Development Issues

The United Nations General Assembly, Optimism and Concern About Maternal Health and the SDGs

Next Friday, the 70th Session of the United Nation’s General Assembly will gather in New York City to talk global poverty, disease, security, conflict and other critical…

International Day of the African Child

When child marriage and maternal mortality are rights of passage.

Rights of passage that mark the end of childhood and beginning of adulthood are part of every culture. Some are based on religious traditions, like Bar or Bat Mitzvahs in…

Bill and Melinda Gates: Their Big Bet For the Future

Read the 2015 Gates Annual Letter, released today.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are optimistic that the lives of people in developing countries will not only improve faster in the next 15 years than other…

Martin Luther King Day 2015

Health disparities still exist in the U.S., many of which are contributing factors to the rising maternal mortality rate for U.S. mothers. 

As we honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, we remember his words:

World Prematurity Day

It’s World Prematurity Day, an international campaign to raise awareness that 15 million babies per year are born too early (before 37 weeks). 

Many of these fragile babies will die because their births came before their tiny bodies could sustain life. Often times it is because the…

How Sterilization Led to Death in India

Every time we check the news the number of women dying in India from botched sterilizations gets higher. 
As of this writing, twelve women have died and dozens more are sick (some on life support) as a result of surgeries performed in a government-run camp in…

In the Family Way — World Contraception Day With Sustain’s Sheila Hollender

Contraception plays an important role in helping mothers have healthy pregnancies, healthy babies and healthy families. 

When girls are able to delay their first pregnancies until adulthood, time and…