ARHA's mission is to promote public support for enhanced reproductive and sexual health in Australia and internationally, and to promote the advancement of the status of women and girls. >>> Who we are, what we do, why we do it
Latest news LATEST SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH NEWS HEADLINES Volunteers needed - website and executive assistant positions available. See employment UNICEF State of the World's Children 2008 The State of the World’s Children 2008 provides a wide-ranging assessment of the current state of child survival and primary health care for mothers, newborns and children. It examines lessons learned in child health during the past few decades and outlines the most important emerging precepts and strategies for reducing deaths among children under age five and for providing a continuum of care for mothers, newborns and children. The Framework for a National Strategy for a Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy for Australia was launched by the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development at Parliament House, Canberra on 26 June 2008. The Framework calls for a for a comprehensive and evidence-based national sexual and reproductive health strategy to improve the health of all in our community, both women and men. It is supported by the Australian Reproductive Health Alliance (ARHA), the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) and Sexual Health and Family Planning Australia (SH&FPA). For more information - Background Paper and Call to Action XVII International AIDS Conference 3 - 8 August 2008, Mexico City AIDS 2008 will provide many opportunities for the presentation of important new scientific research and for productive, structured dialogue on the major challenges facing the global response to AIDS. For full coverage of the conference see the Kaisernetwork.org World Population Day, 11 July 2008 In 1968, world leaders proclaimed that individuals have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and timing of their children. Forty years later, modern contraception remains out of reach for hundreds of millions of women, men and young people - UNFPA Click here for the 2007 Parliamentary Group on Population and Development Report from the roundtable discussions on Sexual and Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals in the Australian Aid Program - the Way Forward Media release from the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development, 11 June 2008 - Parliamentary Group on Population and Development calls for compassion, humanity and common sense on Family Planning Guidelines June media - ARHA'S CEO JANE SINGLETON ON ABC NEWS, RADIO NATIONAL and 2cn
For more news and quotes click here
RESPONSE TO CYCLONE NARGIS, MYANMAR, May 2008
Read the latest update from SPRINT (Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme in Crisis and Post-Crisis Situations in East, Southeast Asia and the Pacific) For more information on the relief effort in Myanmar - UNHCR website ReliefWeb AusAID media release, 7 May 2008 - Australian Assistance to Cyclone-Ravaged Burma
What's new? - reproductive health in times of crisis Read our latest E NEWSLETTER - Autumn 08 ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH * Will the world add 2.5 billion or 5 billion by 2050? * UNFPA update: 10% of aid for reproductive health * UN adopts "universal access" for reproductive heatlh * International Conference on Population & Development * ICPD definition of reproductive health Google our website * Advancing the goals of ICPD and the Millennium Summit Go to newsclip archives * The Double Dividend of Gender Equity - UNICEF 2007 * On the light side: abstinence-only sex education - Roy Zimmerman
"Family Planning could provide more benefits to more people at less cost than any other single technology now available to the human race." -- James Grant, UNICEF Annual Report, 1992
At the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994, the Australian Government undertook to “do its utmost to remove all remaining barriers to family planning services, information and education, as well as to help support the provision of reproductive health and family planning services as widely as possible”.
"You have got to fight, fight, fight to put mother and child health at the forefront, and we are fighting like hell." -- Rep. Gwen Moore, Member of U.S. House of Representatives at the Women Deliver Conference, UK, October 2007
"Many leaders still don't understand that as many as two in five pregnancies worldwide aren't intended or welcomed—a problem that can be addressed with education and the provision of basic reproductive health services." -- Worldwatch Institute, October 2007
What's new?
return to top Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme in Crisis and Post-Crisis Situations
Establishing sexual and reproductive health services in times of crisis is essential as it helps save lives. As a new programme, the SPRINT Initiative aims to increase the regional capacity of stakeholders to implement the Minimum Initial Services Package (MISP) for sexual and reproductive health in crises. The initiative is funded by AusAID and coordinated by the International Planned Parenthood Federation – East & Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The SPRINT Initiative was launched at Parliament House in Canberra on 18 February 2008. The launch will immediately be followed by a seminar for NGOs. >>>>SPRINT leaflet >>>>Radio Australia broadcast >>>>SPRINT Press Release >>>>AusAID Press Release >>>>Canberra Times article
return to top Hyderabad to governments: "you're moving too slowly"
The fourth Asia Pacific Conference on Sexual and Reproductive health, held in October in Hyderabad, India, has finished with an open letter to be sent to governments telling them they are moving too slowly in reducing maternal deaths, enabling young people to avoid HIV and making family planning more accessible. ARHA CEO Jane Singleton attended the conference. >>>UNFPA press release
Women Deliver - special edition
WORLD attention needs to be focused on the urgent need for investment in the health of women, mothers and newborn babies, according to the UK medical journal The Lancet. The magazine has brought out a special edition to mark the Women Deliver conference in London (Oct 18-20). It says new estimates of maternal mortality for 2005 suggest that the aims of Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG5)—to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters by 2015—are unlikely to be met without massive change. ARHA CEO Jane Singleton is attending the conference.
return to top US advisor meets Australian MPs on importance of family planning in environmental management >>>Life Matters interview (Download=3MB)
In many remote villages in the Philippines, the human populations have been growing rapidly at the same time as fish populations have been falling. Philippine fishermen living in these areas can readily understand the the link between family size and the health of the marine environment, according to a US development expert, Heather D'Agnes.
Ms D'Agnes visited Australia recently in a visit organised by ARHA, Friends of the Earth and Sexual Health and Family Planning Australia. She met members of the Australian Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (PGPD) on 19 September.
Ms D'Agnes said Philippine men and women realised it made sense to have smaller, healthier families while at the same time working to improve the marine environment by setting aside breeding grounds for fish. Aid projects world-wide had demonstrated the benefits of combining family planning with improved environmental management, rather than approaching the two areas separately. >>>Life Matters interview >>>Interview on Connect Asia (Radio Austrralia) >>>Transcript Connect Asia >>>Article in The Australian newspaper >>>Article in Earth Times
The UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has warned the UN that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be met by 2015 because the pace is too slow. "The calendar says we are half way from 2000 to 2015, but the reality is that we are million miles away from success," Mr Brown said. "It is time to call it what it is: a development emergency that needs emergency action. " >>>BBC News item >>>Full text of speech
YOUTH QUAKE Earth faces the biggest generation of adolescents and teenagers in its history – a “youthquake” with major social, political and demographic implications, says the UK's Optimum Population Trust in a new report.
Link to report
Men at work Sexual and reproductive health services aren't just the domain of women. That was the message on World Population Day, 11 July 2007. OhmyNewsarticle >>>ARHA press release World Pop Day website
Efforts to alleviate world poverty will increasingly need to be directed to cities rather than rural areas, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has predicted in its annual State of the World Population (SOWP) Report, launched in Australia at Parliament House on 28 June.
UNFPA says next year, for the first time, more than half the world's population (3.3 million people) will live in cities.
The "city change" will present challenges to policy makers, who will have to come up with new ideas to proactively manage the influx to cities to maximise the benefits and minimise the harm. * UNFPA State of the World Population * PGPD press release
Harradine legacy must go - MPs ABC News item SBS News item Life Matters interview with PGPD Chair (Download = 4.5Mb)
The Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (PGPD) has called for abolition of the AusAID Family Planning Guidlines, the so-called Harradine restrictions which have been holding back delivery of sexual and reproductive health services in Australia's aid program. The PGPD launched a report in Parliament House on 30 May (above). >>>What are the guidelines? >>>Media release >>>PGPD Roundtable Report on Sexual and Reproductive health and the Millennium Development Goals- the Way Forward >>>Cross party men - way to go!
GENDER INEQUALITY'S COST Discrimination against women is costing billions of dollars in the Asia-Pacific, according to a UN report.
The report, Surging Ahead In Uncertain Times, was launched on 18 April by the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). ESCAP's head, Kim Hak-Su, said the cost of barriers to employment in the region was more than $42 billion, while a further $16-30billion was lost through gender gaps in education. >>>article >>>report
HOW THE RU486 DEBATE WAS WON An article about the behind-the-scenes work involved in historic vote in 2006 to make RU486 more freely available Download=1.5Mb
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Population exceeds resources
The UN Environment Program (UNEP) has warned that the 6.75 billion world population "has reached a stage where the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available". >>>Article, Sydney Morning Herald >>>Article, New York Times >>>UN Environment Program website
LISTEN to the Late Night Live interview with the Chair of the Parliamentary Group, Dr Mal Washer 26 February 2007 (Download=5MB)
Parliamentary Group on Population and Development Roundtable Dicussions on SRH and Australian aid
LINK to UK All-party Parliamentary Group on Population and Development and Reproductive Health ARHA press release on UK Report "Return of the Population Growth Factor"
ARHA interview about UK Report on Late Night Live
GENDER EQUALITY IN AUSTRALIA'S AID PROGRAM: WHY AND HOW AusAID report, 1 March 2007 "Advancing gender equality is essential to reducing poverty and increasing the effectiveness of aid. Employment of women has done more to encourage global growth than increases in capital investment." >>>Media release
THE STATUS OF WOMEN "No matter where a girl is born, she should be able to live free of discrimination and violence. She should be able to enjoy respect of her human rights and fundamental freedoms." - Statement, 26 February 2007 at the Commission on the Status of Women by the Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, Thoraya Obaid
ALSO: NZ parliamentarian urges UN agency for women Statement on Forced Marriage of child girl Holland considers tying aid to women's rights
WEBSITE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE A website, Your Sex Health, has been developed by a team at Melbourne University. Aimed at young people (16–25), it plays out scenarios based on real-life dilemmas, such as becoming pregnant, being pressured into sex, and relationship problems. PREVENTION NOT PROHIBITION: new campaign launched by in US Catholics for a Free Choice - 7 March A provocative campaign highlights the fact that the majority of American Catholics support access to contraception and legal abortion, and support policies that prevent, rather than criminalize, abortion. Press release AdvertisementsUNIFEM, UNAIDS and Johnson & Johnson announce Grants for combined strategies to end violence against women and prevent HIV and AIDS - 1 March 2007
CHRISTIAN RIGHT NGOs TARGET THE UN Review of report by PRA, The Indypendent, 22 February Full report at Political Research Associates website
UNSAFE ABORTIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Estimates of hospital admissions in study by Guttmacher Institute, USWORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION AND THE LANCET The World Health Organisation has joined The Lancet medical journal in a campaign for the "proper positioning" of sexual and reproductive health READ Executive Summary of Lancet series LISTEN to a PODCAST of the series launch and/or DOWNLOAD all documents in the series
UK REPORT: RETURN OF THE POPULATION GROWTH FACTOR - 31 January, 2007, released by the UK All Party Group on Population and Development. LINKS:Article in The Independent ARHA Press release
BUSH'S BUDGET SLASHES INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING Population Action International 12 Feb 2007
UNESCAP REPORT: ASIA-PACIFIC ENVIRONMENT AT BOILING POINT - UN press release 22 December 2006
UNFPA IN THE PACIFIC - INTRODUCING THE PACIFIC'S OWN MALE CONDOMS from the Pacnews Digest 13 Feb 2007 - report in The Fiji Times POPULATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE - 11 Feb Professor Ian Lowe, President of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Farley Lecture
"I THOUGHT SHE HAD COME FROM ANOTHER PLANET" - from a new book of case studies of programs to reduce violence against women
In Mauritania, it used to be taboo to talk about rape. When the founder of the Mauritanian Association for Mother and Child Health started a campaign to support rape victims, a
Women's Ministry official said "I thought she had come from another planet". Now, survivors of rape are no longer being punished, but are finding a new sense of self-worth ... a story from "Programming to Address Violence Against Women", just released by the UNFPA. DOWNLOAD pdf of report
A London-based advertising agency has produced a short but powerful video. It reveals that violence against women is oneof the most common forms of violence in the world.
One of the world's foremost economists, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, has issued a plea for more resources to be devoted contraception and family planning. Professor Sachs is this year's BBC Reith Lecturer delivering a series entitled Bursting at the Seams. >>>on population >>>link to BBC
Young Women's Gathering This event was held in Sydney on 13-14 July A report and photos have been posted at the YWG web page >>>press release
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Latest Headlines return to top Note: these headlines are an information resource and reflect a diversity of news and views, not necessarily ARHA's
AUGUST MPs face abortion dilemma – The Herald Sun, 19 August 2008 Birth control battle weighs on Philippine economy – Reuters, 17 August 2008 Contraception: right or wrong? Love, life and the failure of Humanae Vitae – The Times, 15 August 2008 Stealth attacks on reproductive rights – Chicago Tribune, 11 August 2008 MYANMAR: Pregnant women a priority for health services – IRIN, 11 August 2008 Where wealthy wombs mean healthy wombs – Irish Independent, 9 August 2008 Tackling teen pregnancy with animé-inspired comics – Philippines Daily Inquirer, 8 August 2008 MIDEAST: On HIV and AIDS, the Good News from Palestine – Inter Press Service, 8 August 2008 Family planning: a life and death issue – The Irish Times, 7 August 2008 Unmet need for family planning on the rise – The Daily Star (Bangladesh), 7 August 2008 GLOBAL: Sex education failing young people – IRIN, 6 August 2008 US HIV rate 'higher than thought' – BBC News, 3 August 2008
JULY
Treating the Pill as Abortion, Draft Regulation Stirs Debate – The Wall Street Journal, 31 July 2008 The fertility tourists – The Guardian, 30 July 2008 Africa: Little Progress on Maternal Mortality – Inter-Press Service (Johannesburg), 30 July 2008 To be truly pro-life, the Vatican should lift its contraception ban – The Irish Times, 29 July 2008 Reproductive health bill provides freedom of choice – Inquirer.net (Philippines), 28 July 2008 Fischer, our man in the Vatican – The Canberra Times, 22 July 2008 The global war on sex education – The Guardian, 21 July Deprived of Contraception, Poor Women in Developing World Bear Millions of Unintended Pregnancies – Report by The World Bank, 10 July 2008
JUNE Uganda: Only 24 Percent of Women Plan Families – New Vision, 24 June 2008 Liberals split on abortion aid – The Age, 22 June 2008 Nelson flapping in the breeze – The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 June 2008 Ban on abortion-linked aid unjustified: Oxfam – The Age, 10 June 2008 It's time to bury the ban – The Sun Herald, 8 June 2008 Political Panel – Saturday Extra, Radio National, 7 June 2008 Lobbying heats up on aid abortion advice ban – The Age, 7 June 2008 Jane Singleton, CEO ARHA – 2CN Morning Show, 5 June 2008 Moves to lift overseas abortion advice ban – ABC News, 5 June 2008 Abortion aid ban a matter of conscience – The Age, 5 June 2008 A moral test for true believers, Rudd style – Sydney Morning Herald, 5 June 2008 Church backs end to Howard ban on abortion aid – The Age, 5 June 2008 Politicians set for divisive debate about abortion funding – Sydney Morning Herald, 4 June 2008 Aid groups respond to abortion funding – The World Today, Radio National, 4 June 2008 Nelson backs no change to policy – The World Today, Radio National, 4 June 2008 Australia May Lift Restrictions on Abortion-Related Aid – CNS News, 4 June 2008 Lib MP told to ‘grow up’ on abortion – AAP, 4 June 2008 Australia considers lifting ban on foreign aid for abortion services in developing countries – International Herald Tribune, 4 June 2008 Foreign aid and abortion – Radio National Breakfast, 4 June 2008 Rudd 'picking fight with churches' on abortion aid ban – ABC News, 4 June 2008 Abortion aid ban reconsidered – News.com.au, 4 June 2008 Abortion aid under review – AM, Radio National, 4 June 2008 MAY Future Directions for Australia’s International Development Assistance Program – speech by Bob McMullan MP, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, 22 May 2008 Is contraception really evil in itself? – Global Nation, 21 May 2008 British lawmakers vote for lower upper time limit for abortions – International Herald Tribune, 20 May 2008 Adolescents Most at Risk - Jamaica Information Service, 11 May 2008 Uganda: HIV Cases Soar Among Kampala Sex Workers - The Monitor, 9 May 2008 Low condom use, high incidence of AIDS – Kuensel Newspaper (Bhutan), 7 May 2008 Rev. Wright: This HIV Threat Needs Media Blast – Women’s e news, 7 May 2008 AFGHANISTAN: Can condoms fulfil multiple expectations? – IRIN, 6 May 2008 Govt to earmark Rp1.6 trillion for family planning program – Antara News, 5 May June 2008 Community: Getting them to use it is the hardest part - The New Straits Times Online, 3 May 2008 Mortality figures belie indigenous mothers' plight - The Australian, 2 May 2008. Link to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report Maternal deaths in Australia 2003–2005 Chastity Science Still an Oxymoron – Z Magazine, 1 May 2008
APRIL Uganda: Kyafu Urges On Family Planning – New Vision, 30 April 2008 More young women contracting HIV: AIDS official – Antigua Sun, 29 April 2008 Solving Europe's population crisis – BBC News, 29 April 2008 Campaign For Change Dame Carol's Plans For Social Transformation In PNG – Pacific Magazine, 27 April 2008 Family Planning agency receives new health kits – Solomon Star News, 26 April 2008 Move Over, Moods - Tehelka, 26 April 2008 Dueling protests target morning-after pill distribution ban in Chile - International Herald Tribune, 23 April 2008 Birthrates Help Keep Filipinos in Poverty - Washington Post Foreign Service, 21 April 2008 Pano Hembram of Jharkhand imparts sex education - Thaindian News, 18 April 2008 South Africa: Bottom of The Class in Saving Mothers and Babies - allAfrica.com, 17 April 2008 Decline In International Funding For Reproductive Health Threatening Efforts To Meet MDGs, U.N. Report Says - Medical News Today, 17 April 2008 Australia to give Cambodia fresh aid — Radio Australia, 14 April 2008 Family Planning Gets Mere Sliver of Aid Pie — Asian Tribune, 8 April 2008 Kenya holds out as abortion laws relax — Daily Nation Online, 8 April 2008 Beyond the Millenium Development Goals — RH Reality Check, 2 April 2008
FEBRUARY Family planning funding ban faces review — Sydney Morning Herald, 18 March 2008 A matter of new life and death - Sunday Canberra Times, 24 Feb 08 Leading the Way on Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Asia-Pacific for Women in Humanitarian Crises - Press release, Hon Bob McMullan MP - 18 Feb 08 USAID Launches a $60 Million Child-Spacing and Reproductive-Health Program in Pakistan - Earth Times 14 Feb 08 PNG officials 'misusing AIDS funding' - news.com.au 30 Jan 08 Address youth issues: Officer - Fiji Times online 8 Feb 08 Youth workers to get manual - Fiji Times 7 Feb 08 Pregnant Women and their Children Fleeing Violence in Chad Face Increased Risk - African Press Organisation 6 Feb 08 Bush Budget Slashes Women's Health Funding - RH Reality Check - 4 Feb 08 PNG's AIDS council accused of inappropriate spending - ABC News 30 Jan 08 Govt gives Pacific $2m to fight climate change - ABC News 3 Feb 08 JANUARY Chile's Morning-After Pill Hits Access Battle - Womens e-news 31 Jan 08 Impact of high population growth - the International News (Pakistan) 29 Jan 08 Australia funds overseas aid research - Relief Web 29 Jan 08 Editorial, Opinion Piece Respond To Guttmacher Report Finding A Decline In U.S. Abortion Rate - Medical News Today 29 Jan 08 Australia should match Cuban aid to East Timor - Green Left Weekly 26 Jan 08 Give young free condoms, says MP - BBC News 28 Jan 08 Nepalese Environmental Resource use affected by rising HIV/AIDS figure in Nepal - American Chronicle - 28 Jan 08 Seoul to Fund N.Korea's Census- chosun.com 30 Jan 08 Shocking pregnancy figures released - Livenews.com.au 30 Jan 08 Family planning effort gets big push in Iowa - Omaha World-Herald Medical Miracle Needed to Save Twins Joined at the Head - Fox News 14 Jan 08 New tactics in war against HIV - The Australian, 13 Jan 08 Liberal revives abortion aid push - The Age, 8 Jan 08 >>>News Headlines ARCHIVES return to top of headlines return home Last updated 19 August 2008
