Obstetric fistula is a source of shame, stigma, and despair for millions of women. But US politics will inevitably play a role in whether it can be effectively addressed.
In Haiti, women and girls living in the displacement camps remain as vulnerable to sexual violence as they did immediately following the disaster, if not more so.
In a less well-known but no less controversial effort to find “common ground” a Home Birth Consensus summit seeks to bridge a divide between those who support and those who oppose expanded access to homebirth.
The United Nations makes anti-choice Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in charge of accountability for women’s health in meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
Researchers at the World Health Organization have recently documented a substantial decrease in the numbers of unsafe abortion deaths, but the incidence of unsafe abortion itself has not decreased. Anti-abortion laws in developing countries cause grave harm and endanger women’s lives and health. As long as these antiquated laws remain in place, unsafe abortion and its resulting maternal mortality and morbidity will continue.
The U.S. has shockingly high rates of maternal death, especially among marginalized communities such as women of color. The human right to health care, particularly maternal health care, is not being met in the US. But we can change this.
Last week, more than 200 providers, policymakers, advocates and NGO workers put abortion on the table, and reaffirmed the promises African leaders and governments have made to African women.
Access to medical abortion could save tens of thousands of women in Africa each year, by providing a safe alternative to unsafe abortion and a treatment for incomplete abortion or miscarriage.
Maternal health isn’t exactly what most people consider to be a “sexy” topic and it can be challenging to engage those outside of the health community. Stepping up to the challenge, two artists have joined forces using the Internet to unite arts and activism.
I traveled to Haiti for the first time in 2003. I left there a different woman than I came. Women in Haiti are 70 times more likely than women in the U.S. to suffer and die from preventable conditions during pregnancy and childbirth.
