Evidence-based reporting, analysis and perspectives on women’s health worldwide. Updated as stories develop.
Aid cuts are projected to leave a US$185m gap in contraceptive funding in 2026. Ethiopia, Zambia and six other countries have pledged more than US$175m of their own money, while clinic closures and shipping delays hit women in sub-Saharan Africa hardest.
Bangladesh, where seven in 10 births now take place in a health facility, plans to redirect €250m from a European Investment Bank loan into maternal, newborn and cancer care. The government says the initiative will reach about 47 million women and girls between 2027 and 2031.
Stillbirths have fallen by more than a third since 2000, but progress has slowed since 2015. The Gates Foundation and Wellcome Leap will each put US$50m over three years into Uzima, a programme to halve stillbirth rates in selected countries within ten years.
Boehringer Ingelheim and the WHO Foundation have launched a US$5m obesity collaboration with no countries named and no commitment to women. Women carry a larger share of the global obesity burden, and existing guidelines already show what a women-aware programme could check and report.
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