Self-care is not a new concept, nor does it apply exclusively to abortion. For decades, this approach has been promoted by health experts as a best practice to guaranteeing positive health outcomes, and more recently, within contraception and abortion programmes. Today, with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and an increasing reliance on technology for remote access to care, there is an increasing demand for easy access to accurate information, enabling individuals to make informed decisions about their health and take control over implementing specific health tasks.
Abortion self-care refers to the practice of managing some or all aspects of…
In the battle against COVID-19, the UK has abandoned the world’s women and girls — it must reverse the cuts.
In the wake of the most brutal cut to UK overseas aid in years, hundreds of charities, including the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and Frontline Aids, are reeling as they struggle to navigate how to continue providing life-saving services with millions of pounds missing from their budgets.
Despite the UK’s long-standing legacy as a leader in international development, for a Boris Johnson government to target the aid budget is no surprise — he campaigned vigorously for years to disband…
By Laura Hurley, Safe Abortion Action Fund
Abortion has been in the global news a lot recently. We’ve seen positive outcomes from feminist campaigns in places like Argentina and Thailand, where the legal right to abortion has been expanded. Since abortion is such a common occurrence around the world, and such a ‘heated’ topic, it’s no surprise we see it crop up regularly in media reports.
As someone who works in the field, I keep an eye on this news, and am always interested to see the way reproductive rights issues are reported on around the world. One thing I’ve…
How do you convey the too frequently overlooked — yet vital — message on sexual healthcare and contraceptive choice in a new and engaging way? This is often the question posed when exploring creative ideas to engage our audiences with information on sex, health, and choice.
We like to talk about sex and healthcare; we are experts after all with 67 years of experience delivering care globally. The importance of sexual health and credible information are crucial and too often neglected, confusing or presented in a dull way. …
By Seri Wendoh, IPPF’s Global Lead for Gender and Inclusion
One in three women globally experience violence across the course of their lives — that’s around 736 million women who suffer physical, mental, and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner or non-partner. This figure has remained steady for the past decade, and it’s a frightening insight into how prevalent and embedded violence against women and girls is in our society.
Also, intimate partner violence against women starts alarmingly early: almost a quarter of adolescent girls aged 15–19 (24%) has experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner.
With the seasons changing, and the pandemic (don’t worry, we won’t mention it again) rendering many of us still confined to our homes, now is an ideal time to lose yourself in a great book! So we’ve compiled a list of recommendations that touch on various aspects of sex, relationships, reproductive rights, and plenty more. Enjoy!
Bennet’s exciting debut novel tells the story of a young Black couple in California who experience an unintended pregnancy. …
Let us start by stating the facts: Unintended pregnancy and abortion are common experiences; abortions take place every day in every part of the world. WHO reports that over half of all unintended pregnancies end in abortion, with around 56 million abortions taking place globally each year. In addition, over 190 million women worldwide want to avoid pregnancies but are not using any contraceptive method, highlighting the massive unmet need for contraception at a global scale. In many countries in Africa, the numbers are disproportionately higher.
Access to abortion care in parts of Italy has always been difficult, but with the coronavirus outbreak, the situation has become even more dire and urgent.
Abortion in Italy was legalized in 1974. It was the result of a power struggle for safe abortion between the women’s movement, conservative forces and the Vatican. The text of the Law (N 194) seems liberal and quite progressive but in reality, the feminist victory was not enough to ensure women’s access to the service.
‘Conscientious objection’ of healthcare providers has emerged as a serious obstacle to the effective exercise of the right to…
“Our people are still prepared to come to work knowing that life on the frontline isn’t straightforward.”
I was sent to Liberia in West Africa to respond to an outbreak of Ebola, a form of hemorrhagic fever that is very severe. The outbreak started in December 2013 in the country next door to Liberia. By March of the next year, it had made its way to the capital, and by September things were completely out of control. Ebola had been mistaken as a severe form of malaria and several health workers had become sick and were dying.
There was worry…
The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we do everything — including how we provide sexual and reproductive healthcare (SRH) services.
From Japan to Albania to Venezuela, healthcare providers are turning to digital platforms such as Zoom, Facetime and WhatsApp to deliver services that have traditionally been provided face-to-face. These include comprehensive sex education, counselling and consultations for emergency contraceptive.
To put it into perspective, a recent survey of IPPF’s European Network (EN) found that 50% of the EN Members surveyed reported that they are providing SRH programmes through innovative approaches like telemedicine.
These changes may have been ‘forced’ upon…
