What's New in Future Choices?

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What's New on Future Choices?

Additional 'breaking news' on Reproductive Health issues within Future Choices' scope

Last updated: February 27, 2010 18:47

News items are listed in reverse chronological order.

 

The March TV episode of Future Choices, "We Walked with the Women," recaps the Q&A session following a private showing of the much-awarded film about obstetric fistula, A Walk to Beautiful. Moderated by Carrie Ngongo of EngenderHealth the dialogue explored the ramifications of obstetric fistula. Using the film as a jumping off point she expands on what can/should be strategies for reducing the incidence of obstetric fistula, reshaping health institutions to improve treatment, and reintegrating repaired women back into their communities.

NY Senator Suzi Oppenheimer forecasts bad weather for family planning funding and reproductive rights in the 2010 legislative session. See: "Family Planning's Perfect Storm — Perilous Predictions for 2010", the February 2010 episode of Future Choices TV.

Clinton to Recommit U.S. Government to Reproductive Health

U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton reasserts U.S. government support for reproductive health and the 2015 goals set at the International Conference on Population and Development, on the 15th anniversary of that historic agreement, in a major speech in Washington [January 4, 2010]. |MORE

"Back to Beautiful : Obstetric Fistula in Ethiopia"

Future Choices TV episode
airing January 2010

One hundred years after obstetric fistula was eliminated in developed countries, this birth injury remains a major peril to millions of young women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and some Arab States. In January 2010 Future Choices travels to Ethiopia via Engel Entertainment's award-winning documentary to follow five Ethiopian women on their "A Walk to Beautiful."

Allison Shigo, co-producer of the widely acclaimed documentary film, Walk to Beautiful, reveals the causes of obstetric fistula, introduces us to Wubete...|MORE

 

Future Choices TV episode
airing December 2009

Cool Choices for Teens showcases Healthy From Birth For Life, the energetic campaign to designed and implemented by teenagers to engage their peers in healthy lifestyle behaviors.   
 
Healthy From Birth For Life is part of the Lower Hudson Valley Perinatal Network, whose goal is to improve birth outcomes in four southern New York counties (Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess and Putnam) 

Targeted Investments Can Also Radically Reduce Unintended Pregnancies and Unsafe Abortion and Lower Poverty Levels

Guttmacher Institute and UNFPA Release New Study
December 3, 2009

London, 3 December, 2009 – Maternal deaths in developing countries could be slashed by 70% and newborn deaths cut nearly in half if the world doubled investment in family planning and pregnancy-related care, shows a new report by the Guttmacher Institute and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Currently, more than half a million maternal deaths and 3.5 million newborn deaths, many of them easily preventable, occur each year in developing countries.

The new report, Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health, also found that investments in family planning boost the overall effectiveness of every dollar spent on the provision of pregnancy-related and newborn health care. Simultaneously investing in both family planning and maternal and newborn services can achieve the same dramatic outcomes for $1.5 billion less than investing in maternal and newborn health services alone. |MORE

Obama Unshackles Global AIDS Work

Sept. 1, 2009
By Barbara Crossette
The Nation

In a clear disavowal of Bush-era rules that prevented cooperation between government-funded HIV/AIDS programs and broader sexual health and gender work in developing countries, the Obama administration has signaled to agencies abroad that the walls are coming down and that experts on the spot will have new freedom of action. |MORE

"Pursuing the Path to Peace: Obstetric Fistula in Ethiopia"

Future Choices TV episode
airing September 2009

One hundred years after obstetric fistula was eliminated in developed countries, this birth injury remains a major peril to millions of young women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and some Arab States. In September 2009 Future Choices travels to Ethiopia via Engel Entertainment's award-winning documentary to follow five Ethiopian women on their "Walk to Beautiful."

Allison Shigo, co-producer of the documentary film, “A Walk to Beautiful,” reveals the causes of obstetric fistula, introduces us to Wubete...|MORE

Fistula Stories: EXPLORING FAITH AND ACTION TO END OBSTETRIC FISTULA IN THIS GENERATION

Resources: Organizations

Americans for UNFPA
Engender Health
Family Care International
Fistula Foundation
One by One
United Nations Foundation
Campaign to End Fistula [United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)]
USAID Maternal and Child Health
Women’s Dignity Project

|MORE

Where's the Birth Plan?

by Jennifer Block
rhreality
July 30, 2009

Compared to healthy women who get standard obstetric care and deliver on high-tech labor and delivery wards, women with low-risk pregnancies who get care with a midwife and deliver in birth centers or even in their own homes, benefit from a five-fold decrease in the chance of a cesarean delivery, more success with breastfeeding, and less likelihood that their baby will be born too early or end up in intensive care. And all of this for a fraction of the cost of the status quo.
A new economic analysis forecasts savings of $9.1 billion per year if 10 percent of women planned to deliver out of hospital with midwives. (Right now, just one percent do). If America is serious about reform, midwifery advocates are saying, "Hey, how about us?"
Childbirth, in fact, costs the United States more in hospital charges than any other health condition -- $86 billion in 2006, almost half paid for by taxpayers. This high price tag -- twice as high as what most European countries spend -- buys us one of the most medicalized maternity care systems in the industrialized world. Yet we have among the worst outcomes: high rates of preterm birth, infant mortality, and maternal mortality, with huge disparities by race. |MORE

In conjunction with “Ipas — Saving Women’s Lives,” several pertinent items about abortion in developing countries: