The number of women dying due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth has almost halved in 20 years, according to new estimates released today by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank. 
Read the full story Check out the Maternal Mortality Estimates Take Action!
What do Hello Kitty, an Under Secretary of the United Nations, the CEO of UNIQLO USA, and the Operating Officer, TOKYO FM Broadcasting have in common? A deep commitment to the prevention of cervical cancer and a promise to help UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, make a difference through the Hellosmile Project. Read more
At the conclusion of its 45th session in April 2012, the United Nations Commission on Population and Development adopted a groundbreaking resolution that provides a major boost to the sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights of adolescent and youth. Read more
Members of the House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs are scheduled to meet on Wednesday, May 9th, to determine FY2013 funding levels for UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
UNFPA's lifesaving programs help mothers survive pregnancy and childbirth, deliver healthy newborns, enable couples to determine the number and spacing of their children and reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS. The loss of U.S. funding would have a tremendously negative effect on the lives of many women, men, and young people in the world's poorest nations. UNFPA estimates that with support from a U.S. contribution, maternal and newborn deaths can be averted, women afflicted by fistula can have surgical repair, and couples can benefit from modern methods of family planning thus preventing unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. Write to your Representative now, and let them know you support funding for UNFPA in FY2013.
Family planning wasn’t always controversial in the U.S. In the 1960’s Americans lobbied the United Nations to create UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Newsweek discusses Melinda Gates’ hope to restore family planning as a global priority with no controversy attached. Read about the Gates Foundations’ efforts to “re-create the former broad-based consensus behind global family planning. Read more
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