This weekend, the Christian Science Monitor published an article called, “Amid war Afghanistan trains thousands of new midwives.” The article says:
Pashtoon Azfar, head of the Afghan Midwives Association, says the number of trained midwives has grown nearly six-fold since rebuilding effort in Afghanistan began. “In 2002, we had 467 midwives, but no one [...]

Today, Women’s eNews published a story called, “Water Is Key to Reducing Maternal Mortality.”
Water use has grown at more than twice the rate of the world’s population over the past century, mostly for agricultural purposes, according to the 2009 United Nations Millennium Development Goals Report. This has left 884 million people at risk for–or already [...]

Yesterday, the world’s largest malaria conference, The 5th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Pan-African Conference, opened with a call for substantial and sustained support for research to guide evidence-based policies and the development of new malaria tools, which together could save countless lives. Watch this interview video with Dr. Rose Leke, University of Yaounde 1, Cameroon, where she discusses [...]

Below is the speech delivered by Imane Khachani, MD, Msc, from the Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights for the High-Level Meeting at the International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.

Dr Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA, Mr Bert Koenders, Minister for Development and Cooperation of the Netherlands, Mr Tedros [...]

Today is Blog Action Day! It’s an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. This year the focus of the day is Climate Change. As we mentioned last week, [...]

More than two million infants and women die worldwide each year from childbirth complications, outnumbering child deaths from malaria and HIV/AIDS, according to a new study released at the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) world congress.
Over 2,000 gynecologists, obstetricians and other health workers from around the world came together this week for the FIGO 19th [...]

Tens of thousands of Indian women and girls are dying during pregnancy and childbirth, despite government programs guaranteeing free obstetric health care, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a newly released report.
The report, No Tally of the Anguish, describes the harrowing conditions that lead to devastating maternal mortality in India. Despite national commitments to decrease incidents [...]

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. As the international community gears up for the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, the reproductive health and rights community is starting to look closely at the links between RH and climate change. One area that seems to be [...]

First Ladies have a unique position… they have ability to whisper in the ears of some of the most important people in the nation. And through these passionate and influential advocates, there’s the opportunity to address some of the biggest challenges facing girls and women.
Women Deliver, along with the Global Health Council, sponsored a breakfast [...]

This blog-post was originally published at Conversations for a Better World, a shared blog on population, gender, and health.
“Ask for what you want. Take what you get. Then, use what you’ve got to get what you want.”
This is what Dr. Fred Sai said about international development at a global conference last week, the first time I [...]