In this Issue
Motherhood, It's Complicatedby Suzanne Ehlers, Interim President
Originally published on the Huffington Post
A colleague on maternity leave recently sent an e-mail saying what an incredible experience pregnancy is and how she can’t help thinking of the millions of women who go through it without the support we take for granted in the U.S. “Here I am focusing on tummy time and music groups; talk about perspective when you consider that more than half a million women die every year during pregnancy and childbirth because they don’t have access to the simplest of health services and supplies.”
Green Budget Contains $1 Billion for Family Planning and Reproductive Health RecommendationPAI was one of 34 organizations, primarily environmental and conservation groups, that sent recommendations to Capitol Hill outlining specific budget proposals in a document entitled Green Budget 2011—National Funding Priorities for the Environment. PAI worked with the World Wildlife Fund to insert a recommendation supporting $1 billion for international family planning and reproductive health programs, including language that connects integrated population, health, and environment (PHE) programs with climate change.
This is the first time that family planning has made its way into this annual budget document, and builds off our community’s success in having the $1 billion “ask” included in the Transition to Green report from the environmental movement to the Obama transition team in 2008. Click here to read more.
President Obama’s budget proposal for foreign assistance programs in fiscal year 2011 is likely to represent another step forward in addressing the family planning needs of millions of women and men in developing nations and mark a continuation of the dramatic shift away from stagnant levels during the Bush administration.
Since the State Department has yet to finalize the allocation of all foreign aid funds that will be devoted to family planning and reproductive health programs, however, it is not yet possible to be specific about the magnitude of the expected increase in funding compared to the total amount for the current fiscal year—$648.5 million—just approved by Congress in December. Click here to read more.