In releasing its 2012 State of World Population report yesterday the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) made a plain and succinct case for family planning:  having children by choice, not by chance, leads to healthier families and communities.  But as common sense as that may seem to most of us, too many women in the world still have children by chance, not by choice.   As Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA, said yesterday, “Family planning is not a privilege, but a right. Yet, too many women—and men—are denied this human right.”

Currently there are 222 million women in the developing world who want to avoid a pregnancy in the next two years, but who are not using a modern contraceptive method. Meeting their need for contraceptives would cost little—an additional $4.1 billion a year—but the impact would be enormous:   54 million fewer unintended pregnancies, resulting in 26 million fewer abortions, 16 million of which would be unsafe.  And that, in turn, would make a world of difference. As Dr. Osotimehin put it yesterday:

“Family planning has a positive multiplier effect on development. Not only does the ability for a couple to choose when and how many children to have help lift nations out of poverty, but it is also one of the most effective means of empowering women. Women who use contraception are generally healthier, better educated, more empowered in their households and communities and more economically productive. Women’s increased labour-force participation boosts nations’ economies.”

The report notes, however, that access to contraceptives is just one of many barriers that women face when they seek to space or limit their pregnancies.  Poverty and gender inequality are among the biggest barriers. In order to ensure everyone is able to access to family planning UNFPA recommends a multi-pronged approach that would: strengthen health systems, introduce or enforce law that protect individuals’ rights, reduce poverty, challenge harmful traditional practices, eliminate child marriage, end discrimination, remove logistical impediments, and ensure a broad range of supplies.

In addressing these barriers the global community needs to make universal access to family planning a higher priority and recognize that access to family planning is a human right:  adults and youth, wherever they live, should be able to decide the number, timing and spacing of their children.  We still have a long ways to go, however, in making that right a reality.   In far too many countries, it is still a privilege, not a right.

Posted by Jennie Wetter, Director of Public Policy

Listen to the clamor this year from the religious right and you would think that most people of faith reject family planning as a moral wrong and a social evil.  Hardly.  Public opinion polls have consistently shown that support for the use of contraceptives knows no religious bounds.  Most people of faith, like their secular counterparts, believe that women should be able to prevent an unplanned pregnancy.  And that is true of practicing Catholics and Protestants alike.

That’s why it was refreshing on Monday of this week to see evangelical leaders at the National Press Club trumpeting their support for family planning.  On a panel moderated by columnist E.J. Dionne, Richard Cizik, the President of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, unveiled “A Call to Christian Common Ground on Family Planning, and Maternal and Child Health.”

Making it clear that contraception is morally laudable in the view of most evangelicals, the group’s statement warned against conflating the use of contraception methods with abortion:

The association and the confusion of family planning with abortion has caused intense religious opposition by Christians and others with the result that opposition has extended not just to abortion, but to family planning as a whole.  This confused opposition to family planning is an international phenomenon, and has hindered funding and support of desperately needed family planning services both in the United States and around the world.

The statement went on to issue a special call to “pro-life” Christians, urging them to back off their opposition to the funding of organizations that provide both contraception and abortion services.  Citing the crucial role contraception plays in preventing abortions, the statement urged pro-life advocates to “consider how a deeply moral commitment, focusing on the flourishing of all human beings made in God’s image, actually ought to lead to support for family planning.”

Monday’s National Press Club event will do little or nothing to change public attitudes, but it may give faith leaders more courage in speaking out publicly about their support for government-supported family planning programs. In the past year, the religious right has dominated the political discourse, making it appear that the broader electorate has taken a sharp turn to the right on contraception.  Fundamentally, however, nothing has changed.  It’s another case of a zealous tail attempting to wag the dog.

In his opening remarks, Cizik readily acknowledged that many religious leaders are reluctant to speak out.  He said that many faith leaders regard public support for family planning as a “third rail.”

But unless more people of faith—like Cizic—dare to speak out publicly, the religious right will continue to gain ground in their efforts to shut down family planning clinics. It may not reflect the thinking of rank-and-file Republicans or the broader faith community, but the U.S. House of Representatives wants to cut all funding for Title X, the federal program that helps to provide low-income women with access to birth control.   And spurred on by the religious right, several governors and legislatures have slashed state funding for clinics serving low-income women.

Sooner or later, social conservatives may win out against family planning, and if they do, there will be no winners. Women and their families will lose.  Maternal health will suffer, and as several panelists made clear, it will lead to more abortions, not fewer. Those religious zealots who argue differently are blinded by their own convictions.

Several of the speakers at the National Press Club, including Marcia Pally, a New York University sociologist, argued that, contrary to the all the campaign rhetoric, support for family planning among evangelicals and other religious groups is actually increasing, particularly among younger voters.

That’s good news, but before it’s too late, somebody better tell the politicians.

Posted by Robert Walker, President

On this day, October 11, when the UN and the world observe the first International Day of the Girl, we have a chilling reminder of just how far we have to go before girls achieve true gender equality.  Malala Yousufzai, a 14-year old Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban for daring to advocate for the education of girls, is fighting for her life in a Peshawar military hospital. While hopes are high that she will survive, she remains in critical condition.

Leaders from around the world today will talk about the vital importance of girls’ right to education, but all the words in the world will not speak louder than the grim tragedy that has befallen Malala.  In Pakistan, as in many other developing countries, girls lack far behind boys in educational attainment.

Child marriage is still common in many rural areas of Pakistan, including the Swat Valley, where Malala was shot.  Even in these modern times, tradition and culture conspire to deprive young girls of their adolescence, their freedom, their schooling and their hopes for a better life. In some areas of the world, including some portions of Pakistan, girls are transferred to another family in the settlement of debt.

But when it comes to gender equity or child marriage, Pakistan is far from the worst offender.  Across the border in Afghanistan girls have gone to jail or been killed for the “offense” of being raped.

Four years ago, the world rallied around Nujood Ali, a young Yemeni girl who was married off at the age of ten to a man in his thirties.  Beaten by her in-laws and raped by her husband, she walked into a local court and asked the judge to grant her a divorce on the grounds that the law in Yemen forbade her husband from having intercourse with her until she was of “suitable” age.  To the shock and relief of the world, Nujood Ali was granted the divorce.  Today, she is back in school and an internationally recognized advocate for the education of girls.

In the four years that have passed since Nujood Ali’s case seized the conscience of the world, a growing number of world leaders have joined the fight against child marriage.  A few years ago a distinguished group of former world leaders formed a group called the Elders, and subsequently launched a global campaign called “Girls not Brides.”

The momentum generated by that campaign has raised hopes that the practice of child marriage can be abolished, but despite broad acknowledgement that child marriage is a violation of human rights, the world has a long ways to go in ending the practice.   Every year, an estimated 10 million girls worldwide are married before they turn 18, often with no say in the matter.

Child marriage is one of the principal reasons that fertility rates remain high in many of the least developed countries.  It’s also a major contributor to maternal and infant mortality.  Physically, many girl brides are not mature enough to bear children, or the children they bear are born prematurely.  And by removing girls from school, child marriage perpetuates the cycle of poverty and gender oppression.

PBS just ran a television special based on Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, the widely acclaimed book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.  While the book and the documentary focus, understandably, on the injustice of gender inequality, they also highlight the enormous benefits, social and economic, that would flow from educating girls and giving them full equality.

As tragic as the shooting of Malala Yousufzai was, we must turn our collective outrage into constructive action.  On this day, the first International Day of the Girl, let us all resolve to turn her personal tragedy into a global rallying cry for girls, their education, and their right to pursue their own hopes and dreams, free from the tyranny of gender inequality.

Posted by Robert J. Walker, President

As someone who has worked on both sides of the political aisle, I often get asked why more Republicans are not supporting family planning?   With the GOP Convention in Tampa about to go prime time, that’s an excellent question.

There was a time, of course, when the GOP fully embraced the idea of making birth control more widely available both at home and abroad.  In 1968, Rep. George H. W. Bush, told the U.S. House of Representatives:

The federal government, along with many state governments, has taken steps to accelerate family-planning activities in the United States, but we need to do more. We have a clear precedent: When the Salk vaccine was discovered, large-scale programs were undertaken to distribute it. I see no reason why similar programs of education and family-planning assistance—all on a voluntary basis—should not be instituted in the United States on a massive scope. It is imperative that we do so: not only to fight poverty at its roots, not only to cut down on our welfare costs, but also to eliminate the needless suffering of unwanted children and overburdened parents.

The following year, President Richard Nixon actively supported the creation of Title X, the federal program that has given tens of millions of uninsured and low-income individuals access to family planning services. When he signed the bill into law, he said:

It is noteworthy that this landmark legislation on family planning and population has had strong bipartisan support. I am confident that by working together-at Federal, State, and local levels–we can achieve the goal of providing adequate family planning services within the next 5 years to all those who want them but cannot afford them.

But while Nixon was proud to sign Title X into law, many Republicans today would be just as happy de-funding it.  Last year, in fact, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to do just that even though research suggests that in 2008 Title X-supported centers helped prevent 973,000 unintended pregnancies, which would have resulted in 432,600 unintended births and 406,200 abortions.

For a party that is overwhelmingly opposed to abortion it is both tragic and ironic that so many Republicans want to abolish the federal and state funding sources that help women avert unintended or unwanted pregnancies.

GOP opposition to international family planning assistance is less widespread, but here too many in the party have drifted into the opposition camp.  But why?  Michael Gerson, a prominent columnist and a speechwriter for former President George W. Bush, wrote a column last year that made a persuasive case for international family planning assistance.  Writing from the Democratic Republic of Congo, here’s what Gerson had to say:

 The very words “family planning” light up the limbic centers of American politics. From a distance, it seems like a culture war showdown. Close up, in places such as Bweremana, family planning is undeniably pro-life. When births are spaced more than 24 months apart, both mothers and children are dramatically more likely to survive. Family planning results not only in fewer births, but in fewer at-risk births, including those early and late in a woman’s fertility. When contraceptive prevalence is low, about 70 percent of all births involve serious risk. When prevalence is high, the figure is 35 percent.

Gerson went on to conclude:

Contraceptives do not solve every problem. But women in Bweremana want access to voluntary family planning for the same reasons as women elsewhere: to avoid high-risk pregnancies, to deliver healthy children and to better care for the children they have. And this is a pro-life cause.

In 2008, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, George W. Bush’s Director of the CIA, gave a speech at Kansas State University in which he warned about the dangers of rapid population growth in failing countries.  He said:

Today, there are about 6.7 billion people sharing our planet. By mid-century, the best estimates point to a world population of more than 9 billion. Most of that growth will occur in countries least able to sustain it, a situation that will likely fuel instability and extremism, both in those areas and beyond.

Many poor, already fragile states — where governance is difficult today — will grow rapidly. In Afghanistan, Liberia, Niger, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the population is expected to triple by mid-century. The number of people in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Yemen will more than double. Furthermore, all of those countries will have large concentrations of young people. If their basic freedoms and basic needs — food, housing, education, employment, and so on — are not met, they could be easily attracted to violence, civil unrest, or extremism.

Gerson and Hayden are not the only GOP voices willing to back international family planning assistance.   As Secretary of State, Colin Powell was quite supportive.  Indeed, I have a nagging suspicion that many prominent Republicans are privately ashamed of seeing some of their fellow party members publicly vilifying birth control and contraception.

Actually, it’s more than a nagging suspicion.  In recent weeks, I have talked privately to a number of Republicans, including some savvy political operatives, who are privately aghast at what Santorum and other social conservatives are saying about birth control.  Many would like to speak out, but fear that they would be shouted down by the social conservatives.  That’s too bad.  Their voices need to be heard at the Republican National Convention and beyond.

Posted by Robert J. Walker, President

Great news! Starting today 47 million more women will have access to additional preventative care services without a co-pay. When the Affordable Care Act was passed into law in March 2010, one of its goals was to make preventative care available to all Americans by making it available with no co-pay. So far the Affordable Care Act has ensured that women have access to mammograms and cervical cancer screenings with no co-pays. The 8 provisions that go into effect today go even further to ensuring that women have control over their health.

All new healthcare plans starting on or after August 1, 2012 must now cover with no co-pay:

1. All FDA approved birth control and birth control counseling
2. Annual well-woman visits
3. Screening for gestational diabetes
4. Domestic and Interpersonal violence and screening
5. Breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling
6. Testing for HPV (human papillomavirus)
7. Counseling for sexually transmitted infections
8. Counseling and screening for HIV

The changes are long overdue:  the United States ranks below the vast majority of developed nations in both maternal and infant mortality. Women who have access to birth control are better able to time and space their pregnancies, which leads to better maternal and infant health and lower maternal mortality rates.

The new coverage mandate will also help lower the U.S.’s unintended pregnancy rate, which currently accounts for 37% of all live births. By giving women access to birth control with no co-pay more women will get pregnant by choice, not chance.

These new guidelines take women’s health care decisions out of the hands of politicians and insurance companies, and puts the power where it belongs: with women. Increased access to preventative care services will have a large impact on the lives of these women by promoting better health outcomes making today a day for women to celebrate.

Make your voice heard and thank President Obama for his leadership on women’s reproductive health in the Affordable Care Act!

Posted by Jennie Wetter, Director of Public Policy

Over the past few decades we have made a lot of progress in reducing teenage pregnancy rates and improving the reproductive health of women in the United States, but an appropriations bill that is now moving in the U.S. House of Representatives would do much to reverse that momentum.  The bill would eliminate Title X funding for family planning clinics and slash funding for comprehensive sex education programs in schools.  But to make matters worse, it would boost funding for abstinence-only education programs. Is Congress unaware that these programs have been discredited, or is it simply choosing to turn a blind eye?

Peer-reviewed, published research shows no evidence that abstinence-only programs delay sexual initiation, reduce STIs, or prevent pregnancies. While the programs include discussions of values and character building, they neglect to acknowledge the fact that many teens will become sexually active. They rarely provide information on even the most basic topics in human sexuality, such as puberty, reproductive anatomy, and sexual health. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences has recommended eliminating all federal, state, and local requirements mandating abstinence-only in our schools. How can we expect youth to make smart decisions about sex when we deny them the information they need to make informed choices?

According to the Guttmacher Institute, every year sees nine million new cases of STIs among 15-24 year olds, and an estimated 750,000 pregnancies and 190,000 abortions among 15-19 year olds. These statistics have grave implications: STIs can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancies, reproductive cancers, and spontaneous abortions or still births. Adolescent girls who become mothers are also less likely to complete high school. Their children may experience poorer health outcomes, lower education attainment, and higher rates of adolescent childbearing. Teen pregnancies also contribute to higher welfare costs. In 2004, public costs associated with teen birth amounted to at least $9.1 billion.

We need comprehensive sex education to lower these numbers and improve the health of our young people. Credible research proves that comprehensive sex education, or “abstinence-plus” programs as they are sometimes called, can effect positive behavioral changes and reduce STIs. Evidence shows that they increase contraception use, delay the onset of sexual activity, reduce the number of sexual partners, and curb the frequency of sexual activity. Because they recognize that many teens will become sexually active, these programs enable responsible decision-making by teaching medically accurate and age appropriate information on healthy relationships, contraception, and STIs.

Public opinion polls show parents of middle and high school students actually support a comprehensive sexuality program; 93% and 91%, respectively, believe it’s very important or somewhat important to have sex education in the school curriculum. Another 72% and 65%, respectively, believe the federal government should fund comprehensive sex education. Public support extends beyond parents to include most demographic categories: Democrats, Republicans, Independents, evangelical Christians, and, yes, even Catholics.

Sex education is an inherently sensitive issue, but we ignore at our peril the public health benefits of providing comprehensive sex education.  Promoting abstinence-only programs may make us feel more righteous, but the programs do a poor job of curbing sexual activity and preventing unintended pregnancies.  And that’s the bottom line.

We should look to Europe, where greater, easier access to sexual health information and services has resulted in better sexual health outcomes. Societal openness and pragmatic government policies have produced lower pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates, a lower percentage of the adult population diagnosed with HIV/ AIDS, and a lower incidence of STIs than in the United States.

In an effort to shift the social paradigm in this country, Advocates for Youth has a program entitled, “Rights. Respect. Responsibility.”  That’s the correct approach.  We owe it to our young people to provide them with the information they need to make informed and responsible choices.

Posted by Lucy Dicks-Mireaux, Public Policy Fellow

Since Congress funds the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), maybe it should take a moment to read the latest CDC report on unintended pregnancies and births.

According to a new report released yesterday from CDC, 37% of all live births in the United States are from pregnancies that were unintended at the time of conception. The unintended pregnancy rate, when including all pregnancy outcomes (live birth, miscarriage, still birth, and abortion), was estimated to be even higher at 50%. That means that half of all pregnancies in the United States are not intended at the time of conception.  The statistics are even more frightening when you look at unintended pregnancies among teens:  87% of all births are unintended at the time of conception.  The CDC reported a decrease in unintended births among non-Hispanic white women who were married or who were formerly married, but the growth in unintended births among unmarried women kept the overall unintended pregnancy rate unchanged.

The new data show that “large and persistent differences are seen in unintended births by income and education.” Women with a college education have a 7% unintended pregnancy rate, while women who did not complete high school have a 35% unintended pregnancy rate.  Income was also a significant factor. Women making 400% or more over the poverty line have an unintended pregnancy rate of 9%, while women below the poverty line have an unintended pregnancy rate of 38%. Not surprisingly perhaps, 60% of women with an unintended pregnancy did not use contraception.  It’s disturbing, however, that the number one reason they gave for not using contraception was they did not think they could get pregnant. These results demonstrate that lower-income women, in particular, need comprehensive sexual education and improved access to family planning services and information.

Unfortunately, the U.S. House of Representatives did not get the CDC’s message.  Last week the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Subcommittee marked up the FY2013 funding bill and slashed support for family planning and sex education in the schools.  The bill, which was passed out of the subcommittee on a largely party line vote, would almost certainly increase unintended pregnancies and births.

As approved by the Subcommittee, the 2012 funding bill would:

• Eliminate Title X, which provides funding for family planning clinics serving low-income households;
• Defund Planned Parenthood and any of its affiliates, unless the organizations certify that they will not perform abortions or provide any funds to any other entity that does; and
• Provide only $20 million for evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention, $89 million below the President’s request, while providing $20 million for unproven “abstinence only” education programs.

These cuts would have a huge impact on women across the country and on the unintended pregnancy rate. More than 5 million women and men access family planning and related services every year through Title X funded clinics. According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 2008 Title X-supported centers helped prevent 973,000 unintended pregnancies, which would have resulted in 432,600 unintended births and 406,200 abortions.  Planned Parenthood clinics alone serve 1 in 5 women at some point during their lives. How does Congress expect these low-income women to access family planning services and information?

A giant cut in evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs would constitute a giant step back in efforts to curb unwanted teen pregnancies. Similarly, elimination of funding for Planned Parenthood and Title X family planning clinics would deny many low-income women the access they need to family planning services and information.

Tell Congress to halt the assault on contraception and reproductive health.  Ask your elected-representatives to fully fund Title X, Planned Parenthood, and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative!

Originally posted on Care2 by Jennie Wetter, Director of Public Policy on July 26, 2012.

The ongoing assault on contraception and reproductive health has resumed with a political vengeance. Yesterday the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee marked up their FY2013 funding bill and they went after contraception and reproductive health in every available way.  The bill, which passed out of the subcommittee on a largely party line vote, is a senseless attack on women’s reproductive health.

The bill, if passed, would:

• Eliminate Title X, which provides funding for family planning clinics serving low-income households;
• Defund Planned Parenthood and any of its affiliates, unless the organizations certify that they will not perform abortions or provide any funds to any other entity that does;
• Provide $20 million for evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention, $89 million below the President’s request, while providing $20 million for unproven “abstinence only” education programs.
• Deny funding for the Affordable Care Act; and
• Permit employers to deny health insurance coverage of any medical services (like birth control), if they object on grounds of religious beliefs or moral convictions.

These cuts would have a huge impact. More than 5 million women and men access family planning and related services every year through Title X funded clinics. According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 2008 Title X-supported centers helped prevent 973,000 unintended pregnancies, which would have resulted in 432,600 unintended births and 406,200 abortions.  Planned Parenthood serves 1 in 5 women at some point during their lives. Without this resource where will women turn?

Not only does investing in family planning services help women and men plan their lives and their families, it also saves taxpayers money. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that for every dollar invested in Title X for birth control, taxpayers save just under $4 in Medicaid costs for mother and baby just in the first year. What then will be the cost to women for not having access to birth control, early cervical and breast cancer screenings, or STI and HIV testing?

One of the more alarming provisions (after the elimination of Title X and defunding of Planned Parenthood) is the policy rider that would permit employers to deny health insurance coverage of any medical services (such as birth control) if they object on religious or moral grounds. This policy rider is virtually identical to the Blunt amendment that was defeated earlier this year in the Senate. It was offered in response to the Affordable Care Act regulation requiring health insurance companies to provide birth control without a co-pay requirement. While the Administration’s regulation does not require religious institutions to cover contraceptive services, religiously-affiliated institutions, such as hospitals and schools, would be required to do so.  If they object on religious grounds, their insurance company would be required to offer such coverage free of charge. Republicans felt this did not go far enough, and so offered this amendment to allow any employer to refuse to cover of any healthcare service, including contraception, for religious or moral reasons. This could also allow employer to deny coverage for such things as prenatal coverage for unwed mothers, cervical cancer vaccines, and HIV or other STI screenings. This was a bad amendment the first time it was offered, and it is just as bad this time.

The Labor-HHS funding bill is an all-out assault on contraception and reproductive health. Now is the time to stand up for women and their reproductive health and rights and tell Congress to halt the assault on contraception and reproductive health!

Posted by Jennie Wetter, Director of Public Policy

In the thirty-first year of the HIV epidemic, the 29^th International AIDS Conference will be held July 22-27 in Washington D.C., America’s political and AIDS capital with the highest HIV infection rate in the country. As the largest gathering of those working in the field of HIV, the conference serves to engage local leaders and stakeholders around common strategies. As suggested by this year’s theme, “Turning the Tide Together,” we may be seeing the beginning of the end of the AIDS epidemic.

We cannot put an end to HIV, however, without prioritizing women. HIV is the number one cause of death among women of reproductive age worldwide. To effectively address the epidemic, women must be at the center of global policies and programs. Women have recently overtaken men as the majority of HIV-infected individuals around the world. 52% of the total global population living with HIV is female. In sub-Saharan Africa, women 15-24 years old are eight times more likely than men to be HIV-positive. This change in the pandemic’s nature mandates a new approach.

Thankfully, global health initiatives have recently shifted their attention to maternal and reproductive health. What they need to do now is integrate family planning and reproductive health services with other HIV interventions. Far too little emphasis has been given to the role that family planning can play in combating HIV. Sexual transmission is the leading cause of infection. Of the 1800 children who become infected with HIV every day, the majority are newborns. Children under 15 account for one in every seven new infections, mostly through mother-to-child transmission. The current lack of integration causes healthcare gaps that limit the efficacy of programs.

In addition to basic antenatal and post-partum care, HIV-positive women need access to HIV testing and other prevention interventions in sexual health services. These include counseling and contraception to help them avoid unwanted pregnancies as well as safe delivery practices and available breast-milk substitutes to avoid mother-to-child transmission.

We must address HIV prevention, treatment, and care; cancer screening and treatment; maternal health care; and family planning services together. At the 2011 Commission on the Status of Women, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé affirmed, “Research is showing that HIV may have a significant impact on maternal mortality. This tells us that we must work for a unified health approach bringing maternal and child health and HIV programs together to work to achieve their common goal.” Only when leaders join Mr. Sidibé in his thinking will we begin to make real progress towards eliminating HIV/AIDS from the global agenda.

Some have already started to work to promote the integration of HIV/AIDS and reproductive health programs in the last few years. In 2011, UNAIDS created “The Global Plan towards the Elimination of New Infections among Children and Keeping Their Mothers Alive.” The plan aims to ensure that HIV, maternal health, newborn and child health, and family planning programs work together.  That integration is crucial to achieving an “AIDS-free generation,” and we cannot afford to lose sight of it.

To help adopt this woman-centered approach, declare your commitment and sign the women’s declaration! http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1350/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=11068

Posted by Lucy Dicks-Mireaux, Public Policy Fellow

In the 33-year history of the Global Media Awards program, the Population Institute has recognized dozens of professional journalists for their coverage of family planning and reproductive health care issues. Many of them have gone on to have highly successful careers, based in part upon their continued coverage of population-related issues. One of those journalists is Zubeida Mustafa, a Pakistani journalist who retired after more than 30 years of work in 2008 as the Assistant Editor at DAWN, one of Pakistan’s most respected publications and the country’s largest English-language newspaper. She won Global Media Awards for her individual reporting in 1986 and in 2004.

In May of this year, the International Women’s Media Foundation selected Zubeida as the recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award, calling her a “media pioneer.” As the first woman reporter at DAWN, Zubeida not only advocated for gender equality in her columns, she also helped to enact hiring policies to promote women at the newspaper.

As a reporter, Zubeida has sought to shed light on many of Pakistan’s problems, including those related to population and reproductive health. Pakistan’s current population stands at nearly 180 million, and according to the United Nations medium variant projection, this number could soar to 274 million by 2050. In a recent interview she remarked, “By not controlling our galloping birth rate, Pakistan has multiplied its problems enormously. One must view the issues of education, women’s empowerment, health and population planning holistically as they have to be addressed together.”

Zubeida believes that the low status of women in Pakistani society and a lack of political will also contribute to a low contraceptive prevalence rate (27%) and a high maternal mortality rate (260 deaths per 100,000 live births). The government and donor nations must do more, she says, to enable women to avoid unwanted or unintended pregnancies.  Such needed actions include increasing women’s access to contraception and involving men more in family planning discussions.

A lifelong champion of women’s rights, Zubeida is still writing columns and still advocating for women’s empowerment, children’s rights, education, and health care, despite her failing eyesight.

Posted by Christina Daggett, Program Associate