Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Increase in U.S. International Family Planning Assistance
July 18, 2008
Washington, DC … Yesterday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a funding increase and important advances in the policies governing international family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) programs in adopting its version of the fiscal year 2009 bill funding the Department of State and U.S. foreign assistance programs.
PAI Hails Historic Increase in U.S. International Family Planning Assistance
July 16, 2008
Washington, DC … With the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee's approval today of the fiscal year 2009 foreign assistance bill, the House of Representatives has taken a major step forward in addressing the family planning needs of millions of women and couples in poor, developing nations. The $600 million allocated for international family planning and reproductive health programs is the largest total amount ever provided by the United States for family planning programs (not accounting for inflation) and the largest one-year dollar increase in these programs on record. It marks a 28 percent increase above current (FY 2008) levels and an 83 percent increase above the President's request.
Senate Passage of Landmark HIV/AIDS Bill; Failure to Maximize Prevention Efforts
July 16, 2008
Washington, DC … The Senate passage of legislation to extend and expand the U.S. commitment to addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis – the largest single commitment by any government -- deserves recognition for the life-saving impact it has, and will continue to have, on the lives of millions in need. Population Action International applauds this level of commitment to fighting this pandemic. But as an organization that works to improve the health of men, women and children in the developing world, PAI is profoundly disappointed in the failure of Congress to use the reauthorization process to make the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) even more effective and successful in preventing the transmission of this deadly disease.
PAI Condemns Bush Administration Threat to Dramatically Expand Ban on Funding Organizations Working to Reform Chinese Population Program
June 27, 2008
Washington, DC… Because the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) provides funding for health services, including voluntary family planning, in China where the government maintains a “one-child policy,” the Bush administration decided Thursday to once again unjustly withhold U.S. funding to UNFPA, as it has for the last seven years. While the decision was not a surprise, it was no less disappointing. Contrary to the administration's assertions, UNFPA provides alternative and voluntary approaches to China's compulsory family planning program.
Now, however, the Bush administration has threatened to dramatically expand the interpretation of the so-called Kemp-Kasten amendment, which until now has been limited only to UNFPA, to also cut off funding to other nongovernmental organizations solely because they operate health programs in China.
Future of AIDS Funding at Stake in Senate
Media Source: NPR
June 23, 2008
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has told Democrats and Republicans that if they want a global AIDS bill considered before President Bush heads to the Group of Eight summit next month, they will have to reach a compromise by Tuesday. Seven senators - led by Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn - still stand in the way.
Family Planning in the Philippines: A Global Wake-Up Call for Policymakers
April 24, 2008
“Birthrates Help Keep Filipinos in Poverty” – that's the headline of an April 21, 2008 Washington Post article highlighting the plight of a growing number of poor women in the Philippines who lack access to one of the most basic forms of health care: family planning (FP) and reproductive health services. The article, which mentions that the U.S. is scaling down its FP program in the Philippines, should be a wake-up call for policymakers about the global impact of declining FP assistance on the lives of hundreds of millions of men and women in the Philippines and other developing nations.
U.S. investments in international family planning have been one of the most successful and cost-effective ways to improve maternal and child health, ease population pressures on the environment, and help countries fight poverty. But despite the achievements of recent decades -- including an increase in use of contraceptives among married women in the developing world from 10 percent to 60 percent since 1960 and a decline in average fertility rates from about six children per woman to three children per woman -- significant needs remain. For example, only one-third of married Filipino women use modern contraceptives.
Why the United States Should Restore Funding for UNFPA
April 17, 2008
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) provides international leadership on population issues and is a key source of financial assistance for family planning and reproductive health programs in poor countries. Restoring U.S. funding for UNFPA programs is crucial to improving the health and lives of women and their families and to addressing demographic trends and promoting sustainable development.
PAI Commits to Exploring Connections between Population and Global Climate Change; Hires Pre-eminent Researcher
April 14, 2008
Washington, DC… Following an extensive year-long analysis, Population Action International (PAI) has committed to a multi-year, multi-disciplinary program to identify and explore the connections between population and global climate change (GCC). PAI's research will focus on conducting in-depth analysis into these connections and illuminate how access to voluntary family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) services can help enhance GCC mitigation and adaptation efforts. The goals are to gain a better understanding of the influence of demography on GCC and how FP/RH improves the well-being of those vulnerable to global climate change.
Government Censorship: No Joke
April 4, 2008
As a librarian for over 30 years, I've seen my share of April Fools jokes. But this year's seemed more outrageous – and less funny -- than in previous years. A librarian at the University of California/San Francisco Medical Center sent an inquiry to staff at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health when she found discrepancies in POPLINE searches that included the term “abortion.” On April 1, she received the following response from Debbie Dickson at POPLINE: “Yes we did make a change in POPLINE. We recently made all abortion terms stop terms. As a federally funded project, we decided this was best for now. In addition to the terms you're already using, you could try using ‘Fertility Control, Postconception.' This is the broader term to our ‘abortion' terms and most records have both in the keyword fields…” In effect, the word “abortion” was downgraded from a medical search term to the status of words such as “a” and “the.”
HIV/AIDS Advocates Call on Congress to Support Integration of Family Planning Programs with HIV Services
March 28, 2008
On April 2nd the House of Representatives is scheduled to consider a bill reauthorizing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). HIV/AIDS prevention & treatment organizations have partnered with sexual and reproductive health organizations to send a letter to more than 30 key members of Congress. The letter (copied below) urges members of Congress to remove restrictions on family planning services from PEPFAR.
Previous
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
Next
