News Review – 14 July 2017

by admin · Published July 14, 2017 · Updated October 19, 2017

It was a busier week than most resulting in a much longer weekly compendium.

London Family Planning Summit

More than 60 governments and partners met in London last week, collectively announcing some $2.5 billion in funding for family planning, with a focus on better serving largest generation of adolescents in history and the hardest-to-reach women and girls. The numbers are familiar: 214 women and girls with an unmet need for contraception; one in four married or “in union” women has an unmet need in the African region.

The cloud of US funding cuts loomed, and the FT noted some of the other challenges: “Better data collection and accountability have been lacking; political leadership from low income countries and regions has proved insufficient; supply chains and investment in new types of contraceptives have been neglected; and the voice of adolescents themselves is often left unheard.”

A Thomson Reuters Foundation commentary noted the particular challenge, and benefit, of reaching “isolated populations”: “[It] can be more costly than serving their urban counterparts, [but] a recent International Planned Parenthood Federation report suggests that doing so can generate significant impacts for other key health and sustainable development goals.”

Devex concluded that the Summit had four main themes: 1) A more diverse set of players at the table; 2) The need for new tools and approaches to drive progress; 3) Local country leadership; 4) Translating energy into action will be key.

Salon summed up the environmental significance of family planning: “If investment in family planning, particularly in low-income countries, does not materialize, the world’s population could adding an additional 1 billion people to the planet. The resulting emissions reductions could be as high as 25 gigatons of carbon dioxide.” The Brookings Institution insists there’s hope for the Paris Agreement “through girls’ education.”

Other diverse aspects: An expanded mix of contraceptive measures; the significance of family planning in war zones, humanitarian, crisis and refugee situations, especially the role of emergency contraception; the links to healthy nutrition and clean water.

Useful factsheets:

KFF and PAI on the US Role in International Family Planning
WHO on Expanding Contraceptive Choice
Thomson Reuters Foundation on Why Contraception Access is Key to Global Development

One note of caution about the need for cultural sensitivity noted by International Health Policies (and exploited in a tirade in the National Review): “It is worthwhile to re-examine how we understand and address the challenges that women face in accessing contraception. It is a reality that women need and want contraceptive services, and health systems must be able to provide them. But perhaps we also need to be conscious and aware of alternate grassroots realities, so that what we see as an advancement of reproductive rights does not become a source of injustice for others.”

The Money

The British Department for International Development, which was a co-sponsor of the Summit, announced the British government will boost funding for family planning by 25% to £225 million per year for the next five years, (£90M for Ethiopia, additional funds for Mozambique) which it says will “save a woman’s life every 90 minutes” and was touted by the Population Council, as a “smart investment.”

Other funding news: Canada is reported to be spending C$241.5M, C$97M for DRC; the Danish government said that one of its family planning aid goals was to limit migration to Europe; Will participation in the Summit convince Australia to step up its commitment?; Sweden threatened to pull its aid away from any organization that makes changes to comply with the Trump Global Gag Rule; a new €500M EU-UN program on women’s rights and family planning;

Local country leadership: Initiatives announced in Gambia, Ghana, Kenya (lauded for surpassing UN family planning targets), Liberia (though “traditional beliefs contribute to maternal mortality”), Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

And there is a role for corporate involvement: Benetton launched a global campaign in support of UNFPA, and the Universal Access Project highlighted other companies around the world standing up for women’s health and rights, including ANN (parent company of Ann Taylor and LOFT), MTV, Durex, Twinings, Vodafone and others, noting that “investments in workplace women’s health programs that include voluntary family planning have been found to result in a 3:1 return on investment for companies, and, at an even broader level, an incredible $28 trillion could be added to the global GDP by 2025 if women participated in the economy at the same levels as men. That’s the size of the U.S. and Chinese economies combined.”

Funding Miscellany

With the struggle for funding a constant concern, Congress is choking the budget for research using fetal tissue, and two other articles of note: In Uganda, a woman received $10,000 to help her raise her 38 children; while in the US the Huffington Post asked about insurance coverage: If contraception isn’t covered, why is Viagra?

Historical Miscellany

A recommended read in Atlas Obscura, beautifully illustrated and humorously told: Why It Took Scientists So Long to Figure Out Where Babies Come From: “Until 1875, no one in the world knew where babies come from. Ordinary people didn’t know, and neither did the scientists who helped shape the modern world.”

Complete News Review References:

London Conference

$207 million pledged to UN population agency facing US cuts, Washington Post/AP, 14 Jul 2017

Family planning programmes threat, FT, 14 Jul 2017

Reflecting on Reproductive Rights and Wrongs in the FP2020 era, International Health Policies, 14 Jul 2017

Highlights from the London Family Planning Summit, Devex, 13 Jul 2017

Renewed commitments to expanded method mix at London Family Planning Summit, PATH, 13 Jul 2017

One in 4 married or in union women still has an unmet need for family planning in the African Region, WHO, 13 Jul 2017

Danes Tout Family Planning Aid to Africa to ‘Limit Migration’ to Europe, Foreign Policy, 12 Jul 2017

Canada to provide a whopping $241.5 million for overseas abortions, contraception, LifeSite, 12 Jul 2017

Family planning saves lives and promotes resilience in humanitarian contexts, ReliefWeb, 11 Jul 2017

Safe, effective family planning is key to ’empowering people, developing nations’ – UN, UN News Centre, 11 Jul 2017