Population Action International

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Condoms and CFLs: Environmental Behavior Change Lessons from Public Health

December 22, 2008
In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report recognized climate change as a global issue with the potential for catastrophic environmental effects. Likewise, by the late 1980s HIV/AIDS was identified as an undeniable pandemic that would affect all countries. The similarities between climate change and HIV/AIDS extend beyond the global nature of these issues, though. Both have complex etiologies, the scientific bases of which are difficult to translate to the general public, and neither is fully understood, even by experts in their respective fields.

Condoms Count - Meeting the Need in the Era of HIV-AIDS

June 1, 2002
Condoms Count, first published in 2002, tracks funding levels and the quantities of condoms provided to developing countries by donors, as part of its tracking of overall donor support to reproductive health programs and policies, including HIV prevention. This information is updated every two years in the form of supplemental data updates. The following are the highlights of the results of Condoms Count: 2006 Data Update.

Contraceptive Use Helps Reduce the Incidence of Abortion

August 1, 2005
Nearly 80 million unintended pregnancies occur worldwide every year. More than half of these pregnancies end in abortion, often in countries where abortion is illegal and access to contraception is limited. Access to voluntary family planning services, including contraception, is essential in helping to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and, consequently, the incidence of abortion.

Demographic Development - Reversing Course?

November 1, 2006
With the largest population in Africa, Nigeria's political and economic developments reverberate across the continent. Nigeria chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and is the eighth largest oil exporting country in the world. More than 40 percent of the region's gross domestic product is accounted for by Nigeria's economy, and the petroleum industry is responsible for about two-thirds of national revenue and a great deal of international interest in the country. Yet the government maintains a delicate hold on democracy, and the country has recently experienced political instability. Throughout 2006, militant rebels angry about the distribution of oil revenue have conducted a series of attacks against the industry, including kidnapping foreign workers, which resulted in the country's petroleum output dropping by 25 percent.

Economics and Rapid Change - The Influence of Population Growth

January 1, 1997
For more than a decade, since the 1986 release of a seminal report by the U.S. National Research Council, discussion of the impact of population growth on economic change in developing countries has languished within both the demographic and economic fields. While the linkage between demographic and economic dynamics is undeniably complex, some recent findings stand out. Despite lack of clear evidence for this relationship in previous decades, new data make clear that during the 1980s, on average, population growth dampened the growth of per capita gross domestic product, the primary measuring unit of economic growth. The negative effects of rapid population growth appear to have weighed most heavily on the poorest group of countries in the developing world during the 1980s and also throughout the two previous decades.

Educating Girls: Gender Gaps and Gains

February 5, 1998
The world has made remarkable progress towards expanding access to education over the past several decades, a formidable achievement given the growth of the school age population during this period. Historically, girls have lagged behind boys in school enrollment; women represent two-thirds of almost one billion illiterate adults worldwide. Although school enrollment rates have increased for both sexes, in many countries girls still lack equal access to education.

Emergency Contraception and the Global Gag Rule: An Unofficial Guide

January 1, 2003
While family planning opponents often misrepresent emergency contraception (EC) as medical abortion, in reality, EC is the only method of post-coital contraception. The purpose of this guide is to set the record straight: emergency contraception is just that - contraception - which can be used in an emergency situation,whether a condom breaks or circumstances lead to unprotected intercourse. As with other methods of contraception, emergency contraception is not subject to U.S. government restrictions that apply to abortion,including the global gag rule.

Empty Handed Advocacy Guide

June 7, 2010
Empty Handed tells the story of women’s lack of access to reproductive health supplies in sub-Saharan Africa, and its impact on their lives. The film documents the challenges at each level of the supply chain and identifies key areas for improvement. Empty Handed aims to provoke discussion and mobilize support for reproductive health supplies.

Family Planning - A Crucial Intervention for HIV-positive Women

May 1, 2007
Each year, over 600,000 children around the world are infected with HIV through mother-to-child-transmission, totaling 2.3 million children living with HIV or AIDS today. The majority of these infections is occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and are acquired from mothers during pregnancy, labor, delivery or breastfeeding. While programs to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother-to-child (PMTCT) are invaluable, they currently are reaching only an estimated five percent of the HIV-positive population.

Family Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa: Reducing Risks in the Era of AIDS

February 1, 2006
A recent report by an independent task force enlisted by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR, More Than Humanitarianism: A Strategic U.S. Approach toward Africa, 2005) recommends that the U.S. government step up funding to international family planning programs in sub-Saharan Africa as part of a strategy to increase U.S. engagement and prioritize assistance to that region (see p. 16, pp. 119-120).1