In the past year alone, women’s use of contraception in 82 low- and lower-middle-income countries has averted more than 141 million unintended pregnancies, 29 million unsafe abortions and almost 150,000 maternal deaths. This is according to the global family planning partnership, FP2030, which released its 2022 Measurement Report on Wednesday. Today, 371 million women of […] Continue reading ->
CVS and Walgreens, the two largest pharmacy chains in the United States, totaling nearly 18,000 locations nationwide, announced plans on Wednesday to carry the abortion medication mifepristone after the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) relaxed rules for distributing the pill earlier this week. The new rule updates FDA labeling to allow any pharmacy that undergoes […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended shifting from a two-dose to one-dose vaccine regimen against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) – something that could help expand vaccine coverage amongst millions of girls and young women in lower-income regions where HPV is most prevalent, as well as saving costs.   According to the new WHO recommendation, based […] Continue reading ->
South Africa is poised to become the first African country to decriminalise sex work following the publication of an amendment to the country’s criminal law for public comment. South Africa’s Cabinet has approved the publication of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill, which proposes the decriminalising the “buying and selling of […] Continue reading ->
This year, “Equalise” was chosen as the slogan for World AIDS day, observed 1 December. The theme is a call to action around the need to address the injustices that are fuelling the AIDS epidemic as pre-existing inequalities are exacerbated by the serious disruptions to health systems caused by the Ukraine war, COVID-19 pandemic and […] Continue reading ->
Indonesia’s parliament passed a new criminal code that bans extramarital sex and criminalises abortion except for rape survivors on Tuesday, Reuters reports. The code applies to both citizens and visitors, and those who have sex outside marriage face up to a year in prison. Indonesia’s economy is heavily dependent on tourism and its tourism industry […] Continue reading ->
Although India’s Supreme Court issued a landmark decision granting all women the right to an abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy in late September, many obstacles stand in the way of women getting abortions – including the conservative attitudes of health workers towards unmarried women. The Supreme Court decision erased the difference between married […] Continue reading ->