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Idaho Lawmakers Send Texas Copycat 6-Week Abortion Ban to Governor’s Desk
Women, pregnant people, and reproductive rights activists are reeling about the nation’s latest blow to abortion rights. Yesterday, Idaho became the first state to pass a copycat abortion ban that successfully became law in Texas last year. Now, the Idaho bill is on its way to the desk of Idaho governor, Brad Little, to officially…
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New Documentaries About the Maternal Health Crisis, Sex Trafficking Coming to VOD This Year
When I want to learn more about a subject I always turn to documentaries. They provide a quick way to get the facts and crucial information about an issue I am interested in and then if I want to learn more I turn to other resources including books, news articles, research papers, and the like.…
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Poor knowledge and practice around oxytocin could put women in Nigeria at risk during childbirth
Chioma S. Ejekam, University of Lagos and Chimezie Anyakora, Pan Atlantic University Severe bleeding after childbirth – postpartum hemorrhage – is a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in middle-income countries. Oxytocin is an affordable and effective drug that’s recommended to prevent postpartum hemorrhage. But there are concerns about the quality of oxytocin available…
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Women’s Empowerment Program Update Four Years On
This past week I was thinking about the time I spent in Nepal with Coca- Cola to see the devastation after the earthquake and the global brand’s response to it. The April 2015 4.5 magnitude earthquake upended lives and left cities in rubble. I saw much of it during our travels through Kathmandu and its…
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Women Celebrated on This Year’s World Humanitarian Day #WomenHumanitarians
Today is World Humanitarian Day, the annual day where we celebrate humanitarians all over the world who work every day to save lives even in some of the world’s most dangerous countries. This year the world is celebrating women humanitarians as often they are on the front lines in our world’s worst crises. We know…
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How to Help Women Gain Financial Independence this International Women’s Day #IWD
We often think about poverty and how to fix it. There isn’t one magic bullet that moves people out of poverty. However, there are a few tenets about reducing poverty in families who live in underserved communities that work nearly every time and those are working directly with women and giving them financial tools to…
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Is the Formula Industry Overpowering Breastfeeding?
Yesterday global women’s and children’s advocates sounded the alarm regarding alleged strong-arming by US delegates at this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva. The issue at hand was the rights of women regarding their choice between breastfeeding and formula feeding. According to the New York Times, the US delegation sought to remove the language…
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Venezuela’s Health Systems are crumbling – and Harming Women in Particular
Health workers and patients protesting at the Hospital Dr. Jose Maria Vargas in Caracas, Venezuela. EPA/Edwinge Montilva Pia Riggirozzi, University of Southampton Venezuela sits on the world’s biggest oil reserves, but in terms of GDP growth per capita, it’s now South America’s poorest economy. It is mired the worst economic crisis in its history, with…
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Coca-Cola Celebrates Mother’s Day With Women Artisans #5by20
Last year I was happy to see women in Nepal benefitting from Coca-Cola’s 5by20 program. By 2020 Coca-Cola has pledged to help five million women entrepreneurs around the globe by allowing them to earn money through its value chain. That could mean teaching women valuable business skills as I saw in Kathmandu to providing women with…
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Increasing Caesarean Sections in Africa Could Save More Mothers’ Lives
Shutterstock Salome Maswime, University of the Witwatersrand and Gwinyai Masukume, University of the Witwatersrand Caesarean sections have been lifesaving procedures for hundreds of thousands of women across the world who experience complications during labour. Globally, it’s estimated that just under 20% of births take place via caesarean section – a percentage that’s gone up over…
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2 Innovative Uses of PET Bottles in Low-Income Countries That Benefit Women
PET bottles, one of the most widely used materials in the world, are used to package foods and drinks from soda and juices to salad dressings and cooking oils. It is also completely recyclable. In the United States alone, 1.5 billion pounds of PET bottles are recycled annually. Throughout my travels to low and middle-income…
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Maternal Malnutrition Affects Future Generations: Kenya Must Break the Cycle
By Elizabeth Echoka, Kenya Medical Research Institute and Lydia Kaduka, Kenya Medical Research Institute Nutrition of women before and during pregnancy and when breastfeeding is critical in determining the health and survival of the mother and of her unborn baby. Undernourished pregnant women have higher reproductive risks. They are more likely to experience obstructed labour, or…
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Book Review: To Fool the Rain: Haiti’s Poor and Their Pathway to a Better Life
To Fool the Rain: Haiti’s Poor and Their Pathway to a Better Life by Steven Werlin My rating: 4 of 5 stars “Helping families lift themselves out of poverty means helping them build income and wealth, but it is a social phenomenon as well,” wrote Steve Werlin, the author of To Fool the Rain: Haiti’s…
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Day 3 Dispatch: In Nepal With Coca-Cola
I was in Nepal with Coca-Cola for a very short period of time earlier this month, but we did and saw a lot in the days we were there including: (Day 1) How the local Coca-Cola bottling company is working with a Nepalese NGO that is rebuilding a community from scratch after the earthquake (Day 2)…
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5 Ways This NGO is Helping Nepal’s Women Waste Workers
Nepal, while being a hotbed for adventure seekers, trekkers, tourists, and mountaineers, faces many economic struggles that heavily plague low-and middle-income countries. The vast majority of Nepal’s economy is based on remittances, with 25 percent of its working population living outside of the country. Additionally, with an average population age of 23, Nepal has a…
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Day 2 Dispatch: In Nepal With Coca-Cola #NepalNow
During my recent trip to Nepal I said time and time again how surprised I was about the country. It was honestly nothing like I had expected. I thought (since it shares a border with India) that it would be a carbon copy of it southern neighbor. That, however, couldn’t be further from the truth. Nepal is very…
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After Earthquake, Nepal Sees NGO Paradigm Shift
This article originally appeared on Huffington Post. The world of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is vast and growing if you live in Nepal. Some experts estimate there is a whopping 50,000 registered NGOs (PDF) in the country, a steep increase since an NGO registration change in 1992. With that change, groups of individuals joined together in…
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Nepali Women Increase Earning Potential Through Business Training #5by20
The energy and enthusiasm was palpable as we walked into a room full of eager women entrepreneurs role-playing the everyday dynamic between business owners and their customers. While the room was loaded with fun and laughter during this exercise, its importance was not lost on any of the women who had come to the campus…
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Day 1 Dispatch: In Nepal With Coca-Cola #NepalNow
It’s been raining virtually nonstop since we arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday morning. There were downpours all day without any let up until the evening. I hope we get to see the sun on Tuesday. It’s the end of the monsoon season in Nepal, but I don’t think the weather quite wants to get rid of…
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Why We’re Traveling to Nepal With Coca-Cola #NepalNow #5by20
Last year I remember exactly where I was when the 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on April 25. I was on my way to Haiti to report on maternal health, and really good friends of mine from the International Reporting Project had been in Nepal for a very short time on a reporting trip when the quake hit.…