Danielle Levy

–The correlation between family planning and development in the Third World is strong enough that it does lead one to ask if access to contraceptives ought not to be a human right– For the last few decades “population projects”, as they’re called among development professionals, have been like ping pong balls bouncing according to the policies of U.S administrations and whether or not they were in agreement with the views of right to life activists on the subject. Meanwhile family planning and development in the Third World seem to underscore a correlation long known in academic and women’s rights circles. The United Nations estimates there are some 200 million women in the world, mainly in developing countries, who have “an unmet need” for effective contraception. Demographers estimate that this unmet need leads to 70 to 80 million unwanted pregnancies each year, along with 150,000 maternal deaths and 19 million abortions—all of which could be changed through the availability of effective contraception.
President Obama has lifted the ban on aid for the Population Fund, and those running women’s or health clinics are learning that to offer effective contraception is more than just giving women a pill or an IUD. Not only must the right method for them be available, they need counseling, follow up, and most of all to be treated with dignity—all reinforcing what many already know, that the education of women is a basis for development.
It may be that access to contraceptives ought to be a woman’s right.

–The world’s undernourished is now over one billion. The Head of the Food and Agriculture Organization says it’s time to eradicate hunger–Heads of organizations often have plans, that’s what they do, but when Jacques Diouf, the director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, does so, his message is worth heeding. Concerned that the economic crisis is hitting the undernourished even more than in the past, seeing that the number of those chronically hungry has now topped one billion, he is proposing a solution. Let’s put behind the UN Millenium goals to halve the number of undernourished by 2015 and instead let’s work to eradicate hunger by 2025. He suggests we learn from past mistakes, particularly in the 1990’s when agriculture investment sharply fell, which he says paved the way for the surge in food prices over the last two and half years. To pursue his ideas he proposes a world leaders summit in Rome next November to tackle the issue of food insecurity. In 2008, thirty countries suffered food riots. Food insecurity is a political as well as human rights issue, and looking ahead is important on all levels. Let’s hope M. Diouf succeeds.

–Some are protesting the pope’s stand on condoms by sending them to him–While traveling in Africa recently, Pope Benedict XVI said that condoms were not the answer to AIDS, though the continent is ravaged by the disease and condoms have been hailed as an effective prevention. His remarks have sparked protest in many circles. One protest, however, deserves mention because it is rare that a protest can manage to make its point with humor. An Italian group on the social networking site, Facebook, is urging people to send condoms to the pope. The packaged product the group proposes is a white plastic packet with the pope’s picture and the caption, I said no. The organizers were expecting some 60,000 condoms to be delivered to the Vatican. Others in Europe and elsewhere have also joined the protest, and it is possible that more condoms would be sent. Some are also sending a picture of a condom via email. Although the Vatican has tried hard to engage in damage control, there’s still the question of what they will do with all these condoms!Perhaps they’ll get the message after all.