Devex: London Family Planning Summit to raise at least $2.5B
“Ministers, donors, civil society groups, and private sector partners are set to pledge at least $2.5 billion in new funding to improve and expand the reach of reproductive health services to women and girls in developing countries at the Family Planning Summit being held in the United Kingdom’s capital today. Commitments are still coming in at the summit — taking place on World Population Day — with the total expected to exceed the $2.5 billion estimate by the end of the day…” (Edwards/Anders, 7/11).

The Guardian: Melinda Gates ‘deeply troubled’ by Donald Trump’s planned budget cuts
“…At the opening plenary of the global Family Planning Summit in London on Tuesday, Gates said: ‘This is a difficult political climate for family planning. I’m deeply troubled, as I’m sure you are, by the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts. If empowering women is more than just rhetoric for the president, he will prove it by funding family planning’…” (Ford, 7/11).

The Independent: Melinda Gates attacks Donald Trump’s foreign aid policy on women’s rights to contraception
“…Ms. Gates said that contraception access was the ‘most effective anti-poverty tool we have’ and that 40 developing country governments are interested in the initiative if they can get funding. … ‘If you believe in women, you fund family planning and so I’m counting on Congress in the U.S. to hold up U.S. funding on family planning’…” (Revesz, 7/11).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Contraceptives are “one of the greatest anti-poverty innovations”: Melinda Gates
“…The foundation will announce an additional $375 million for family planning over the next four years. The summit comes at a critical time, with U.S. President Donald Trump having said he will end funding to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations agency which deals with family planning, sexual, and reproductive health. The Trump administration also reinstated a policy blocking U.S. funding to overseas groups that perform or provide information about abortion…” (Batha, 7/11).

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The Independent: U.K. family planning foreign aid cash ‘will save woman’s life every 90 minutes’
“Britain will commit an extra £45m in new aid to provide family planning and contraception around the world, the government has announced. Ministers say the new cash will help the 214 million women worldwide who lack modern contraception but do not want to get pregnant — and could save the life of a woman every 90 minutes. The new commitment, which builds on work from 2012, will be unveiled officially at a major international family planning summit in London, co-hosted with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.N…” (Stone, 7/11).

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Devex: Details emerge of 500M euro E.U.-U.N. program on women’s rights, family planning
“The European Commission is preparing a 500 million euro ($570 million) program with the United Nations on women’s rights, which is to be announced at the United Nations General Assembly in September, according to a senior European Union aid official. … [Klaus Rudischhauser, deputy director general of DEVCO — the European Commission’s development arm,] said the initiative will focus on preventing violence against women but that it would have a broad scope, noting it followed the decision by United States President Donald Trump earlier this year to reinstate the ‘global gag rule’…” (Chadwick, 7/10).

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Deutsche Welle: World Population Day: Earth’s inequalities
“There are 7.5 billion people on Earth, with 150 people being added to that every minute. July 11 is World Population Day, a U.N.-designated event focusing on resource distribution, overcrowding, and the future…” (Bleiker, 7/11).

USA TODAY: Why World Population Day is really about women
“There are about 214 million women around the world who want to avoid pregnancy but don’t have access to contraception, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Addressing this unmet need is part of the inspiration for the theme of this year’s World Population Day on Tuesday: ‘family planning’…” (Yancey-Bragg, 7/11).

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Huffington Post: The G20 Declaration Makes A Major Mention Of The World’s Top Infectious Killer
“Advocates in the fight against tuberculosis are pleased that the top global infectious killer is mentioned by name in this year’s G20 Leaders’ Declaration. … Antimicrobial resistance, the umbrella under which TB was mentioned, was first highlighted as a global issue in 2015. The 2017 declaration lays out the importance of combating AMR’s ‘growing threat to public health and economic growth’ through research and development, responsible antibiotic use and treatment, and the creation of an international R&D collaboration hub…” (Weber, 7/10).

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U.N. News Centre: Education critical in preventing adolescent pregnancy, underscores U.N. agency
“Girls with higher levels of education are less likely to have an early and unintended pregnancy, the United Nations education agency said [Monday], launching a new technical paper with recommendations for the education sector. ‘[For] each additional year of education, [there is] a 10 percent reduction in fertility,’ said the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in a news release, announcing the paper…” (7/10).

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Devex: Innovative financing for health: Insights from the Grand Challenges Award Repository
“A new database managed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is providing opportunities to better understand priorities for funders supporting innovative health projects. Years in the making, the Grand Challenges Award Repository provides information on 2,009 projects that have been funded through seven innovative health initiatives since 2005 — including five grand challenges, Saving Brains, and Saving Lives at Birth. To understand how these initiatives are helping the development community in Going for Goals, Devex has analyzed the data and produced a visualization tool to unlock critical insights…” (Cornish, 7/10).

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Devex: Opinion: It’s time to integrate nutrition and family planning services. Here’s why.
Luz María De-Regil, director of global technical services at Nutrition International

“…Here are three reasons why integrating nutrition in family planning is a game changer. 1. Adolescent girls have urgent, unmet family planning and nutrition needs … 2. Integrating family planning and nutrition increases reach and impact … 3. Nutrition and family planning interventions are mutually reinforcing … It’s time for concerted global action to build the political will, technical capacity, and policies and resources to scale up family planning and nutrition to meet the needs and rights of adolescent girls. When we all work together to realize our collective goals and objectives, a more just and prosperous world is possible” (7/11).

Huffington Post: 1.2 Billion Reasons Why Countries Must Empower Young People to Plan the Future
Pape Gaye, president and CEO of IntraHealth International

“…Today, the largest generation of young people in the history of the world is about to enter adulthood. … Access to contraceptives and rights-based family planning services will be one of the most crucial determinants of this new generation’s success, because they empower young people to plan their futures. To ensure their family planning programs are successful and meet the needs of their young populations, countries must give young people opportunities to be part of the process. That means leaders around the world must: 1. Accept that young people’s voices are powerful and valuable … 2. Nurture youth leadership among civil society. … 3. Promote jobs for women. … It’s time to stop shooing young people away from the conversation, and start inviting them to help move the world forward…” (7/10).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Her future depends on our actions today
Françoise Girard, president of the International Women’s Health Coalition

“…If the international community is serious about achieving its goal [of reaching 120 million women and girls with contraceptives by 2020], it must rethink its strategy. Progress has been limited for three main reasons. First, family planning programs still tend to focus on married women, leaving adolescent girls without access to contraceptives. … Second, several of the initiatives launched under FP2020 concentrated on improving the supply of contraceptives, but neglected the other barriers to care that must be addressed. … Third, policymakers and family planning programs continue to leave abortion out of the picture for social, ideological, religious, or legal reasons. … The international community must recognize the right of every girl and woman to access contraceptive methods and the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive health services, including abortion…” (7/11).

Huffington Post: 4 ways that Investing in Adolescents’ Access to Modern Contraception Could Change the World
Katja Iversen, president and CEO of Women Deliver

“…Here are four of the ways that increasing adolescents’ access to and use of modern contraception, bolstered by comprehensive sexuality education, would dramatically transform our world for the better. 1. Millions of adolescent girls would no longer fear unintended pregnancy — and with it, the risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth. … 2. More adolescent girls would stay in school and realize their full potential. … 3. More girls would lift themselves, their families, and communities from the cycle of poverty. … 4. All of us would enjoy greater social and economic prosperity. … Meeting adolescents’ need for modern contraception is one of the smartest decisions we can make, creating hope and fostering opportunities. … Champions for adolescent girls must continue to: break the stigma around adolescent access to and use of modern contraception, along with the stigma associated with teen pregnancy; engage and put young people front and center in our conversations, solutions, and actions; and advocate and spread the word about progress and about what works in regards to policies, programs, and initiatives centered on adolescent needs. The payoff of investing in adolescents will be enormous…” (7/10).

Devex: Opinion: Here’s why the world should fund family planning
Rachel Robinson, associate professor in the School of International Service at American University

“…Despite the advantages of family planning programs, many oppose them on economic, moral, or nativist grounds. … On this World Population Day, we need to advance new ways to convince skeptics that family planning is worth the investment. Advocates should use the demographic dividend to justify investments now in order to save money later. They should try to build new coalitions by stressing that family planning programs reduce abortion. And they should draw a lesson from history — that family planning programs strengthened health systems and, in turn, helped to lay the groundwork for HIV prevention — to encourage greater family planning investments in the name of stopping infectious disease threats before they reach our shores” (7/10).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: We must recognize that family planning saves lives in crises
Melanie Ward, associate director of policy and advocacy at the International Rescue Committee

“…The [2017 Family Planning] Summit in London on Tuesday provides an unprecedented opportunity to bring leaders from around the world together to finally put women and girls in crises and emergencies at the center of global family planning efforts. To do this, participants need to commit to enshrining reproductive health in all phases of emergency response and to fund accessible, flexible family planning services in emergencies. Governments with family planning action plans should also include women and girls affected by crises, and work with health authorities to guarantee access to family planning through national emergency response plans. Control over your body and your future is a universal right. Let’s make sure that the most vulnerable women and girls … are not left behind” (7/11).

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Project Syndicate: Trump’s Unethical Aid Cuts
Peter Singer, professor at Princeton University and laureate professor at the University of Melbourne

“…When one considers the low proportion of its gross income that the U.S. gives as foreign aid, [President] Trump’s decision [to cut foreign aid] becomes even more shameful. … Trump’s proposed aid cuts would cause many people to die, and many more to face additional suffering from illness and disability that could have been prevented with better health care. To use the possibility of creating dependence to justify the cuts, we would need hard evidence, not only that some aid programs have created dependence, but that specific global health programs adversely affected by the cuts really are creating dependence. In the absence of such evidence, an unproven hypothesis is insufficient reason to cause people to die or to increase their suffering. … In terms of doing good, these global health programs may well offer the best value of any federal government program. … There are welcome signs that some Republicans in the U.S. Congress will resist Trump’s proposed deep cuts in U.S. aid. Let’s hope that they do. Foreign aid — especially aid that saves lives and reduces human suffering — should not be a partisan issue” (7/11).

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Project Syndicate: The G20’s Harmony Without Trump
Jeffrey D. Sachs, professor at Columbia University, director of Columbia’s Center for Sustainable Development and of the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network

“…[U.S. President] Trump’s ‘America First’ is a brazen affront to Kantian ethics and a threat to peace. His break with the rest of the world on the Paris climate agreement is his most chilling act of naked self-interest so far. … The question ahead of the G20 summit was therefore clear: Would other countries follow the U.S. in recklessly putting self-interest above the common good? … All other G20 countries had resisted the U.S. ploy. The communiqué was simple, accurate, and reassuring on climate change: ‘The leaders of the other G20 members state that the Paris Agreement is irreversible … We reaffirm our strong commitment to the Paris Agreement, moving swiftly towards its full implementation…’ … On several other global issues, a full consensus was reached. … All G20 leaders recommitted their countries to universal health coverage (another clear message to Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Speaker Paul Ryan), and to strengthening health systems. They reiterated their commitment to sustainable development and to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals…” (7/11).

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Inter Press Service: Will the U.N. ‘Leave No One Behind’ and Improve LGBTI Health and Well-Being?
Felicity Daly, global research coordinator for OutRight Action International

“While there has been progress in researching the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people and responding to certain emerging health threats in high-income countries — elsewhere in the world such research is inadequate and incomplete. A new report published by OutRight Action International [and] the Global Forum on MSM and HIV highlights that wherever research has been conducted, LGBTI people’s health is shown to be consistently poorer than the general population. … [The report] details the type of data U.N. member states should collect to effectively monitor implementation of the targets of [Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)] 3 in a way that improves the health and well-being of LGBTI people. … We hope more countries will accelerate a research revolution for LGBTI inclusion, which improves the health and well-being of these communities” (7/10).

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PLOS Blogs’ “Your Say”: Helping countries transition from donor aid for health: recent experience at the Global Fund
Robert Hecht, president, and Rachel Wilkinson, associate program officer, both at Pharos Global Health Advisers, discuss “the role of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria in building funding structures for health system strengthening in middle-income countries” (7/10).

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Council on Foreign Relations’ “Women and Foreign Policy Program/Women Around the World”: Child Marriage, Family Planning, Population, and Development
Quentin Wodon, lead economist for the World Bank’s Education Global Practice, discusses a recently released report on child marriage and its impact on fertility, population growth, and modern contraceptive use. “We hope that the findings of the Economic Impacts of Child Marriage study will help convince policymakers and donors — including those at [the Family Planning Summit] in London — that investing in ending child marriage and, more generally, empowering women is not only the right thing to do, but also a smart investment for growth and development,” Wodon writes (7/10).

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CDC’s “Our Global Voices”: Polio Eradication and Beyond: What the Polio Endgame Means for Public Health
Manish Patel of the U.S. Public Health Service and the Task Force for Global Health discusses the “polio endgame” and highlights the recently published “Polio Endgame and Legacy: Implementation, Best Practices, and Lessons Learned” supplement for the Journal of Infectious Diseases. The supplement “provides a valuable record of the collaborative experiences and lessons learned from these partnerships during the polio endgame,” Patel writes (7/10).

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Kaiser Family Foundation: The U.S. Government and International Family Planning & Reproductive Health Efforts
This updated fact sheet examines the U.S. government’s role in family planning and reproductive health worldwide, including key issues and challenges for U.S. efforts and the Trump administration’s recent actions related to FP/RH (7/10).

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Kaiser Family Foundation: Key Global Health Positions and Officials in the U.S. Government
This updated fact sheet lists U.S. government positions and officials related to global health operations, including links to agencies and officials’ profiles, when available (7/7).

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