Focus Areas
Working towards global reproductive choice; autonomy and empowerment; and gender equality.
Commitment Makers
Creating a future for women and girls with the freedom and ability to lead healthy lives.
As a global organisation representing 143 Midwifery Associations and advocating on behalf of over one million midwives worldwide, the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) calls on all governments to uphold the human rights of all women and their families to quality and respectful midwifery care.
Amid an inconsistent designation of “essential” services, overburdened health facilities, lockdowns, supply chain interruptions, and travel restrictions, without decisive action, provision of voluntary family planning will inevitably decline, with potentially devastating effects.
Health impacts of lockdowns, economic losses in poor nations require targeted action and vigilance to save lives and protect against a worsening crisis
“The world is at risk of losing millions of women and children due to reductions in coverage of essential services, reversing hard-earned progress towards the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] to date and posing catastrophic consequences for households and communities,” said Dr. Koki Agarwal, Project Director of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership award, at a recent event on the importance of ensuring continuity of maternal, newborn, and child health services, voluntary family planning, and reproductive health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was the first in a series of virtual country knowledge exchange discussions organized by USAID’s MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership, led by Jhpiego and partners.
As resources are diverted, The Stream asks how women can be protected.
There is growing call for unrestricted access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services by every woman to curb Nigeria's teeming population, projected to rise at an average of six million yearly, according to the Population Reference Bureau (PRB).
Pregnant with her second child, 30-year-old Ndiabou Niang was enduring pelvic pain, but couldn’t afford to access prenatal care in Diabe Salla, a village on the outskirts of the small town of Thilogne in north-east Senegal. Her husband was unemployed and her earnings of under CFAF 10,000 (17 USD) from selling seasonal fruits in the local market were insufficient to make ends meet.
The National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) remains committed to the family planning campaign amid concerns about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on demographics.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, visiting service providers are coordinating with local authorities to help make sure women do not lose access to these services.
