IPPF’s Director General, Tewodros Melesse, has paid tribute to the Government and people of Japan, following the announcement that Japan will support the provision of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for 2017.  The Japanese Government has announced that it will contribute approximately 3.1 billion yen (roughly $28 million) to IPPF and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in annual support.  Mr Melesse said: “IPPF is grateful for Japan’s continuing support to SRHR through funding IPPF and UNFPA. Particularly in the current negative climate around SRHR, Japan’s expression of its strong will to continue its support for SRHR is warmly welcome.”  “Japan’s long-lasting support for IPPF and for sexual and reproductive health care and rights has always been appreciated. These funds will help IPPF member associations around the world mitigate the cuts in funding we are seeing from some other sources. This will help protect health and save the lives of many people, especially women and girls.”  Mr Melesse added: “We agree completely with the Government of Japan when it says that the provision of services relating to sexual and reproductive health and rights is essential for realizing universal health coverage (UHC), that ensures affordable access to basic health services for all whenever they need them throughout their lives.  This is stated clearly in the Basic Design for Peace and Health, Japan’s global health policy and one of the outcome documents of the G7 Ise-Shima Summit, as well as in an outcome document from the The World Assembly for Women in Tokyo 2016 (WAW), the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI).  IPPF would like to congratulate Japan’s leadership and commits to working closely with the Government of Japan to make a real difference to the lives of women, men and young people in around world and to achieve the Strategic Development Goals.”  IPPF received approximately $1.13m  from Japan in early 2017 for its activities targeted to Syrian refugees and internally displaced people, and will receive funding of $7.76m which was recently approved by the Japanese Parliaments.  

The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is grateful to the international community for its ongoing support for women and girls through the She Decides initiative. The announcement of a funding summit to support the campaign, to be held in Brussels on 2 March, emphasizes an international commitment to safeguarding women’s sexual and reproductive rights. Tewodros Melesse, IPPF Director General said: “It is reassuring to know that when one government takes a step backwards on the issue of women’s rights, so many more are willing to step forward. “The ‘She Decides’ initiative is a crucial lifeline for the millions of people who will be unjustly punished by this policy and emphasizes the international community’s commitment to creating a world built on unity, equality and opportunity. “The summit in March will be a valuable opportunity for progressive governments to come together and begin the challenging task of mitigating the damage of this regressive and oppressive policy.”   IPPF’s Member Associations will be speaking at the conference to give their account of the impact of the Global Gag Rule.

Mexico City Policy will have a devastating impact for International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) with its extension far beyond family planning.  Restrictions into support for HIV, maternal health and infectious diseases programmes will mean that millions will be denied lifesaving healthcare they need. The policy will hit hardest, the women living at the margins of society – the poorest, the most remote and those under 25.    The Global Gag Rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy, denies US funding to organizations who provide any abortion related services, including counselling, even when such services are legal in a national context.   IPPF has a special focus on working with the world’s most poor and vulnerable and tailoring services to meet their needs. At country levels, the US funding loss will reduce or halt IPPF’s services and arrest opportunities to scale up, build capacity and reach more people.   Tewodros Melesse, IPPF Director General, said in reaction, “For over 30 years, the Mexico City Policy has played politics with women’s lives. It is a cynical attempt to silence the choice and voice of the world’s poorest women.  As a champion for them and people everywhere, we will not be held back.   "This extended policy covers every aspect of IPPF’s work with the world's poorest people. It also fails in its stated intent to reduce the global incidence of abortion. With the expansion of its restrictions to work on broader health efforts it is short-sighted and dangerous, and threatens years of IPPF gains to advance the health and well-being of communities and undercuts health care access for millions worldwide.”   The extended policy will now affect IPPF’s long record of working on HIV prevention in more than 20 countries covering Africa and Latin America often providing clients integrated sexual and reproductive health care services. The Global Gag rule could also endanger emergency funding for Zika prevention, education and health services in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the epidemic continues to rage.   Examples of Country Impact: Barbados: IPPF partner Barbados Family Planning Association receives funding from the U.S. government to provide HIV prevention and education services to at-risk, hard-to-reach populations including men who have sex with men. The Caribbean has the second-highest HIV prevalence rate among adults after Sub-Saharan Africa.   Nepal: IPPF aims to increase voluntary use of family planning services by increasing accessibility and availability of quality comprehensive family planning services to the hard to reach, disadvantaged, poor and adolescent populations in 11 districts and increase access to voluntary family planning information, education, and services. Nepal has failing and patchy family planning coverage which is often only available at certain times of the year. IPPF are working closely with the government to expand and strengthen static clinics in selected district hospitals, health posts and health facilities with birthing centers to reach all year round, reaching eligible couples with high unmet need. Malawi: The Family Planning Association of Malawi are providing much needed integrated family planning and HIV prevention to young adolescent and women in Malawi via clinics and outreach teams travelling to communities to raise awareness and offer services for vulnerable young women to prevent and treat sexual  gender based violence, HIV infection and access to family planning. Without funding they will no longer be able to provide or expand this vital information, support community learning and offer both family planning services and treatment for sexual and gender based violence in one place.   The rule blocks critical funding for health services like contraception, maternal health, and HIV prevention and treatment for any organization that refuses to sign up to it.    For IPPF, it means foregoing US$100,000,000 that would be directed to proven programmes that provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services for millions of women and girls who would otherwise go without vital services that save lives.   IPPF is the world’s largest women’s health network with members in 170 countries with over 45,000 service delivery points delivering over 300 services a minute. Individuals can donate to IPPF’s online appeal www.ippf.org/donate     WANT TO GET INVOLVED? SUBSCRIBE NOW TO GET UPDATES FROM IPPF SUPPORT OUR WORK WITH A DONATION JOIN OUR THUNDERCLAP     View my Flipboard Magazine.

Across the globe, women who want to end an unwanted pregnancy are faced with numerous challenges, not least of which is navigating the legal restrictions that prevent women from accessing safe abortion. In Papua New Guinea it is no different. Located in the South Western Pacific, the country has a high unmet need for family planning and the majority of women wishing to delay or prevent pregnancy are without the means to do so. It is no surprise then, that unwanted pregnancy is a common experience for women in PNG.    This is the situation that Leoba Davana and her husband James Channel found themselves in. Already with two young children to care for, and having previously experienced a life threatening pregnancy, Leoba and James made the decision to have an abortion. Unfortunately, Leoba experienced complications and upon seeking post abortion care she and James were arrested. They now face up to 5 years in jail. In PNG, abortion is legally restricted and only permitted if there is a significant threat to the woman’s health. In addition, any abortion must be carried out by a registered practitioner. In a country with a critical shortage of doctors and with the majority of the population living in rural areas, the ability to obtain a safe and legal abortion is near impossible for the majority of women.  Leoba and James’ case has serious implications for women’s health in PNG. Unless overturned, this conviction will jeopardise efforts to provide access to post abortion care and contraception in the country, and further limit women’s rights and opportunities. We know that criminalising abortion is only effective at making abortion less safe. And where women have limited access to contraception the need for access to safe and legal abortion is even more urgent. In countries like PNG, too many women are too often faced with a stark choice between risking their health and well-being by continuing with an unwanted pregnancy, or risking their health and freedom by obtaining an unsafe and illegal abortion   Leoba and James’ case will be reviewed by the PNG Supreme Court in the coming weeks.   Funds are urgently requested to help cover legal costs. To date K16,593.94 has been raised of the required K50,000. Please support them by donating at: Account Name: Safe Motherhood Alliance PNG Bank: ANZ, Harbour City, NCD, Papua New Guinea BSP: 018-912 Account Number: 14402886 Swift Code: ANZBPGPX Ref: SvD E-mail: [email protected]

Ms. Anjali Sen, Regional Director, IPPF-South Asia Region said “It comes as a huge relief that Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has decided to reconsider its blanket ban on all advertisements of contraceptives in the electronic media. In the first place, it was an ill-considered order in the backdrop of the fact that Pakistan has the highest population growth, birth and fertility rates among the South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal. This blanket ban had raised serious questions because the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) for women in reproductive age in Pakistan is an abysmal 35.40, as per 2013 figures. Given the realities of fertility rates and population growth in Pakistan, the Pakistani policy makers must understand that information on contraceptive choices is the key.  From around the world, we have many examples on how a desire for smaller families have led to greater investments in family planning, which have helped transform the age structure and consequently contributed to overall well-being. If the power of media, including the electronic media is harnessed, Pakistan will not stare at a projected 342 million people by 2050. Pakistani policy makers will appreciate that such population explosion will ultimately jeopardize the gains that Pakistan has made over the last few decades. A blanket ban on all contraceptive commercials in electronic media would have been counter-productive and it would have unspeakably harmed Pakistan’s national interest in slowing the population growth. If anything, the state and its agencies should actively facilitate free flow of information on contraceptives and the choices available if Pakistan has to achieve its population and development priorities. As a leading provider and advocates of family planning, South Asia Regional Office of IPPF welcomes PEMRA’s withdrawal of a blanket ban on advertisement of contraceptive products on Pakistani electronic media."

IPPF welcomes the release by the Guttmacher Institute of new worldwide estimates of abortion incidence. These estimates provide valuable information for organizations like IPPF working to improve access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. A key finding from the study is that roughly one in four pregnancies globally ends in abortion, showing that abortion is a common occurrence in many women’s life.   The study also shows that the larger decline in abortion rates between 1990 and 2014 occurred in developed countries (where abortion is generally legal and available), but rates have not changed significantly in the developing world, where abortion laws are often restrictive. This demonstrates that restricting access to safe legal abortion does not reduce the number of abortions but rather pushes abortions underground, leading to risks to women’s health and lives. While estimates seem to indicate a reduction in abortion related deaths, complications from unsafe abortion - while less serious due to increased access to post-abortion care and increased availability of misoprostol - continue to affect millions of women each year. In fact, data for 2012  show that 6.9 million women in developing regions were treated for complications from unsafe abortions. Developing regions also continue to be disproportionally affected by unsafe abortion, with nearly all deaths due to unsafe abortion occurring in developing countries, with the highest number occurring in Africa.   Very importantly, the study outlines how high levels of unmet need for contraception contribute to higher abortion rates in developing regions. This again shows the relevance of organizations like IPPF working to prevent unwanted pregnancy through modern contraceptive services, promote comprehensive sexuality education and eliminate sexual violence and coercion.  At the same time, IPPF recognizes the importance of increasing access to safe abortion services and IPPF will continue to provide access to safe abortion and to promote a woman’s right to choose.