Opinions: Future Of PEPFAR; Family Planning

A Washington Post editorial examines the future of PEPFAR under the Obama administration, as outlined in a five-year strategy released earlier this month. Though “[m]any organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, continue to worry that Mr. Obama is ‘flat-lining’ funding for the vital program,” this “ignores Mr. Obama’s move to make PEPFAR the center of a larger $63 billion global health initiative to develop more comprehensive and integrated approaches to care,” the editorial writes. “To that end, PEPFAR 2 has three pillars: prevention, integration and improved health-care systems in the 15 participating countries…”

“Ultimately, the goal is to shift to… Continue reading

Relationship Between Family Planning, Women’s Health And Climate Change

“Providing access to contraception for 215 million women, mainly in developing countries, would help to stabilize population growth and significantly reduce the effects of climate change,” according to a report released Wednesday by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Nature News reports (Gilbert, 11/18).

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In the “State of the World Population 2009″ report, UNFPA “argues that international agreements and national policies on climate change are more likely to succeed if they take into account population dynamics, the relations between the sexes, and women’s wellbeing and access to healthcare services,” BMJ News reports. The report also “warns that… Continue reading