News, press releases, and announcements from IAWG

Community transformation centers the work and leadership of Youth Action for Community Transformation (YACOT), a community-based organization advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in northwest Uganda. YACOT is based in the Odobu Zone of Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement, serving refugees (mostly from neighboring South Sudan) and members of the host community.Focused on serving the needs of community members from ages 15-35, YACOT leads SRH education, advocacy, and supply distribution. Co-founder and Executive Director Met Lim Gatluak said that, for HIV/AIDS, YACOT offers testing, basic counseling, and community-based outreach. Other SRHR programming includes the distribution of condoms, menstrual care management workshops, and family planning referrals.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), announced a new collaboration that aims to improve maternal and newborn health in conflict-affected countries through the creation of a multi-country research consortium. With funding provided by UK Aid from the UK government, the $11.3 million contract will be led by the IRC alongside the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and its university-wide Center for Humanitarian Health, the Somali Research and Development Institute (SORDI), and Université Catholique de Bukavu (UCB). The consortium will conduct research in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeast Nigeria, Somalia, and South Sudan.

The IAWG ASRH SWG recently finished its application process to select four young people to serve as co-chairs for the next year. The four co-chairs are split into two teams, with at least one adolescent representative per team. Each team will serve for seven months before handing over to the next team. Let us introduce our young person co-chairs for the next year!

This paper aims to identify strategic components that contribute to health system strengthening in DRC and Somalia.

A humanitarian and human rights crisis is rapidly unfolding in Afghanistan as the country once again falls under Taliban rule. The lives of human rights activists, particularly women’s rights defenders, are at risk.