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Youth offer solutions to global problems, if leaders take action now
Uganda
Today, the world faces daunting challenges, from persistent poverty to entrenched inequalities. Yet one key solution is just over the horizon, if countries and leaders take action now.
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Leaders around the world commit support for voluntary family planning
Uganda
Kate Opio, 33, was buoyant, cuddling one of her newborn twins in the maternity ward at Inomo health centre, in Uganda’s Apac District. The other twin slept peacefully beside them. But this lovely moment, Ms. Opio’s…
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After devastating birth injuries, 33 women’s lives transformed
Cameroon
Amina was married when she was just a child . Soon after, she became pregnant, and, at only 13 years old, she went into labour. As is the case with many girls her age, Amina’s body was not mature enough to bear a child…
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In Bangladesh’s tea gardens, saving mothers and newborns
Bangladesh
When labour pains started for Anjana, 20, she had no idea her life was at stake. She was 36 weeks into her first pregnancy, and felt contractions for a full day before her family called for the midwife. By then, she was…
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To secure a better future, teens in Sierra Leone look to family planning
Sierra Leone
When Aminata Kabba became pregnant last year, at 15 years old, she had no idea how difficult her life would become. “Having a child at my age was a big mistake,” she said. Becoming a mother has disrupted her education…
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Workplace family planning project empowers women, and is good business
Philippines
Seven months ago, Mae Esparcia, 30, gave birth to her first child, Maria Carmen. After her delivery, Ms. Esparcia, a garments factory worker at Hamlin Industrial Corp. in Cavite, Philippines, decided to start using…
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Violence in Marawi displaces thousands of pregnant women and new mothers
Philippines
Nineteen-year-old Tarhata Mostare gave birth to her third child at home on 23 May – the same day fighting erupted between government forces and the Maute and Abu Sayyaf armed groups in the city of Marawi, on the long-…
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One year after Ebola’s end, Sierra Leone's midwives help mend health system
Sierra Leone
The horrific Ebola outbreak in West Africa came to an end one year ago. The crisis left over 3,900 Sierra Leoneans dead and health systems in disarray – yet the true toll of the epidemic has been even higher.
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Contraceptives a game changer for crisis-affected women in northern Nigeria
Nigeria
Despite the recent return of dozens of girls abducted by the insurgent group Boko Haram, the crisis in northern Nigeria remains acute, with mass movements of civilian populations within the country and over the border…
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For many women in Ukraine, escape from conflict not an escape from violence
Ukraine
Things started to fall apart for Mariana* when she and her father were forced to flee fighting in the Donetsk region in 2016. Even after escaping the front lines, displaced women and girls can be extraordinarily…
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Counsellors reach out to Kachin communities to end gender violence
Myanmar
“We should not have to live in fear of violence just because we are women,” Khaung Nan declared in Waing Maw, a town in Myanmar’s battle-worn Kachin State. Ms. Khaung Nan works at the Waing Maw Women’s and Girls’ Centre…
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After 46 years of suffering, fistula survivor finds relief
Malawi
A phone call changed Nachilango Bisolomo’s life.
For 46 years, she had suffered from an obstetric fistula, a stigmatizing injury caused by childbirth complications. Fistula causes incontinence and can…