Women's Health

OPINION: On Reproductive Rights, Progress with Concerns

By Joseph Chamie
For most of human history, reproductive rights essentially meant men and women accepting the number, timing and spacing of their children, as well as possible childlessness. All this changed radically in the second half of the 20th century with the introduction of new medical technologies aimed at both preventing and assisting human reproduction.

Zimbabwe’s Family Planning Dilemma

By Ignatius Banda
Pregnant at 15, Samantha Yakubu* is in a fix. The 16-year-old boy she claims was responsible for her pregnancy has refused to accept her version of events, insisting that he was “not the only one who slept with her”.

Lack of Accountability Fuels Gender-Based Violence in India

By Stella Paul
On a bright March morning, a 17-year old tribal girl woke as usual, and went to catch fish in the village river in the Chirang district of India’s northeastern Assam state.

Conflict Keeps Mothers From Healthcare Services

By Stella Paul
Twenty-five-year-old Khemwanti Pradhan is a ‘Mitanin’ – a trained and accredited community health worker – based in the Nagarbeda village of the Bastar region in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

Comprehensive Sex Education: A Pending Task in Latin America

By Fabiana Frayssinet
In most Latin American countries schools now provide sex education, but with a focus that is generally restricted to the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases – an approach that has not brought about significant modifications in the behaviour of adolescents, especially among the poor.

‘Therapeutic Abortion’ Could Soon Be Legal in Chile

By Marianela Jarroud
Chile, one of the most conservative countries in Latin America, is getting ready for an unprecedented debate on the legalisation of therapeutic abortion, which is expected to be approved this year.

Mission Midwife: The Case for Trained Birth Attendants in Senegal

By Doreen Akiyo Yomoah
Diouma Tine is a 50-year-old vegetable seller and a mother of six boys. In her native Senegal, she tells IPS, motherhood isn’t a choice. “If you’re married, then you must have children. If you don’t, then you don’t get to stay in your husband’s house, and no one will respect you.”

On Sri Lanka’s Tea Estates, Maternal Health Leaves a Lot to Be Desired

By Kanya D'Almeida
A mud path winds its up way uphill, offering views on either side of row after row of dense bushes and eventually giving way to a cluster of humble homes, surrounded by ragged, playful children.

Saving the Lives of Cameroonian Mothers and their Babies with an SMS

By Ngala Killian Chimtom
“You can’t measure the joy in my heart,” Marceline Duba, from Lagdo in Cameroon’s Far North Region, tells IPS as she holds her grandson in her arms.  

OPINION: Invest in Young People to Harness Africa’s Demographic Dividend

By Julitta Onabanjo, Benoit Kalasa, and Mohamed Abdel-Ahad
Different issues will be competing for the attention of different African leaders attending the 69th United Nations General Assembly Special Session on International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Beyond 2014 in New York on Sep 22.

Georgia’s Female Drug Addicts Face Double Struggle

By Pavol Stracansky
Irina was 21 when she first started using drugs. More than 30 years later, having lost her husband, her home and her business to drugs, she is still battling her addiction.

U.N. Urged to Reaffirm Reproductive Rights in Post-2015 Agenda

By Thalif Deen
The U.N.'s post-2015 development agenda has been described as the most far-reaching and comprehensive development-related endeavour ever undertaken by the world body.

Geographical Divide in Maternal Health for Syrian Refugees

By Shelly Kittleson
At the largest refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan, young Syrian mothers and pregnant women are considered relatively lucky.

Against All the Odds: Maternity and Mortality in Afghanistan

By Karlos Zurutuza
Nasrin Mohamadi, a mother of four, has promised herself never to set foot in an Afghan public hospital again. After her first experience in a maternity ward, she has lost all faith in the state’s healthcare system.

OPINION: Investing in Adolescent Girls for Africa’s Development

By Hinda Deby Itno and Julitta Onabanjo
Adolescence is a time of transition from childhood to adulthood. It is also a time of change and challenge. 

How Niger’s Traditional Leaders are Promoting Maternal Health

By Joan Erakit
It is a long, 14-hour drive from Niger’s capital city Niamey to the village of Bande. And the ride is a dreary one as the roadside is bare. The occasional, lone goat herder is spotted every few kilometres and the sightings become a cause of both confusion and excitement since there aren’t any trees, or watering holes in sight.

No Easy Choices for Syrians with Small Children

By Shelly Kittleson
The woman who walked into the Islamic Front (IF) media office near the Turkish border was on the verge of fainting under the hot Syrian sun, but all she cared about was her infant son.

OPINION: Iraq On the Precipice

By Bill Miller
The catastrophic events in Iraq that are unfolding daily are more significant than at any point in recent memory.

Afghan “Torn” Women Get Another Chance

By Karlos Zurutuza
"The smell of faeces and urine isolates them completely. Their husbands abandon them and they become stigmatised forever” – Dr Pashtoon Kohistani barely needs two lines to sum up the drama of those women affected by obstetric fistula.

Arab Region Has World’s Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic

By Mona Alami
At a time when HIV rates have stabilised or declined elsewhere, the epidemic is still advancing in the Arab world, exacerbated by factors such as political unrest, conflict, poverty and lack of awareness due to social taboos.

Nepal Landslide Leaves Women and Children Vulnerable

By Naresh Newar
Living in a makeshift tarpaulin shelter, which barely protects her family from the torrential rainfall or scorching heat of this remote village in southern Nepal, 36-year-old Kamala Pari is under immense stress, worrying about her financial security and children’s safety.
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