damaging efforts to battle the AIDS epidemic, advocates and researchers said Friday.

The new policy is also leading to closures of clinics that provide broad health services, including AIDS drugs, they said at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam. And it could undo years of efforts to build up health systems in developing countries.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/trump-abortion-gag-rule-hurts-aids-fight-advocates-say-n895316

Trump’s Ban On Funding For Overseas Abortions Has Some Little-Known Exceptions

Trump's Ban On Funding For Overseas Abortions Has Some Little-Known Exceptions

June 13, 2018
Nurith Aizenman

It was one of Donald Trump's first acts as President: a Jan. 23, 2017 executive order that cuts off U.S. support to foreign groups unless they promise not to "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning." This includes providing patients with referrals or information about the procedure, even if those activities are funded by non-U.S. government sources.

Every Republican president since Ronald Reagan has adopted a variant of the "Mexico City policy" — so called after the city where it was first announced. And every Democratic successor has reversed it.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/06/13/616906884/trumps-ban-on-funding-for-overseas-abortions-has-some-little-known-exceptions

Ireland, Enthusiastic About Gay Rights, Frets Over Abortion

Ireland, Enthusiastic About Gay Rights, Frets Over Abortion

By Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura
May 20, 2018

CARRIGTWOHILL, Ireland — When it comes to the Roman Catholic Church, Judy Donnelly has been something of a rebel over the years. Like much of Ireland, she supported contraception, voted in a referendum to legalize divorce and, three years ago, backed same-sex marriage.

That last vote was joyously celebrated around the country and the world, placing Ireland, which elected its first gay prime minister last year, at the vanguard of what many called a social revolution.

But when it comes to the historic decision on legalizing abortion, which will be put to the nation on Friday, Ms. Donnelly says she will vote no, as will enough of her countrymen and women, including lawmakers across the political divide, to throw the referendum result into doubt. Polls for the May 25 vote have narrowed so tightly in recent weeks that “yes” and “no” campaigners are not able to confidently predict a victory.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/20/world/europe/ireland-gay-rights-abortion.html

Nigeria – ‘Global Gag Rule affecting NGOs’

‘Global Gag Rule affecting NGOs’
Posted By: OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA
May 4, 2018

Olayide Akanni is the Executive Director of Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) on the prevention, care and control of HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis. In this interview, she tells OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA how the Mexico City Policy, also called Global Gag Rule (GGR), introduced by the United States government will affect NGOs.

She has worked in many non-governmental organisatons (NGOs) over the years. Ms Olayide Akanni worked, among others, on Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS), African Civil Society Coalition on HIV/AIDS in promoting HIV/AIDS and TB treatment literacy, building capacity for media and civil society groups, and monitoring universal access to prevention, treatment and care services.

Continued: http://thenationonlineng.net/global-gag-rule-affecting-ngos/

Trump’s War on Maternal Health

Trump’s War on Maternal Health
Mar 19, 2018
Anne-Marie Slaughter, Elizabeth Radin

Around the world, women continue to die from complications arising in childbirth, even though maternal mortality is a problem that we know how to solve. What is missing is not the know-how, but funding and political leaders who are brave enough to put women's health before partisan politics.

WASHINGTON, DC – In December 2014, the cover of Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” issue featured Salome Karwah, a nursing assistant who not only survived the Ebola epidemic in her native Liberia that year, but also helped waves of patients arriving at her Ebola ward. Karwah was a hero who met a tragic end. One year ago, she died from complications in childbirth, a killer that every month takes twice as many lives as the entire Ebola epidemic.

Continued: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-republicans-maternal-mortality-by-anne-marie-slaughter-and-elizabeth-radin-2018-03?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_todayworld

US abortion funding rule hurting health overseas, aid groups argue

US abortion funding rule hurting health overseas, aid groups argue

By Nicole Gaouette, CNN
Thu March 8, 2018

Washington (CNN)Less than a year after the Trump administration moved to cut funding for international organizations that provide women's reproductive health care and abortions, aid groups report they are beginning to see a host of negative impacts.

In Nigeria, health groups found greater difficulty accessing contraception, reduced access to health services, and an increasingly hostile environment for sexual and reproductive health rights.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/08/politics/global-gag-early-health-impact/index.html

Trump’s Abortion Gag Rule Is Hurting Reproductive Rights Around the Globe

Trump’s Abortion Gag Rule Is Hurting Reproductive Rights Around the Globe
This administration’s version of the Global Gag Rule could impact up to 26 million women worldwide.

By Michelle Chen
March 6, 2018

In January, women marked one year of Trump’s presidency by rallying in protest, showing they refused to be silenced by Trump’s oppressive regime. But January also saw the first anniversary of the Global Gag rule, the administration’s ban on international-aid funding for groups linked to abortion-related family-planning services.

The gag rule does not directly ban abortion-related services in aid-receiving communities but, rather, links major funding from USAID to strict rules on avoiding facilitation or promotion of abortion in any way. USAID is currently a dominant contributor to global family-planning programs, supporting some $600 million in grants for service providers within a multibillion-dollar framework of global health aid. Trump’s gag rule revives Reagan-era strictures on services, and expands them an estimated 16 times, according to the Global Fund for Women.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/trumps-abortion-gag-rule-is-hurting-reproductive-rights-around-the-globe/

Mozambique: ‘Women and girls will die’: Trump’s foreign aid rule on abortion

'Women and girls will die': Trump's foreign aid rule on abortion
2017-12-08

In the heat of a late September day in Mozambique, southern Africa, we started filming a meeting of young charity volunteers. They had poured heart and soul into an ambitious project aimed at combating HIV and spreading a message about contraception in the province of Gaza.

Then, out of the blue, and as our cameras rolled, came an unexpected announcement: the volunteers' work was to end because of a new policy from the United States.

Continued at source: https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/women-and-girls-will-die-trumps-foreign-aid-rule-on-abortion-20171208