By Suzanne York. What is the role of government when it comes to having babies?  Should the goal be to empower women or promote economic growth? The government of Ethiopia announced earlier this week that it will try to lower its total fertility rate to 2.6 by the year 2020 from the current rate of
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By Kimberly Absher, guest youth blogger, www.howmany.org Population is the proverbial elephant in the room of the world’s problems. Despite its massive importance in determining the fate of, well, everything, it is frequently ignored or glossed over. Meanwhile, 250,000 people are born every single day, many in resource-deprived areas. How do we change this? An
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Jesse Helms would undoubtedly turn over in his proverbial grave if he heard the New York Times advocating for changing the Helms Amendment to improve the lives of women in developing countries if it involves abortion. The Helms Amendment, first enacted in 1973, states that, “No foreign assistance funds may be
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org To show how far we have come as a civilized society, and how far we still have to go, the organization Engender Health recently released a video (see below) on past types of rather frightening forms of contraception in honor of World Contraception Day (September 26). While there are many ways to
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Hopefully you’ve heard about this weekend’s People’s Climate March in New York City.  It is being billed as the biggest climate rally in the U.S., taking place before UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon’s climate summit. While there will be many organizations and diverse views being touted during the march, there is one
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org They are sent to protect citizens in horrific conflict and refugee conditions in countries in turmoil.  Women in these situations are incredibly vulnerable. Yet sadly, Human Rights Watch  has found that African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Somalia rape women seeking medicine on their bases and routinely pay teenage girls for sex.
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org. Last week there was action around the Global Gag Rule, an on-again, off-again 30-year-old policy detrimental to women’s reproductive health. The Global Gag Rule denies U.S. foreign assistance to organizations working overseas if they use private, non-U.S. funds to provide referrals, counseling, or access to safe abortion, even when it is legal in the country
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org In yet another dire warning, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), comprising hundreds of scientists and government representatives from across the globe, released its long-awaited report on the impacts of climate change.     The IPCC report states that climate change has already “caused impacts on natural and
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org As the world recognizes the 103rd International Women’s Day on March 8th, it is a good time to consider the role of women as an answer to improving food security, particularly in the face of global climate change. A recent report found that the narrowing of diversity in crop species contributing
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org How is this for a factoid about the state of the world today – the world loses or wastes a staggering 25 percent to 33 percent of the food it produces for consumption. This, despite 842 million people going hungry every day. This is according to according to the latest issue
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