The following is a speech given by Jhpiego’s Donna Miranda at the World Cancer Congress in late 2022: Allow me to introduce two women volunteers we work with under the Scale Up Cervical Cancer Elimination through Secondary Prevention Strategies (SUCCESS Project): The first woman is Venjie, 38 years old, a mother of seven. She lives in Tondo, one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Manila, Philippines.

By Grace Olomiwe and Erica Troncoso

What are the early impacts of COVID-19 on women’s need for and use of contraception across sub-Saharan Africa? By Ellie Qian A recent study published in The Lancet Global Health sought to answer this question by comparing trends in contraceptive use and demand for contraception before and during COVID-19 in four geographies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 infection in SSA was reported in Nigeria on February 28th, 2020. Although SSA appears to be a notable exception in the global debilitating…

By Pierre Akilimali, Associate Professor, Kinshasa School of Public Health; principal investigator, PMA DRC and Sarah Nehrling, organizational learning consultant, Garabam Consulting NOTE: This is not another article about that perfect IT equipment, nor is it about the silver bullet software or app that promises to rapidly and cost-effectively scale…

Behind the Scenes of the PMA Survey — When the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly spread throughout the world, devastating families and communities, the Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) team mobilized quickly to include levels of knowledge of the pandemic and the implications for women’s health and their economic prospects in their family planning surveys. The survey collected data on…

By Indrani Kashyap and Jeremiah E. Sotto When young Jed Lucero was studying to be a doctor, little did he know that within a few years of graduating, he would become a prominent health warrior, protecting the remote and vulnerable people of Sumilao during the largest global public health crisis…

Group antenatal care in India is changing the prenatal paradigm for pregnant women in remote villages — By Harleen K. Sidhu and Indrani Kashyap Rajasthan, India — Hira Devi married early last year and was expecting her first child a short while later. A 19-year-old living in a rural village tucked away in the mountains of India’s Aravali Range, Hira was focused on farming, family and her…

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo — Brunette’s daughter doesn’t even have a name yet. She was born hours ago at the Centre de Santé Ndjili, and the two are enjoying their time bonding skin to skin. The mother of four took public transportation to her health facility. There, she…

By Moumouni Bonkoungou & Cole Bingham Rainy season in Dano district, southwest of Burkina Faso’s capital, meant long days for nurse Elie Zagré. Every day, he often tended to 30 to 40 feverish children with suspected malaria.