“Responding to Niger’s ‘Call to Action’ for improvements in women’s reproductive health and girls’ education, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim pledged [Wednesday] to strongly support the initiative and to invest $200 million in a new regional project aimed at improving the regional response to maternal and reproductive health and adolescent girls’ issues,” a World Bank press release reports (11/6). “During a historic trip to the region by leaders from five international organizations — the United Nations, the World Bank, the African Union, the African Development Bank, and the European Union — Dr. Kim announced the $200 million Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographics Project,” the U.N. News Centre writes. “The initiative, which builds on the bank’s existing $150 million in commitments over the next two years for maternal and child health programs in the Sahel, will work across the region to improve the availability and affordability of reproductive health commodities, strengthen specialized training centers for rural-based midwifery/nursing services, and to pilot and share knowledge on adolescent girls’ initiatives,” the news service adds (11/6).