Victory (is) in the House!
June 25, 2007
Population Action International celebrated an important victory for women and their families last week, as Congress passed a Foreign Operations Appropriations bill (H.R. 2764) that contained language correcting some of the most egregious aspects of U.S. international sexual and reproductive health policy.
Zealotry vs Lives
June 18, 2007
Family planning and reproductive health supporters are on the verge of a very important show-down in the House of Representatives on the issues of access to contraceptives and abstinence-only HIV/AIDS prevention restrictions
Appropriations Bill Includes Life-Saving Reproductive Health Provisions
June 11, 2007
With its Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs' approval of the fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill, the House of Representatives took a significant step toward grounding U.S. aid for family planning and HIV/AIDS relief in sound evidence.
Golden Opportunity to Correct PEPFAR's Fatal Flaw
June 4, 2007
PAI was thrilled to hear President Bush announce last week that he is requesting an additional 30 billion in funding for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) over the next five years. This historic effort has enormous potential to save millions of lives.
ONE Big Oversight
May 29, 2007
As the U.S. Presidential campaign season begins to heat up, a number of advocacy groups are beginning to develop policy platforms for candidates to support and endorse in their campaigns. The ONE Campaign, which develops these platforms for policymakers around the world on the topics of poverty and HIV/AIDS, is putting together such a document right now. Regrettably, rumor has it that ONE's platform will give only passing mention of one of the most effective methods of fighting poverty and hunger, curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS, and reducing child and maternal mortality: family planning and reproductive health care.
Family Planning Key to Curbing Child Mortality
May 21, 2007
Maternal and infant mortality have declined in Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines according to a new report released by Save the Children. Much of this good news can be attributed to access to family planning services which give women the ability to space their children at healthy intervals and plan the size of their families. The successes of these five countries show how crucial financial and political commitments to family planning are to curbing child mortality, as well as meeting other development goals.
Fight Against HIV/AIDS Depends on Both PEPFAR and US-Supported Family Planning
May 14, 2007
As the HIV/AIDS epidemic increasingly affects women it is more important than ever that HIV/AIDS programs coordinate with and complement family planning and reproductive health programs. The question is: How can this be done most effectively?
U.S. Cuts Its Own HIV/AIDS Strategy Off At The Knees
May 7, 2007
Experts, activists and government officials agree on one thing: Meeting the needs of women is paramount to reducing worldwide HIV infections. Unfortunately, the U.S. response to achieving this goal has been at cross purposes. Rather than playing a starring role in reducing HIV infection in women and children, family planning programs are suffering from diminishing or a total lack of U.S. funding in almost all of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief's (PEPFAR) fifteen “focus countries.” In effect, while the U.S. response to HIV/AIDS grows, its support for the very health programs where women have sought care for over four decades has lost considerable ground.
Male Circumcision: Another HIV Prevention Method Competing for Limited Funding?
April 30, 2007
Male circumcision, which has been shown to reduce a man's risk of contracting HIV by up to 65%, should be made available in countries highly affected by AIDS, according to the WHO and UNAIDS. Used in addition to other proven HIV prevention methods – especially those focused on protecting women – circumcision is proving to be another effective weapon to fight the spread of HIV; the latest tool in a growing arsenal of prevention methods that will face limited prevention resources due to the large abstinence-until-marriage spending requirement in PEPFAR. This earmark should be repealed to give countries that have the most to gain by promoting circumcision adequate resources with which to support this effort.
Earth Day 2007: Improving the Status of Women Will Make a World of Difference
April 23, 2007
As we celebrate the 37th Earth Day, the world is increasingly-albeit belatedly-focusing on how to address the growing problem of human-induced climate change and the environmental destruction that contributes to it. One critical, but often overlooked, part of any comprehensive program to tackle climate change is addressing gender inequality-particularly in terms of reproductive health-in the developing world.
