With its Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs' approval of the fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill, the House of Representatives took a significant step toward grounding U.S. aid for family planning and HIV/AIDS relief in sound evidence.

PAI was thrilled to hear President Bush announce last week that he is requesting an additional 30 billion in funding for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) over the next five years. This historic effort has enormous potential to save millions of lives.

As the U.S. Presidential campaign season begins to heat up, a number of advocacy groups are beginning to develop policy platforms for candidates to support and endorse in their campaigns. The ONE Campaign, which develops these platforms for policymakers around the world on the topics of poverty and HIV/AIDS, is putting together such a document right now. Regrettably, rumor has it that ONE's platform will give only passing mention of one of the most effective methods of fighting poverty and hunger, curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS, and reducing child and maternal mortality: family planning and reproductive health care.

Maternal and infant mortality have declined in Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines according to a new report released by Save the Children. Much of this good news can be attributed to access to family planning services which give women the ability to space their children at healthy intervals and plan the size of their families. The successes of these five countries show how crucial financial and political commitments to family planning are to curbing child mortality, as well as meeting other development goals.

As the HIV/AIDS epidemic increasingly affects women it is more important than ever that HIV/AIDS programs coordinate with and complement family planning and reproductive health programs. The question is: How can this be done most effectively?

Violence against women and the spread of HIV/AIDS are inextricably linked and must be addressed together, according to a new report released by Women Won't Wait. Every woman has the “right to freedom from violence and to the highest attainable standard of health, including sexual and reproductive health and services.” PAI couldn't agree more and urges governments and multilateral institutions to ensure that these fundamental human rights are fully integrated into their approach to HIV prevention.

This week, delegates to the U.N.'s 51st Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will begin meeting to “evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.” PAI urges the delegates to examine the core issues that result in these horrible acts and honor previously agreed-to international commitments. These issues are symptoms of a deep-rooted tradition of discrimination against and violence toward women-one that the Commission challenges and must help member states to overcome.

PAI was heartened to see the Rwandan government announce a new national family planning program that will include the free distribution of contraceptives to women of child-bearing age and the teaching of comprehensive sex education in schools. Such political will is essential to getting reproductive health education and services to those who want and need them the most. However, as part of the family planning program, officials in Rwanda are apparently considering measures to limit family size to three children.

Worldwide, nearly 80 million unintended pregnancies occur each year, with over half of them ending in abortion-even in countries where the procedure is illegal. These unintended pregnancies-and resulting abortions-could be prevented if women had access to the reproductive services and supplies, including condoms and emergency contraception, they want and need to determine if and when to conceive a child. The global community must fund reproductive health programs worldwide-these supplies, services and education are crucial to improving and saving lives that might otherwise be lost to maternal mortality and unsafe abortion.

Today marks the 34th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing women's right to safe abortion in the United States.