Bournemouth University has helped organise the first National Health Promotion conference in Nepal.
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"The Philippines Supreme Court temporarily halted the implementation of a law that provides state funding for contraceptives, legislation opposed by the dominant Roman Catholic Church but supported by reproductive health activists," the Associated Press reports, adding, "The Responsible Parenthood Law was passed by lawmakers late last year despite the church's opposition but petitioners questioned its legality on several grounds, saying it offends religious beliefs and fosters abortion, which remains illegal in the country" (3/19).
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"Women in the Philippines have lacked autonomy over their bodies for decades. The overwhelming political power of the country's Catholic church leaders -- and the government's acquiescence to many of their demands -- has resulted in reproductive health care restrictions so severe they amount to human rights violations," Melissa Upreti, regional director for Asia at the Center for Reproductive Rights, writes in The Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog."
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The U.N. Commission on the Status of Women on Friday adopted a declaration urging an end to violence against women and girls, despite pushback from some conservative Muslim countries and the Vatican during negotiations.
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In an analysis published online in the Lancet, researchers from the National University of Singapore and the U.N. Population Division "estimated and projected indicators of contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for family planning from 1990 to 2015," according to the paper's abstract.
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"A United Nations policy-making body has agreed upon a declaration urging an end to violence against women and girls despite concerns from conservative Muslim countries and the Vatican about references to women's sexual and reproductive rights," Al Jazeera reports (3/16).
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"[W]hile sitting through events, debates and discussions in New York [at the Commission on the Status of Women meeting], my recurring thought was why, in 2013, are we still arguing over whether women should have ownership of their own bodies?" Liz Ford, deputy editor of the Guardian's global development website, asks in the newspaper's "Poverty Matters Blog."
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New research on contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for contraception in married or co-habiting women of reproductive age (15 – 49 years), based on data from 194 countries, suggests that although the proportion of women in this group using contraception has risen in the last two decades, and unmet need has fallen, 233 million married or co-habiting women are projected to have an unmet need for modern contraceptive methods by 2015.
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In a New England Journal of Medicine review article, Julio Frenk and Suerie Moon of the Harvard School of Public Health write that the world faces "a trio of threats: first, the unfinished agenda of infections, undernutrition, and reproductive health problems; second, the rising global burden of non-communicable diseases and their associated risk factors, such as smoking and obesity; and third, the challenges arising from globalization itself, such as the health effects of climate change and trade policies, which demand engagement outside the traditional health sector."
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Noting the potential "devastating and lasting" health impacts of physical and sexual violence on women and girls, Scott Radloff, director of USAID's Office of Population and Reproductive Health, writes in USAID's "IMPACTblog," "The health sector can play a vital role in preventing gender-based violence by helping to identify abuse early, providing victims with the necessary treatment, and referring women to appropriate and informed care."
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Mark Suzman, managing director for International Policy, Programs & Advocacy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes in the foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and how "there is a heightened sense of urgency to ensure we do everything possible to meet this ambitious deadline of 2015 -- and to make sure that a new set of goals are set that keep up the critical momentum."
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"The link between gender-based violence and HIV infections needs to be explicit in the outcome document of the Commission on the Status of Women [CSW], delegates said this week," the Guardian reports.
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A new study based on in-depth interviews of rural Latino men in western Oregon finds that these men need sexual health services designed for their needs, including more male health providers, more convenient clinic hours, and Spanish-speaking doctors.
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Evofem announced today that it has entered into a strategic alliance with WomanCare Global. Through this alliance, WomanCare Global will provide sales, marketing and global distribution for a selection of Evofem's products, including Softcup and Amphora.
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Mississippi health department officials are challenging the license of the state's only abortion clinic, while critics of a proposal to expand abortion rights by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo say it would hurt women.
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"Boosting women's access to reproductive health care could significantly reduce both the number of unsafe abortions and the high cost of post-abortion medical care in Uganda, experts say," IRIN reports.
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Inter Press Service examines the relationship between child marriage and the health of women and girls in Afghanistan. "In Afghanistan, the maternal mortality rate is on the rise; hospitals are filling up with anemic women and girls; and in over 200 districts, high schools are devoid of even a single female pupil," the news service writes, adding, "These issues are not unrelated -- they are all products of a grave social problem in this country of 35 million people: early child marriages."
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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog features an ongoing series titled "What's Your Method?" that provides posts about many of the contraceptive options for women and girls worldwide and how different organizations are working to ensure these methods become accessible options for women who want and need them.
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Kaiser Health News staff writer Jay Hancock, working in collaboration with The Philadelphia Inquirer, reports: "Computer mistakes like the one that produced incorrect prescriptions for thousands of Rhode Island patients are probably far more common and dangerous than the Obama administration wants you to believe, says Drexel University's Dr. Scot Silverstein."
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One of the key reasons why children are missed by immunization programs, particularly in developing countries where Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) works, is that the products that we currently have in their present formulation are not well-suited to the places that have the most un-immunized children. These are the most challenging contexts to work in.
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