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Still Waiting for a Seat at the Table: When Will Global Family Planning Focus on Smaller Private Providers?
The family planning community is not on track to reach its goal of 120 million new contraception users by 2020. And though millions of women in the world’s poorest countries rely on private providers for contraception, Andrea Bare at the William Davidson Institute notes that the private sector lacks a major presence in global family planning discussions. She says this needs to change, arguing that small, for-profit providers in particular can help close the gap.
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- Health Care
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The Donor-Funded Dilemma: What’s Stopping Emerging Countries from Developing Private Markets for Contraceptives?
In sub-Saharan Africa, the private sector provides family planning solutions to almost 40 percent of women. But that isn’t the case in Malawi, a country that’s long been dominated by donor-funded commodities. Erika Beidelman and Andrea Bare at the William Davidson Institute explore Malawi's family planning landscape, highlighting five factors that may be limiting the private sector’s involvement – issues that may apply to other countries with histories of donor-funded healthcare.
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- Health Care
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This Company Delivers Reproductive Health Products Directly To Women In The Developing World
In Rwanda, many women face obstacles to accessing necessary health and hygiene products, like pregnancy tests and birth control. For some, they’re just not available where they live. For others, lingering stigma and shame around sexuality make venturing out to buy them in public a daunting proposition.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Complex Truth of Health Tech: Why Greater Ultrasound Availability Doesn’t Always Benefit Patients
Advances in health technologies have reshaped the lives of communities, families and individuals, undoubtedly contributing to better health outcomes around the world. Yet, despite their potential, new technologies can also add new challenges, risking potential gains in quality, safety or cost. Nowhere is this more evident than in the rapid spread of ultrasound devices, which according to representatives of the NGO Management Sciences for Health, carry a potentially significant downside.
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- Health Care, Technology
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Empowering the Period: How Erasing the Menstruation Taboo Can Fight Extreme Poverty
Educated girls have smaller families and raise healthier and better-educated children. But a lack of supplies, toilets and privacy, compounded by fear and shame in an atmosphere that stigmatizes menstruation, prevent many impoverished girls from attending school once they reach puberty. There are some signs of positive change, however, with a growing number of organizations talking about “empowering the period.”
- Categories
- Education, Health Care, WASH
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Price of ‘exciting’ self-injectable contraceptive cut
Sayana Press dispenses with the need for a conventional needle and syringe - so it has been seen as a significant development for women living in rural parts of Africa.
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- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Fertility apps: The ‘next wave’ in solving global family planning crisis
Every year, lack of access to contraception causes about 85 million unplanned pregnancies and a host of negative associated health outcomes. One expert said this global health crisis can be mitigated with apps that allow women to understand and track their fertility.
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- Health Care
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Anti-‘global gag rule’ campaign seeks private sector, philanthropic support
There is a long way to go before the (She Decides) fund reaches its $600 million annual goal — the minimum amount of funding that is expected to be lost from U.S. aid cuts as a result of the global gag rule.
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- Health Care