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.

Pregnancy and childbirth are deadly to more than half a million women worldwide every year – a fact that is unacceptable, but not unavoidable. Despite twenty years of campaigning to improve their sexual and reproductive health, the risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth continues to show the largest gap between the rich and poor of all development statistics. That so little progress has been made in helping the world's poorest women survive pregnancy and childbirth should serve as a wake-up call to all of us.

Each year, over 600,000 children around the world are infected with HIV through mother-to-child-transmission, totaling 2.3 million children living with HIV or AIDS today. The majority of these infections is occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and are acquired from mothers during pregnancy, labor, delivery or breastfeeding. While programs to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother-to-child (PMTCT) are invaluable, they currently are reaching only an estimated five percent of the HIV-positive population.

Population Action International (PAI) is an independent policy advocacy group working to strengthen political and financial support worldwide for population programs grounded in individual rights. Founded in 1965, PAI is a private, non-profit group and accepts no government funds.

The phrase “population crisis” once roused fears of uncontrollable growth in human numbers. However, now that many societies have improved women's status and increased access to family planning, some analysts argue that if there is a population crisis it is because women are having too few children-a so-called “birth dearth.” A quick look at the demographic reality shows that the era of population growth is far from over-and high fertility rates are still prevalent in many developing countries.

Population age structure-the comparative size of specific age groups relative to the population as a whole-can help illustrate where countries' risks and opportunities lie in relation to critical issues such as democracy, development and security. In fact, the influence of age structure on a state's governance, risk of an outbreak of civil conflict, and economic development is both significant and quantifiable. Given these linkages, investments in family planning, infant and maternal health, education and economic opportunities for girls, women and young people can vastly affect the shape of things to come.

Filmed in Kenya and Uganda, this 9-minute documentary provides a snapshot of the Bush administrationís abstinence-only approach to HIV prevention as part of its global HIV/AIDS assistance. Abstaining from Reality examines how these ideologically-driven programs are actually endangering the lives of the people theyíre supposed to be protecting. This policy is disconnected from the reality of the lives of women and young people, who are disproportionately affected by the epidemic. The film urges a balanced, comprehensive approach to preventing HIV infections by providing full and accurate information and a range of services that empower individuals to make informed decisions.

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is a five year, US$15 billion initiative to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Unfortunately, this assistance comes with significant restrictions on how the money is spent, undermining the public health impact of the funds.

Economists credit declining fertility, from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s, as a major contributor to sustained economic growth among the Asian Tigers - the economically vibrant nations of South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the former Hong Kong Territory. Research indicates that shifts to smaller family sizes and slower rates of population growth played a key role in the creation of an educated workforce, the accumulation of household and government savings, the rise in wages, and the impressive growth of investments in manufacturing technology.

Family planning dramatically improves the health and chances of survival of both women and their children. At the same time, when parents are more confident their children will survive, they are more likely to have fewer children and plan the size of their families. U.S. international development and humanitarian assistance should support both child health and family planning programs as complementary initiatives.