Ipas honored for outstanding COVID-19 response in the DRC

Young women and girls in Bolivia are facing a rise in sexual violence since the COVID-19 pandemic began—and Ipas has partnered with the country’s ministry of education to tackle the problem.

As part of a multi-year project launched by Ipas Bangladesh and partners in 2017, listeners can now join a club devoted to reproductive health, with a focus on modern contraception.

In recognition of International Safe Abortion Day, Ipas reached out to Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), to talk about H.R. 7816, the Abortion Is Health Care Everywhere Act, the first-ever bill to repeal the Helms Amendment.

Tisungane Sitima was one of the first students in the gender and development program at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Malawi—an experience that set her on the path to becoming a champion of sexual and reproductive rights. In this Q & A, she talks about why she became an advocate and her work as chairperson of Ipas Malawi’s initiative to protect access to abortion and contraceptive services during—and beyond—the coronavirus pandemic.

If you haven’t heard of Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng—known popularly as Dr T—you have somehow missed her ubiquitous presence on radio, TV, social media and numerous other platforms. She’s a medical doctor, sex expert and health activist. She’s a member of the South Africa Commission on Gender Equality and was recently appointed as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. Dr. Mofokeng is also the author of A Guide to Sexual Health and Pleasure. She took time from her busy schedule to field some questions from Ipas.

Humanitarian health workers see with their own eyes every day that people living in crisis settings have acute needs for sexual and reproductive health care—including safe abortion.

Comprehensive sexuality education—that includes information about abortion—is essential for young people to be able to make safe, fully informed decisions about their health.

With an eye on major shifts in the abortion landscape, Ipas senior legal advisor Patty Skuster is calling for a more rigorous look at how abortion laws around the world affect public health outcomes.

Ipas Mozambique has a multifaceted approach to ensuring women and girls can still access needed reproductive health care—with minimal risk of COVID-19 infection—during the pandemic.

In 2018, Ipas Central America and Mexico (Ipas CAM) created an informational video in Spanish on how women can safely self-manage an abortion using misoprostol, a safe and effective drug readily available in most pharmacies in Mexico without a prescription. Staff started using the video to train Mexican pharmacy workers so they could advise and support women seeking abortion pills.