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FCI Urges G8 to Invest in Maternal Health
In April FCI’s President Emeritus, Jill Sheffield, traveled to Japan to address the “Civil G8,” a gathering of NGOs and policy makers preparing for this summer’s G8 meetings. She advocated for increased commitment on the part of the G8 leaders to achieving MDGs 4 and 5 – the maternal, newborn and child health goals. This year, the G8 host country, Japan, has indicated a particular interest in addressing maternal health globally: the Prime Minister of Japan, Yasuo Fukuda challenged global leaders at the World Economic Forum (held in Davos in February 2008) to tackle maternal and infant mortality rates with the same creative cooperation they are employing against major infectious diseases. Ms. Sheffield and others worked with policy makers, media, Japanese officials, and others in advance of the G8 to ensure that maternal health remains high on the global agenda. Ms. Sheffield's conclusions from the meeting were that advocates needed to continue to speak out on investing in the core strategies to improve maternal health. The message is short and positive: “We know what to do. We know how to do it. We know what it costs. We sadly know what it costs NOT to do it. Women ARE an economic force, and we're wasting too much of that force.
FCI to Chair PAC Consortium
Unsafe abortion kills an estimated 68,000 women each year. Postabortion care is a strategy to reduce the impact of unsafe abortion by treating abortion complications and providing women with counseling and family planning methods to avoid another unwanted pregnancy. The PAC Consortium brings together a number of groups working on PAC, providing guidance and leadership on technical and policy issues around PAC. As the first non-USAID-funded NGO to lead the consortium, FCI will serve in its new position for two years. Click here to read about FCI’s partnerships.
FCI Staff Blog on RHRealityCheck
FCI President and Executive Vice President share their views
on RHRealityCheck.
Jill Sheffield is a regular contributor to RHRealityCheck. Her latest posting, Why Women Deliver? Why Now? describes the genesis of Women Deliver, a global conference planned for October 2007. Women Deliver, whose theme is Invest in Women: It Pays, is a landmark global conference that will focus on creating political will to save the lives and improve the health of women, mothers and newborn babies around the world. Click here to read Jill's posting.
On Mother’s Day, Jill wrote about her mixed feelings about this holiday, reflecting on the relative lack of commitment to safe motherhood globally and the sad – and little changing – statistics on maternal death. Click here to read Jill's posting.
In November, Jill posted from the FIGO (International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology) Congress in Malaysia to highlight the contrast between the new, high-tech solutions being presented at the Congress and the needs of women in poor countries, unable to access care at all. Click here to read Jill's posting.
Ann Starrs wrote from a very different meeting held in Tunisia. This posting focuses on developing strategies to deploy additional midwives to meet the growing shortage of health care workers in developing countries. Click here to read Ann's posting.
The Skilled Care Initiative (SCI) which FCI is testing in Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Tanzania, is thought to be a successful model for bringing life-saving care to the communities and women who need it.
Click here to learn more about SCI.
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FCI Bolivia Hosts Women’s Global Roundtable
On June 3rd, Alexia Escobar of FCI Bolivia hosted the Women’s Global Roundtable, a live weekly conference call and web cast. This series of calls features women from around the world whose lives have been touched by the work of UNIFEM’s Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. The call will focus on FCI’s work to address gender-based violence in remote rural indigenous communities in Bolivia and Ecuador. Click here to read more about FCI's work in Bolivia.
FCI at the IV Latin American Conference on SRHR in Uruguay
In April 2008, Cristina Puig of FCI was an opening speaker at the “IV Congreso Latinoamericano de Salud y Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos” (4th Latin American Conference on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights) held in Uruguay. The goal of the conference was to emphasize the importance of health professional‘s responsibility in achieving the MDGs by promoting and supporting women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the region. Click here to read more about our programs in Latin America.
Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Young People in Mali
FCI/Mali’s work with young people in the informal sector (domestic workers, street vendors, apprentices and others) was featured in “Exchange on HIV/AIDS, sexuality and gender,” a publication of the Netherlands’ Royal Tropical Institute and SafAIDS. Young workers in Mali are at high risk of HIV, and FCI has been working with local partners to train and support peer educators to provide knowledge, skills, and supplies (including condoms) to young people, and to help bridge them to health care facilities.
Delivering for Women
 The Lancet, a pre-eminent medical journal, released a special “Women Deliver” issue on October 2007, featuring a profile of FCI's founder Jill Sheffield. Ann Starrs, FCI’s President, co-edited the issue and wrote the commentary Delivering for Women
Skilled Care Initiative Delivers Impressive Results
Between 2003 and 2005, FCI upgraded maternity services in 100 health facilities, improving care for thousands of women in Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Tanzania. An ambitious research effort documented what worked and what didn't. Details are available here; for more about SCI, click here.
FCI Comments in the New York Times
HIV infection in newborns can be prevented by giving a simple drug regimen to women in labor. But programs that focus only on preventing transmission to infants - and don't treat infected women - are doing women and their families a disservice. Ann Starrs, FCI's Executive Vice President, commented on this topic in a letter published in the New York Times.
Voice of America:
Africa Population Experts Seek to Make Motherhood Safer
Features FCI Chair of the Board, Dr. Fred Sai
Letter to the New York Times:
FCI Comments on "Prudence's Struggle Ends" by Nicholas Kristof
Voice of America:
NGO Advocates for Sexual and Reproductive Health in 20 Countries
Millennium Development Target
In October 2006 the United Nations General Assembly gave its endorsement to a longtime FCI goal, adding Universal Reproductive Health as a Millennium Development Target.
79% of our revenue goes to programmatic expenses, well above the recommended average.
On principle and by preference, we are independent and thus able to address all aspects of women’s reproductive health, and work where others cannot.
We welcome your support.
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