By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org World Contraception Day is September 26th. There are numerous reasons why this day should be celebrated and awareness raised on using contraceptives. Contraception makes it possible for couples to enjoy the pleasures of intimacy without the consequences of pregnancy. Fully 61 percent of all couples in the world today are having
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, howmany.org It may have escaped your attention, but today, September 12th, is the first-ever Global Female Condom Day. Promoted by the National Female Condom Coalition, the purpose is to increase the number of women, men, youth and transpeople who know about, use, and advocate for female condoms. The coalition is made up
[continue reading…]

Good news on women and healthcare, on August 1st, the contraception coverage provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) took effect, which requires employers and insurers to offer “free” (without a co-pay) contraceptive coverage, along with access to other preventive health care services, to those women with health insurance policies. (Jodi Jacobson of RH Reality
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, HowMany.org As much of the women’s rights and international development communities focused well-deserved attention on the London Summit on Family Planning in early July, South Sudan celebrated its first anniversary as a nation. Which made me wonder, what is the state of women in this newest of countries? South Sudan is a
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Population Reference Bureau (PRB) just released its 2012 World Population Data Sheet, showing that the world’s poorest countries will have the greatest population growth, due to high birth rates and a large youth population. Just one week after the London Summit on Family Planning, which raised $2.6 billion from donors for
[continue reading…]

At last week’s London Summit on Family Planning, a high-level gathering hosted by the Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development, donors pledged to provide $2.6 billion over the next eight years to help the world’s poorest women gain access to contraceptives.  It has been called a “breakthrough for the world’s poorest women
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, HowMany.org July 11, 2012 is World Population Day, and there are reasons to be hopeful that the subject of population, along with empowering women, will be attracting more positive attention and obtaining more positive results. We are very excited about the London Summit on Family Planning, sponsored by the Gates Foundation and
[continue reading…]

by Suzanne York, HowMany.org – In the aftermath of the UN Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, which deliberately left reproductive rights out of the official outcome text, there is little time to feel discouraged.  There are education and awareness campaigns to undertake, and alliances to build and strengthen – especially between the environmental and women’s
[continue reading…]

by Suzanne York, HowMany.org – An experienced and learned colleague of mine asked me one evening at the start of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) if it really mattered what issues made it or didn’t make it into the official Rio+20 text known as “The Future We Want”. Symbolically, it seemed important to
[continue reading…]

By Suzanne York, May 11, 2012 If you think there is one issue that could gain bi-partisan support in the U.S. Congress, ending child marriage would likely be near the top of the list. Not only would a little bi-partisanship be good for the country, but preventing girls from marrying too young would improve lives.
[continue reading…]