Sexual and Reproductive Health with Isaac Eranga

Stefanie Howard On July 11, 2017, governments, the United Nations, foundations, the private sector and civil society gather at the Family Planning Summit in London to galvanize progress toward the Family Planning 2020 goal of enabling 120 million additional women and girls to use modern contraception by 2020 and to strengthen the foundation for universal access to sexual and reproductive health, including family planning, by 2030, a vision set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this Q&A, we spoke with Cate Lane (USAID), Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli (World Health Organization), Matti Parry (World Health Organization), and Pooja Subramanian Parameshwar (World Health Organization) on why improving adolescents’ access to contraceptives and ensuring their correct use is of major importance to global health. Q: What makes adolescent contraceptive use a significant global health issue? A: The World Health Organization (WHO) reports 16 million adolescents aged 15-19 gi

The ACLU is trying to block a bill that gives men (including rapists) equal say. By Jenavieve Hatch Arkansas legislators clamped down on abortion access even further by passing a law that forces women to have their partners’ permission to access the procedure. A recently-passed bill, H.B. 1566, is a provision under the Arkansas Final Disposition Rights Act of 2009, which states that, in the matter of a person’s death, family members have to agree on what to do with the deceased person’s body. H.B. 1566 includes aborted fetuses into that Act, which means that both the mother and the father of the fetus will have to agree on what to do with fetal remains, thus requiring a woman to tell whoever impregnated her that she’s planning on having an abortion. Both parties will have to agree on what to do with the remains. This law could also apply to women impregnated by abusive partners, and those impregnated after a sexual assault. (For women under the age of 18, the decision about what t

June 23, 2017 Baxter Dmitry 438 Women retain and carry living DNA from every man with whom they have sexual intercourse, according to a new study by the University of Seattle and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The study, which discovered the startling information by accident, was originally trying to determine if women who have been pregnant with a son might be more predisposed to certain neurological diseases that occur more frequently in males. But as the scientists picked apart the female brain, the study began to veer wildly off course. As it turns out, the female brain is even more mysterious than we previously thought. The study found that female brains often harbor “male microchimerism“, or in other words, the presence of male DNA that originated from another individual, and are genetically distinct from the cells that make up the rest of the woman. According to the study: “63% of the females (37 of 59) tested harbored male microchimerism in the brain. Male mic

The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada has been chosen as the host country for the Women Deliver 5th Global Conference! This groundbreaking conference will bring over 6,000 world leaders, influencers, advocates, academics, activists, and journalists from more than 150 countries to Vancouver 3-6 June 2019. The Women Deliver 2019 Conference – the world’s largest of its kind – will present new knowledge, promote solutions, and serve as a fueling station for accelerating action on the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women and achieving a more equal world. Prime Minister Trudeau and Katja Iversen symbolically announced the Women Deliver 2019 Conference in front of the ’Women are Persons!’ monument on the grounds of Parliament Hill in Ottawa. They were joined by Minister of International Development and the Francophonie, Marie-Claude Bibeau; Minister of Status of Women, Maryam Monsef; Deliver for Good influencer, Madame Sophie Grégoire Trudeau; as well

The below content was originally written by Women Deliver and featured in their  February 2017 community newsletter . To subscribe, please visit:  http:// womendeliver.org / newsletter Sexual health and rights is a concept that is often tossed around, but what does it mean? It means having the ability to decide on ones sexual health and to be able to live a life free from fear, harm, or discrimination. It means being able to express your sexuality and sexual identity with dignity. It means honoring privacy and sexual health. It means enjoying a safe, satisfying sex life and sexual expression free of prejudice. Simply put, it is enjoyment of personal autonomy and bodily integrity. Building on successful themes about investing in education , women’s economic empowerment , this month Women Deliver and partners focus on the need to respect and protect women’s sexual health and rights. Hear from Latanya Mapp Frepp , Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Global, about strategies for inc

Sexual health and rights is a concept that is often tossed around, but what does it mean? It means having the ability to decide on ones sexual health and to be able to live a life free from fear, harm, or discrimination. It means being able to express your sexuality and sexual identity with dignity. It means honoring privacy and sexual health. It means enjoying a safe, satisfying sex life and sexual expression free of prejudice. Simply put, it is enjoyment of personal autonomy and bodily integrity. Building on successful themes about investing in education , women’s economic empowerment , this month Women Deliver and partners focus on the need to respect and protect women’s sexual health and rights. Hear from Latanya Mapp Frepp , Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Global, about strategies for including young people and men in sexual health initiatives. Learn why Canada is expanding investments in sexual health and rights – a priority laid out by Canadian Minister of Internationa

By Isaac Eranga A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Women Friendly Initiative (WFI) has urged government at all levels to assist relevant bodies with the provision of fund to support the fight against cancer in the country. The Director of the NGO, Mrs Frances Teshoma made the appeal during an awareness campaign to commemorate 2017 World Cancer Day in Kuje Area Council recently. She said that the call became imperative to enable Nigerians live a healthy life. According to her, the campaign which had the support of Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO), was aimed at reducing the number of deaths from cancer among the public. “Cancer is a deadly disease and we have special focus on breast and cervical cancer, which are popular with the fe­male. “We also aim to sensitise the public on prostate cancer which is prevalent among male.” She insisted that early detection and prevention would reduce the number of deaths as well as bring about zero can­cer level. The director said peo

With 2,300 children below five years of age and 145 child-bearing women dying every day, Nigeria has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, it was learnt yesterday. Citing the report of the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF), the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Lanre Tejuosho, at a press briefing in National Assembly, said women and children had become endangered species. He lamented that despite different kinds of ailments and diseases plaguing the citizens, annual budgetary allocations to the health sector have continued to decrease, a move he said the current National Assembly would reverse. According to him, only N51 billion (2.78 per cent) of N2.24 trillion total capital vote has been allocated to the health sector while N2.52 billion (8.49) per cent of recurrent expenditure has been allocated to the sector. He therefore said the National Assembly would in this year, increased the health sector allocation to the tune of 15 per cent of the

In ensuring that family planning services and consumables are free at the local government level, The Lagos State Advocacy Working Group (LAWG), has urged the Sole Administrators of Local governments to make available and release regularly, a monthly imprests for family planning (FP) consumables at the Primary Health Centres. The group made the call during their last review meeting held in collaboration with Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI), in Lagos. The group noted that family planning consumables are now free at the secondary facilities while some Primary Health Centres (PHCs), have also started making FP consumables free. According to the group’s Chairperson, Barr. Ayo Adebusoye, this improvement partly due to their many advocacy visits to some of the Local Council Development Area (LCDAS) Sole Administrators, requesting for imprests for FP consumable. “As a result of these visits, some of the sole administrators have started releasing monthly impress for F