IPPF/WHR in the News | International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region

Climate Change Activists Need To Talk About Population Too

“The environment does not exist as a sphere separate from human actions, ambitions, and needs, and attempts to defend it in isolation from human concerns have given the very word ‘environment’ a connotation of naivety in some political circles.”

These words come from the foreword of “Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development,” a landmark United Nations report that was written when the world’s population reached five billion. The report triggered the 1992 “Earth Summit” in Rio De Janeiro and a number of United Nations treaties and agreements all focusing on sustainable development.

Today, the global population is more than seven billion and the impact of all these people is the hot topic of discussion as nations prepare to gather in Brazil this June for a follow-up conference entitled “Rio+20.” On January 12, the Aspen Institute held a panel discussion, “The Road to Rio: Climate Change, Population and Sustainability,” that began with a discussion of this quote and whether Rio+20 should address population growth and the health and reproductive rights of women, which play an obvious role in population growth.

A call for young people to ‘get angry’ about global warming

The elder called on the younger generation to speak up.

At a session on climate change and family planning Thursday, Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, said that she keeps hoping that more young people will demand action on global warming.

“Maybe there’s a need to link the more thoughtful aspects of the Occupy movement with this, to get some of that more radical thinking,” she said. “As younger people increasingly understand the issues, I would say, ‘get angry’ so that we feel the need to do something more urgent. Let us know this is your future and for goodness sake it is absolutely urgent.”

South-South News Interviews Maria Antonieta Alcalde, Deputy Director of Public Affairs at IPPF/WHR

Dr. Gill Greer receives CBE in United Kingdom’s New Year’s Honour list

The International Planned Parenthood Federation congratulates Dr. Gill Greer on the announcement that she has been honoured in the United Kingdom’s New Year’s Honour list.

Dr. Greer, former Director-General of IPPF, has been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of her outstanding work over many years on behalf of women, young people, health and human rights.

She will receive her honour at a ceremony later in the year at Buckingham Palace, London. Dr. Greer has been an outspoken champion of the rights of all people to have access to the highest attainable standard of health, particularly sexual and reproductive health. As Director-General of IPPF for five years, Dr. Greer led the organisation’s strategy to gain recognition of sexual rights as basic human rights, and to expand sexual and reproductive health services so that they were accessible to the poorest and most marginalised women, men and young people around the world.

Tewodros Melesse, the current Director-General of IPPF, said: “I am delighted that the Government of the United Kingdom has awarded this honour to Dr. Gill Greer, in recognition of her ceaseless work on behalf of women, men and young people across the globe. I have known and worked with Gill for many years. She has been, and remains, a vocal advocate for sexual and reproductive health and human rights, and a vocal critic of those who would seek to undermine these rights.

“As Director-General of IPPF from 2006 – 2011, Gill worked tirelessly to give a voice to those millions of people around the world who do not have these rights. She is deserving of this recognition, not just of her own work, but the importance of sexual and reproductive health and rights to everyone. It is particularly fitting that this award has been made at the beginning 2012, IPPF’s 60th Anniversary year.”

Cervical Cancer is Preventable. Let's Make it a Global Priority

Diseases such as diabetes and cancer cause tens of millions of deaths each year, many of which are premature. Once the burden of rich countries, these non-communicable diseases are increasingly affecting individuals in low- and middle-income countries where they impose heavy burdens on already fragile health systems. Among the most deadly—and preventable—of these diseases is cervical cancer.

Women in developing countries account for 80 percent of all new cases of cervical cancer worldwide and new research shows this rate is continuing to rise. Effective screening programs are largely unavailable in poor countries. As a result, most women with cervical cancer reach health services only after the disease has reached an untreatable advanced stage, condemning them to a horrible death.Following the earthquake in Haiti, International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region’s colleague PROFAMIL was one of the few local organizations providing essential health services.

Giving Childbirth Back to Women through the Support of a Doula

During my three years at International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR), I have been fortunate—and humbled—to work with incredible colleagues whose dedication to securing sexual and reproductive health and rights for all is unsurpassed.

As Project Design Coordinator, I know my work is vitally important, particularly at a time when several large global health donors have withdrawn from Latin America and the Caribbean. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has “graduated” the majority of countries in our region, despite the inequalities that persist, as has the UK Department for International Development, USAID’s counterpart in the United Kingdom. The Netherlands, one of the region’s significant donors, is currently phasing out its final project in Colombia, and the Danish government will be pulling out of Nicaragua, a country it has supported for many years.

Why are Women Dying from a Preventable Disease?

A Declaration in Support of A Global Campaign for Safe Abortion Access

The following declaration was released today at the International Conference on Family Planning. A similar declaration was prepared and read by the following partners during the 6th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights (APCRSHR) held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in October 2011: Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP), Concept Foundation, Women on Waves, Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation East and SE Asia and Oceania Region (IPPF-ESEAOR) and South Asia Region (IPPF-SAR).

The need to integrate safe abortion care within family planning programs and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights has been a recurring theme in the 2011 International Conference on Family Planning.

Despite commitments from ICPD, CEDAW, UN Millennium Development Goals 5 and 5(b) and international women’s conferences, women around the world continue to suffer death and disability due to unsafe abortion. Approximately 22 million unsafe abortions take place globally, contributing to high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity. Each one of these deaths and disabilities is unacceptable and preventable.

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Integration as a Holistic and Rights-Based Response to HIV/AIDS

For decades, donors, governments, and civil society have recognized the importance of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in efforts to alleviate poverty and advance gender equality and women’s rights. More recently, in the battle against HIV/AIDS—and given the unique challenges the pandemic presents for health and development—the global community has acknowledged the benefits of synergizing sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS interventions. However, the United States has been slow to incorporate lessons learned from the international experience when it comes to integrating HIV/AIDS, SRHR, and gender equality in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This article highlights the importance of SRHR and lessons learned from SRHR–HIV integration to inform U.S. domestic and global AIDS strategies and interventions.

Herman Cain's Planned Parenthood 'Genocide' Slur

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain issued a blistering, and factually incorrect, attack on Planned Parenthood on Sunday's Face the Nation. During the interview, Cain confirmed remarks he made six months ago at the Heritage Foundation, where he said: "When Margaret Sanger – check my history – started Planned Parenthood, the objective was to put these centers in primarily black communities so they could help kill black babies before they came into the world. It's planned genocide."

Cain's accusation is not only dangerous, it's inaccurate. According to the Guttmacher Institute, white women account for 36% of abortions compared to 30% of black women and 25% of Latinas. Sixty-three per cent of abortion clinics are in neighborhoods where more than half the residents are white. Beyond that, Planned Parenthoods do much more than provide safe abortion services: contraception, prenatal care, HIV testing and breast and cervical cancer screenings, to name a few.