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FCI engages Clinton on women, reproductive health and HIV
Responding to a major speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on U.S. HIV/AIDS policy, FCI president Ann Starrs joined leaders of nearly two dozen advocacy organizations in urging Secretary Clinton to focus more on the links between HIV/AIDS and reproductive and maternal health.
In a letter coordinated by FCI, CEOs from across the reproductive health community expressed support for “the Administration’s commitment to reducing vertical transmission of HIV infection, promoting male circumcision, and making treatment central to prevention as essential components of a strategy for curbing the AIDS pandemic.” They expressed concern, however, that Secretary Clinton’s November 8, 2011, speech on creating an AIDS-free generation “included not a single mention of family planning, contraception,  reproductive health, or maternal health.” At a time when 60% of Africans living with HIV are women, the letter asked Secretary Clinton to clearly identify contraception as an essential pillar of the U.S. AIDS response — “as both an effective way to reduce the spread of HIV and as critical to the care and support of women living with HIV.”
The CEOs also urged Secretary Clinton and the Administration to steadfastly resist any attempted reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule, to support continued U.S. funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and to articulate clearly and consistently the U.S. position “that integration of services, including integration of reproductive health and family planning services into basic health care, is a core principle of the U.S. Global Health Initiative, and is part of the PEPFAR 5-year strategy.”
In replying to the CEOs’ letter in late December, Secretary Clinton reiterated the Administration’s focus on the health of women and girls, its commitment to “sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, including voluntary family planning,” and its recognition of the central role of reproductive health services in HIV prevention and in treatment and care for people living with HIV. “I commend you,” she wrote, “on your passion and your contributions for advancing women’s health and rights. I very much appreciate the observations provided by you and your NGO colleagues to ensure that we are effectively promoting gender equality, advancing the status of women and girls, and addressing the reproductive health needs of women around the world.”
This exchange between Secretary Clinton and FCI and our advocacy partners comes in the context of FCI’s ongoing work to inform and influence U.S. foreign assistance and global health policies, and to promote more progressive U.S. leadership on maternal and reproductive health and family planning.
FCI-Mali expands sexual health program for young people
In Mopti, a port city located along the Niger River in Mali, West Africa, many young people leave school at a young age. They take work in informal or casual jobs, as mechanics, salespeople, and maids. Once out of school, they have little or no access to reliable information on sexual and reproductive health, increasing their risk of HIV infection and unwanted pregnancy.
(1).jpg) In 2009, in partnership with Interarts and the Association des Enfants et Jeunes Travailleurs (AEJT), NGOs based in Spain and Mali respectively, FCI-Mali began addressing the pressing needs of these young people, expanding on a program first launched in Bamako, Mali’s capital. Based on the project’s initial success, a second phase was launched in October 2010, with financial support from the Spanish government’s Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AECID) and sponsorship by the regional governor and the national high council to fight HIV.
In November, FCI staff trained 15 girls and 15 boys as peer educators, building their understanding of sexual and reproductive health and their skills in communicating with their peers. An additional 16 peer educators, trained in the project’s first phase, also received a refresher session. In the weeks after their training, these peer educators organized hundreds of group meetings, home visits, and counseling sessions. They shared accurate, critically important information, distributed condoms, and reached more than 2,000 young people in Mopti. During December, FCI, our partners, and the peer educators  mounted an awareness campaign in communities along the Niger River,sponsored by Mopti’s mayor, a strong project supporter. This effort reached another 2,300 youths in seven isolated villages, 200 of whom took advantage of voluntary HIV testing. During 2011, the 46 trained peer educators will continue to work with Mopti’s young people, while FCI-Mali and AEJT expand the program by reaching out to employers and religious leaders in order to build support for sexual health education.
FCI is new secretariat of Latin American maternal mortality alliance
At the annual planning meeting of the Regional Task Force on Maternal Mortality Reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean (Grupo de Trabajo Regional para la Reducción de la Mortalidad Materna, or GTR), held in Panama in December, FCI was elected Secretar iat of the group for 2011-2012. FCI is a founding member of the GTR and is a member of the group's Executive Committee, together with UNFPA, UNICEF, PAHO, USAID and IADB. This marks the first time an NGO has been elected to the Secretariat.
In 2010 in Lima, Peru, the Regional Task Force co-sponsored the Regional Conference of Women Leaders, which was attended by 80 women leaders from the governmental, judicial, parliamentary, academic and NGO sectors in 14 Latin America and Caribbean countries. The conference resulted in a strong declaration of commitment to end maternal deaths in the region. (You can download the full conference report here.)
The GTR works to build political awareness of and commitment to preventing maternal death and disability among United Nations and multilateral partners, professional networks and civil society organizations, creating synergies to meet the targets of Millennium Development Goals 5 (Improve maternal health) and 4 (Reduce child mortality).
FCI works to engage Global Fund on maternal, newborn & child health
The board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — which since 2002 has committed $22 billion to support prevention, treatment, and care programs in 150 countries, saving at least 6.5  million lives —has adopted decisions aimed at better integrating maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) interventions with programming for its three focus diseases. This decision, announced at the December 2010 board meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, followed an intensive advocacy effort coordinated by FCI with a range of partners.
This marks an important step toward addressing the hundreds of thousands of preventable maternal, newborn, and child deaths that occur each year. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, which focus on reducing maternal and child deaths, remain far off track, and progress has been slowed by lack of a clear financing mechanism through which donors can channel funding for key health interventions. In early 2009, FCI president Ann Starrs co-authored (with prominent AIDS advocates) an article in The Lancet calling for ‘a global fund for the health MDGs.’ Since then, FCI has worked to build bridges among advocates for AIDS and for maternal, child, and reproductive health and to build support for expansion of the Global Fund’s mandate to encompass MNCH. Ann was invited to present on the links between MNCH and HIV/AIDS at the Global Fund’s April board meeting and at the 2010 International AIDS Conference.
Before the December board meeting, FCI authored and coordinated an open letter calling for “immediate action” to “strengthen the Global Fund’s engagement in maternal, newborn, child, and reproductive health,” and for the additional funding needed to support both the Global Fund’s current mandate and this broader engagement. The letter was co-signed by 60 prominent non-governmental organizations. In its decision on “Enhancing Global Fund support to maternal, newborn and child health,” the board promised to provide countries with clear guidance on how to integrate MNCH content into their requests for Global Fund support, and stated an intention to explore further broadening its engagement as it develops a strategic plan for 2011-16.
“There was real progress,” Ann Starrs said after attending the board meeting as an official observer, “and there is opportunity for more.” The challenge, moving forward, is financing —expanding the Global Fund’s mandate requires a parallel expansion of its funding. As we move toward the 2015 deadline for achieving the MDGs, and work together for fulfillment of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, this issue will remain a crucial advocacy focus for FCI and our partners.
FCI works for emergency contraception access in Latin America, Caribbean
FCI,as host agency for the International Consortium for Emergency Contraception (ICEC), coordinates the International Legal Advisory Committee on Emergency Contraception. This global committee organized a technical meeting in early November 20 10 in Lima, Peru, to address current legal challenges to access to emergency conception (EC) in the Latin America and Caribbean region. The meeting, convened by ICEC and the Latin American Consortium on Emergency Contraception (CLAE), included lawyers, advocates, and reproductive health experts. Participants conferred on regional strategies for defending and improving EC access, and on plans to ensure proactive and coordinated action to address future legal challenges.
The meeting was made possible by generous support from the United Nations Population Fund—UNFPA.
At UN summit, FCI commits to Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health
FCI formally committed its support to the UN Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, which was launched at  a historic summit on September 22nd in New York during the 2010 General Assembly meeting. FCI’s commitment was one of several dozen—from governments, donors, academic institutions, health professional associations, and NGOs—that, together, form the heart of the Global Strategy and its plan to save the lives of 16 million women and children. At the launch event, entitled Every Woman, Every Child, governments, donors, NGOs, and other stakeholders made pledges totalling $40 billion for improved maternal and child health programs and services.
In our commitment, FCI pledged to advocate tirelessly for expansion of funding for maternal, newborn, and child health, and for their integration with HIV/AIDS and broader health system interventions; to facilitate the active engagement of civil society in health and development policy and programs; and to demand that all stakeholders are held accountable for fulfilling their commitments. “We are grateful for the role that FCI has been privileged to play in bringing this moment to pass,” the statement concludes, “and commit FCI’s full efforts to ensuring that this historic opportunity does not go to waste.”
In our leading advocacy role in the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, FCI has been integrally involved in developing the Global Strategy. We worked closely with the Secretary-General’s office, and with a broad range of governments and other partners, in a process that began in 2009 with the Global Consensus for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. FCI played a crucial role in coordinating the participation of NGOs and other civil society groups, in soliciting their support and commitment, and in ensuring that maternal and reproductive health goals were given high priority in the text.
The Global Strategy cuts across all the Millennium Development Goals, especially those related to health (MDGs 4, 5 and 6). It will serve as a global roadmap to identify and mobilize resources, policies, and critical interventions that will save the lives of more than 16 million women and children.
FCI on PBS: Maternal health in Haiti
FCI president Ann Starrs was interviewed on the newsmagazine show NOW on PBS, in January 2010 for a story on maternal health in Haiti. Haiti had the worst maternal mortality in the Western Hemisphere even before its calamitous January earthquake.
With an estimated 63,000 women in Haiti currently pregnant, a shattered public health system, and a crucial midwife training center lying in ruins, the mission of keeping women alive has never been more daunting. Ann Starrs provided context on the global pandemic of maternal death for this moving and urgently important story. More information can be found at the NOW on PBS website.
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