by Suzanne Ehlers

The 5th Asia and Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights (APCRSHR) is currently underway in Beijing, China. Today, I am moderating a session co-hosted by the Asia Pacific Alliance (APA) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The session, titled Meet the Donors, explored resource mobilization and Millennium Development Goal 5 (improving maternal health) through the lens of a theme raised in the day's opening sessions: In a climate of continuing financial gloom, how is it that an intervention as cost effective as family planning and reproductive health is still having difficulty mobilizing adequate resources?

September 26 is World Contraception Day, a global campaign to raise awareness of contraception and the need to reduce the high levels of unplanned pregnancy, and to improve knowledge about reproductive and sexual health.  I celebrated World Contraception Day in Berlin, Germany, at an event on September 24 sponsored by the German Federation for World Population (DSW) and Bayer Schering Pharma.  The event in Berlin focused on teenage pregnancies worldwide and the need for better access to and information among teens to avoid pregnancy.
 
Moderated by Rolf Seelmann-Eggebert, Special Correspondent for North German Broadcasting Corporation, the event opened with remarks by Renate Bähr, executive director of DSW, and Klaus Brill, Vice President of Corporate Commercial Relations for Bayer Schering Pharma.  Marion Caspers-Merk, a Member of Parliament, asked provocatively in her keynote address what Germany would have provided to Sarah Palin's daughter.  She highlighted Germany's programs to reach teens and the country's support for international development programs.