While the past decades have seen a foreign aid field dominated by the world's wealthy countries who are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and its Development Assistance Committee (DAC), a new form a donorship has emerged, or more accurately, re-emerged. Aid funding from prosperous, yet still developing countries to other developing countries has drawn international attention, much of it from a critical perspective. A 2007 article in Foreign Policy labeled aid from China, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia as both “generous” and “toxic,” while a recent cover of the Economist labeled China “The New Colonialists.” However, an increase in global aid to the poorest countries, delivered with fresh perspectives and an intensified spirit of South-South cooperation has many potential benefits.

Brochure with images and timeline from a reception and exhibition of photographs commemorating the 40th anniversary of U.S. funding for international family planning programs.

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.

A Measure of Survival: Calculating Women's Sexual and Reproductive Risk classifies 130 developing and developed countries (comprising 96 percent of the world population) into five categories from highest to lowest sexual and reproductive risk for women based on indicators of access to reproductive health service and outcomes.

Assessment of the progress nations have made towards achieving the goals set by the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994. The ICPD examined the social context of population growth and size by focusing on the reproductive health and rights of women and men.

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.

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 Global Gag Rule was reinstated by President George W. Bush on his first day in office in January 2001. Officially termed the Mexico City Policy, these restrictions mandate that no U.S. family planning assistance can be provided to foreign NGOs that use funding from any other source to: perform abortions in cases other than a threat to the woman's life, rape or incest; provide counseling and referral for abortion; or lobby to make abortion legal or more available in their country.