On October 11, 2022, International Day of the Girl, government leaders and other key stakeholders came together for an Advocacy Activation Meeting focusing on advancing menstrual equity in Malawi. The event was sponsored by The First Lady of Malawi's foundation, Shaping Our Future Foundation, Days for Girls Malawi, and UNFPA.
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Fòs Feminista to Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Across the Global South
Fòs Feminista, formerly known as International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region (IPPFWHR), announces a new platform for international action and feminist solidarity for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Fòs Feminista carries forward the work and partnerships of IPPFWHR, CHANGE, and the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC), which formed an alliance in June 2021.
In September, USAID’s MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership Project, in collaboration with WHO and UNFPA, hosted a technical consultation focused on maternal mental health. It brought together experts across the humanitarian-development nexus and reviewed the findings from a comprehensive landscape analysis brief the agencies undertook over the past few months. In this blog, the IAWG Newborn Initiative summarizes this consultation and calls upon the humanitarian community to examine the way forward for supporting the mental health of mothers in humanitarian and fragile settings to ensure they are not left behind.
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!