Reproductive Health Supplies in Six Countries: Themes and Entry Points in Policies, Systems and Funding, identifies the challenges faced by reproductive health programs in Bangladesh, Ghana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Tanzania, and Uganda. Funding constraints, combined with a weak commitment to prioritize the purchase of reproductive health supplies on the side of the recipient countries and a limited capacity for distribution, have created an unstable environment for supplies worldwide. The report, and its six associated case studies, calls for renewed attention to reproductive health supplies to avoid putting the health of millions of women at risk.

In 1994 the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo produced estimates of the resource requirements to achieve universal access to a range of population-related programs. It was estimated that by the year 2010, it would cost US$29.2 billion annually in current dollars to achieve the costed interventions of the ICPD by 2015.By 2008 a consensus developed that the 1994 ICPD cost estimates were out of date. Escalating need, rising drug and supply costs, and the scale of the resources needed to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic undermined the relevance of the original estimates.There was also a need to integrate post-1994 information regarding the set of interventions that made up a complete package of reproductive health services, the status of this care in developing countries, and also its cost and current needs.

The building blocks of the ABC (Abstinence, Be faithful and use Condoms) approach to HIV prevention have existed for many years and were implemented in independent ways in various countries. This report chronicles the history of the ABCs and advocates a comprehensive approach to HIV prevention.

More than 25 years into the AIDS epidemic, prevention remains a top priority in the continued fight against new HIV infections. Today, new HIV infections outnumber persons receiving treatment by nearly three to one. Comprehensive HIV Prevention: Condoms and Contraceptives Count provides evidence that condoms and contraceptives must be promoted as scientifically proven components of comprehensive HIV prevention

A Measure of Survival: Calculating Women's Sexual and Reproductive Risk classifies 130 developing and developed countries (comprising 96 percent of the world population) into five categories from highest to lowest sexual and reproductive risk for women based on indicators of access to reproductive health service and outcomes.

Money matters and policies count. Ten years ago, at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, the international community endorsed an approach to improving reproductive health based on meeting individual needs and respecting human rights. The 179 nations present agreed on a plan for achieving universal access to basic reproductive health care by 2015-and on the financial resources needed to make it a reality. They pledged to share the costs, estimated at US$18.5 billion annually by the year 2005, and donor nations committed to providing one-third of that total.

The Shape of Things to Come provides valuable new insights into the programs and investments that can make countries "healthier"-more stable and peaceful, more democratic, and better able to provide for the needs of their citizens. It places all countries into one of four major age structures with attendant characteristics, benefits and risks associated with governance, security and economic development.

Since 2001, the U.S. Congress has encouraged the U.S. Agency for International Development – USAID, the agency that dispenses foreign development assistance – to implement family planning and related reproductive health programs in areas where biological diversity is threatened and where species are endangered. Congress has never specified a funding level for these activities, which are supported by funds appropriated for international family planning programs, amounting to more than US$400 million annually in recent years. Over the past few years the agency has allocated between $1 million and $2 million annually to fund such projects and to explore the implications of the population-environment linkage as it applies to the conservation of critical ecosystems and the biodiversity they shelter.

Vietnam-a vibrant country of 84 million people-is experiencing rapid economic growth and unprecedented societal change ushered in by globalization. This is posing interesting possibilities and challenges for U.S. assistance and policy. In June 2004, the Bush Administration named Vietnam the fifteenth “focus” country under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Vietnam is the sole PEPFAR focus country in Asia, with twelve in Africa and two in Latin America and the Caribbean. The HIV/AIDS epidemic here differs greatly from that of its African counterparts: HIV/AIDS prevalence is quite low and is concentrated among populations which engage in high risk behaviors.

On January 22, 2001 - his second day in office - President George W. Bush announced the reinstatement of the restrictions on overseas health care organizations in effect during the mid-1980s and early 1990s, commonly known as the "Mexico City Policy." The policy reversal has had serious ramifications for U.S. support for international family planning and reproductive health programs around the world.