News story
Local Egyptian heroine aims to end “huge” suffering caused by FGM
Egypt
In her daily life, Hoda Hamed, is a quiet 37-year-old kindergarten teacher, but when she is off the clock, she is a force of nature. Ms. Hamed is an outspoken advocate for women and girls, working tirelessly to convince…
Read story
News story
Maternal death rate plunges in Lao People's Democratic Republic
Lao People's Democratic Republic
"The village was full of kids before,” said Agnod, 56, in a remote community in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Nestled in a forest near the border with Viet Nam, the village of Labangkhok is one of the…
Read story
News story
Getting help to nomad moms on the move in West Darfur
Sudan
Something was terribly wrong. Zahra Zakaria was eight months pregnant when she went into labour in a tent in Kondabi, a remote village in Sudan’s West Darfur state. It was her sixth childbirth, but the pain this time…
Read story
News story
World Population Day in Six Eye-Popping Charts
Despite strides the world has made towards gender equality, teenage girls remain extremely vulnerable. Too many girls continue to see their rights abridged and prospects diminished by discrimination, exploitation and…
Read story
News story
Young volunteers meet critical reproductive health needs in Liberia
Liberia
Jackie knows about heartbreak. She became pregnant in the ninth grade and was forced to leave school. Then, when her baby was nearly two years old, she suddenly fell sick. “I took her to the clinic. But when I came back…
Read story
News story
Amid war devastation, Central African youth become agents of peace
Central African Republic
In the Central African Republic, an entire generation of youth has been scarred by more than three years of relentless bloodshed. But today, as a fragile stability takes hold, a peer education programme is helping the…
Read story
News story
Cambodian smash hit Love9 tackles taboo subject: sexual health
Cambodia
“My engine is still working!” a young man in a clinic yelled gleefully, having just testing negative for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Patients in the waiting room turned to gawk at him. It was a scene from…
Read story
News story
Thousands of pregnant women displaced by Boko Haram in Niger
Niger
DIFFA, Niger/UNITED NATIONS, New York – Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee south-eastern Niger following an attack by Boko Haram militants in early June. UNFPA estimates some 3,000 pregnant women are…
Read story
News story
Carmen Barroso and Childbirth with Dignity Foundation win 2016 UN Population Award
Women's health and rights took centre stage at yesterday's United Nations Population Award ceremony, held at UN Headquarters in New York. The UN honoured Brazilian social scientist Carmen Barroso and the…
Read story
News story
Nuns schooled on sexual and reproductive health in Bhutan
Bhutan
Nuns might seem like the last people needing sexual and reproductive health education. But in the tiny, landlocked Himalayan nation of Bhutan, holy women are being empowered by this information – and they, in turn, are…
Read story
News story
"Best friends" save women’s lives in war-weary Central African Republic
Central African Republic
Mathilde learned she was pregnant under the direst of circumstances: in a displacement camp in the war-ravaged Central African Republic, where she was struggling to support herself with no partner or parents.
Read story
News story
Youth with disabilities face staggering loss of rights
Burkina Faso
Stripped of their most fundamental reproductive rights, women with disabilities are too often denied access to contraception, subject to forced abortion or sterilization, or denied information about their bodies and…
Read story