ESCAP meeting in Seoul

The meeting focused on "a supportive financial system and green growth for achieving MDGs in the AP region." See the reports here.

A Measure of the Future

Family Planning International has just launched its newest resource. In collaboration with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and Population Action International.

Contraceptive Security and Meeting Reproductive Health Needs In Southeast Asia

Sexual and Reproductive Health in Distress

On 21 October 2009 the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) and Marie Stopes International as members of the consortium Countdown 2015 Europe, organised a workshop on Sexual and Reproductive Health in Distress.

Guttmacher: Abortion Rates Fall Worldwide

Abortions and unintended pregnancies continue to decline worldwide as contraceptive use increases, yet unsafe abortion still causes some 70,000 deaths each year, according to a new report released today by the Guttmacher Institute.

Guttmacher: The cost of unsafe abortion

Treating the complications that result from unsafe abortion costs Africa and Latin America $227-280 million each year, according to a new study from the Guttmacher Institute. These costs (reported in 2006 US$) place a considerable added strain on struggling national health systems in Africa and Latin America, which spend an estimated $490 million annually treating complications from pregnancies and births. Moreover, unsafe abortion costs the developing world at least $341 million when the Asian and Pacific regions are taken into account. Read the report from the US-based Guttmacher Institute.

Woodrow Wilson Center Roundtable: Future Family Planning Strategies

Recent developments, including US President Obama's decision to restore funding to UNFPA and the heightened focus on the drivers of global climate change, have brought renewed attention to family planning and reproductive health issues. But the future funding landscape for family planning and reproductive health remains uncertain. Check out the webcast from a roundtable event held at the Woodrow Wilson Center in washington DC with with Musimbi Kanyoro from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Jose G. Rimon from the The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Scott Radloff from the US Agency for International Development.

Hewlett: Population Dynamics and Economic Development

The relationship between reproductive health and economic growth has long been of interest to academics as well as policy-makers.  However, the empirical relationship between these variables has been difficult to establish. The paper summarizes the key achievements of a comprehensive research exercise to look at population dynamics and economic development. The paper also highlights new issues as well as unanswered questions. Download the paper, produced by the Center for Global Development and Population Reference Bureau, from the Hewlett Foundation website.

Essential Medicines List for Reproductive Health

This guidebook, produced by WHO provides the list of essential reproductive health supplies and outlines the steps necessary for including reproductive health medicines on country-level lists of essential medicines. Download the guidebook from this link on the UNFPA website.