Women's Health

Parliamentarians Seek Solutions to Protect Children from Digital Abuse

By Cecilia Russell
Vulnerable children are being targeted online faster than parliamentarians and law enforcers can act, a conference convened by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) heard. Yet, with international cooperation and sharing of ideas, lawmakers believe the scourge of online abuse can be addressed.

Beijing+30: A Culmination of International, Intergenerational Dialogue

By Naureen Hossain
Thirty years since the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the resolve that defined and united the world toward a global agenda for gender equality make it just as relevant in 2025.

African Leaders Commit to Climate-Health Nexus and Adaptation Solutions

By Friday Phiri
At the Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 8-10 September, African leaders committed to the climate and health nexus and their desire to advance climate-resilient and adaptive health systems on the continent.

How Stigma Undermines Contraceptive Use Among Women in Sierra Leone

By Madina Kula Sheriff
Eunice Dumbuya, a young activist in Freetown, Sierra Leone, still remembers being called promiscuous after getting a contraceptive implant a few years ago. She knew the risks of an unplanned pregnancy in her conservative country, so she made a choice.

New Report Investigates Violence Against Women and Girls Through Surrogacy, Sparks Global Dialogue

By Jennifer Xin-Tsu Lin Levine
A United Nations report calling for the global abolition of surrogacy has sparked intense debate among experts, with critics arguing that blanket bans could harm the very women the policy aims to protect.

Why Collective Healing is Central to Peacebuilding

By Sania Farooqui
Wars and oppression leave behind not just rubble and graves. They leave behind invisible wounds, profound trauma carried by survivors. And most often, women carry the largest burden. They are targeted not only because of their gender, but because surviving and leading threaten structures based on patriarchy and domination.

Experts Launch a Climate and Health Curriculum for African Negotiators Ahead of COP30

By Farai Shawn Matiashe
Despite climate change being a health risk multiplier, health is often underrepresented in climate negotiation processes. Experts attribute this to a lack of funding by the African governments and a lack of capacity building among climate negotiators.

The Right to Care: A Feminist Legal Victory That Could Change the Americas

By Inés M. Pousadela
On 7 August, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights delivered a groundbreaking decision that could transform women’s lives across the Americas. For the first time in international law, an international tribunal recognised care as an autonomous human right. Advisory Opinion 31/25, issued in response to a request from Argentina, elevates care – long invisible and relegated to the private sphere – to the level of a universal enforceable entitlement.

Hypertension and Diabetes Grows Among India’s Poor Communities

By Rina Mukherji
Generally thought to be diseases of the wealthier classes, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension and diabetes are on the rise among India’s underprivileged working classes in semi-urban and rural sprawls.

Aid Funding Crisis Means Parliamentarians’ Visionary Leadership Even More Crucial

By Cecilia Russell
As funding for sexual and reproductive health rights was on a “cliff edge,” parliamentarians now needed to play a “visionary” leadership role because “financing strong, resilient health systems for all their people rests with governments,” said Dr. Alvaro Bermejo, Director General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

Sexual Health Rights: Contradictions in East African Laws, Policies

By Wambi Michael
Sarah Namukisa nearly missed her final year exams earlier this year. She was subjected to a mandatory pregnancy test—the 25-year-old student at the Medical Laboratory Training School in Jinja was then expelled because she was pregnant.

The Hidden Backbone of Maternal Health: Asia’s Midwifery Gap

By Shreya Komar
Asia-Pacific’s midwives are a healthcare lifeline capable of delivering nearly 90 percent of essential maternal and newborn services. Yet the region grapples with severe shortages, underinvestment, and systemic neglect.

Marital Rape: Confronting Religious Misinterpretations, Social Stigma, Despite Legal Clarity

By Zofeen Ebrahim
“The last thing she asked for was a sip of water,” recalled Najma Maheshwari, referring to 19-year-old Shanti, a newlywed who died last week after brutal sexual violence allegedly inflicted by her husband, who is now in custody.

HIV/AIDS Funding Crisis Risks Reversing Decades of Global Progress

By Jennifer Xin-Tsu Lin Levine
UNAIDS called the funding crisis a ticking time bomb, saying the impact of the US cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) could result in 4 million unnecessary AIDS-related deaths by 2029.

Global Tobacco Control Efforts Protect up to 6.1 Billion People

By Maximilian Malawista
Tobacco kills up to half its users who don’t quit, a grim reality that highlights the urgent mission of global tobacco control. A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that while many countries have followed the organization’s protocols to reduce tobacco use, major gaps still remain in broader implementation.

Rising Temperatures, Rising Inequalities: How a New Insurance Protects India’s Poorest Women

By Manipadma Jena
As Deviben Dhaundhaliya, 45, a streetside seller of artificial jewelry, waits for her husband Devabhai to arrive and help her shift their iron-frame mobile ‘shop’ to the Bhadra Fort open-air marketplace in Ahmedabad city, she tells of how “as heat increased, my wares started melting under the direct exposure to the sun, or they got discolored.”

Women in Afghanistan Face a Total Lack of Autonomy

By Oritro Karim
Nearly four years ago, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and issued a series of edicts that significantly restricted women’s rights nationwide. This has resulted in a multifaceted humanitarian crisis, one marked by a notable decline in civic freedoms, stunted national development, and a widespread lack of basic services.

Lawyer-Turned-Activist Bhuwan Ribhu Honored for Leading a Campaign to End Child Marriage

By Stella Paul
Bhuwan Ribhu didn’t plan to become a child rights activist. But when he saw how many children in India were being trafficked, abused, and forced into marriage, he knew he couldn’t stay silent.

Tanzania’s Women Miners Digging for Equality in a Male-Dominated Industry

By Kizito Makoye
Under the scorching Tanzanian sun, Neema Mushi wipes sweat from her dust-covered face and swings her pickaxe into the earth. The impact sends dust swirling into the air, coating her tattered clothes. She barely notices. For the past eight years, this has been her life—digging, sifting, sieving, and hoping to strike gold in the male-dominated pits of Geita. It is a grueling task riddled with obstacles.

African Countries Still Underfunding Health by as Much as 50 Percent

By Maina Waruru
The majority of African countries are yet to commit 15 percent of their GDP to funding the health sector, despite the growing disease burden weighing down the continent and two decades after the coming into force of the Abuja declaration on health sector funding.

Trapped by Tradition: The Widows of Ukerewe and the Ritual They Cannot Escape

By Kizito Makoye
The night after her husband was laid to rest, 24-year-old Vivian Magesa sat in the dimly lit brick-walled house, surrounded by women from her late husband’s family. She had spent the past few days in mourning, wrapped in a white shroud, her head shaved as custom dictated. But as the hushed voices of her in-laws filled the room, Magesa realized her grief was far from over.
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