health services – Global Reproductive Health at Duke

Abortion Rights, Global Aid, & COVID-19: How Do They all Tie Together?

December 12, 2020December 12, 2020 by Nicole ForlanNo Comments

Ethiopian health clinics supporting teenagers have been shut down. Decades worth of HIV care integration and family planning progress have completely unraveled in Kenya (Henderson, 2020). The duties of government workers dedicated to traveling the Himalayas to share health related information have been stopped (Henderson, 2020). These are some of the effects from the implementation of President Trump’s 2017 global aid policy, “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance.” The “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance,” also referred to as the “The Global Gag Rule,” has made lasting impacts under the Trump administration (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2020). This policy requires non-governmental organizations to refrain from using funds from U.S. and non-U.S. sources to promote or provide abortion care as a form of family planning (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2020). This policy is an extension of the Mexico City Policy which was first announced in 1984 at an international conference under President Reagan's administration and the policy has been in and out of effect...

Reproductive Health During COVID-19

October 29, 2020October 29, 2020 by Nicole ForlanNo Comments

Maternal health and reproductive care were already facing known disparities before COVID-19 made its impact on the world. In 2017, more than 800 women in the world died daily from preventable pregnancy and childbirth related causes across the world (Witter, 2020). Also, at that point in time, 10 million girls ages 15-19 were experiencing unplanned pregnancies every year (Witter, 2020). So, it is to be expected that when the world faces a pandemic that causes an incline in challenges to accessing resources, that poorer health outcomes are going to be experienced amongst this same threatened group (Witter, 2020). During a health crisis, funds are reallocated and shifted to different resources (Witter, 2020), thus having a monumental impact on an already vulnerable population. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sana Frontiérs partnered with governments around the world in an attempt to prioritize reproductive services as essential during the COVID-19 pandemic (Kuehn, 2020). The cutbacks in maternal health funds alone has the potential to lead to 113,000...

Poland’s New Abortion Laws

October 29, 2020October 29, 2020 by Amiya MehrotraNo Comments

In the past week, thousands of people have taken to the streets in cities across Poland for days straight to protest the abortion ruling on October 22 by Poland’s Constitutional Court. The ruling banned all abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or cases when pregnancy poses an imminent danger to the mother’s life on the grounds that this choice is inconsistent with the constitution. More specifically, this law prohibits abortions in the cases of fetal disabilities, which accounts for 98% of the abortions performed in Poland. Amnesty International, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the Human Rights Watch have condemned this ruling, stating that it violates women’s human rights and will in fact inflict harm upon the physical and/or mental health of a woman. These groups have also called upon the European Commission and EU member states to address this “breach of rule of law and [its] impact on fundamental rights in Poland” because stripping women of their reproductive...

Reproductive Freedom Act in New Jersey

October 11, 2020October 12, 2020 by Amiya MehrotraNo Comments

On October, 2, New Jersey introduced “The Reproductive Freedom Act,” which would enshrine the right to abortion and other essential reproductive health care for residents of the state. The timing of this legislation is no coincidence; the ruling came less than one month after the recent passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In light of the fact that another conservative Justice may take Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court, this Act would protect the abortion rights outlined in the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The contents of the Reproductive Freedom Act can be condensed into three main points. First, the Act stipulates that all New Jersey residents maintain the right to make their own personal health decisions relating to birth control and pregnancy-related care; this includes the right to an abortion. Second, the legislation ensures that financial factors do not pose as barriers that would prevent anyone from making these health decisions. This would require private insurance companies...

Abortion-Rights Bill Introduced in California Aimed at Public Universities

September 15, 2019 by Emily WoodrowNo Comments

Last week, an abortion-rights bill targeted at public universities in California was passed inspired by a student-led movement at the University of California, Berkeley. If signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom during the next month, this legislation would mandate all on-campus health centers of California public universities to offer medication abortion by 2023. In the state of California, this legislation would therefore directly apply to 34 college campuses. Medication abortion requires taking two different pills which are approved by law to end pregnancy during the first 10 weeks. There have already been around $10.3 million dollars of donations raised privately that would go toward training staff at campus health centers and equipping the centers with proper medical devices for medication abortion. A study published in August 2018 directly analyzed California college students desire and access to medication abortion and concluded, “College students face cost, scheduling, and travel barriers to abortion care. Offering medication abortion on campus could reduce these...

Abortion-Rights Bill Introduced in California Aimed at Public Universities

September 15, 2019 by Aarushi VenkatakrishnanNo Comments

Three Ground-Breaking HIV Studies

July 27, 2019 by Emily WoodrowNo Comments

Three ground-breaking studies published in the New England Journal a few weeks ago reveal the benefits of door-to-door health workers, mobile clinics, and whole community testing in reducing the rate of new HIV infections in African Countries. The first study, the Ya T’sie trial, provided HIV testing, linkage to care, and early antiretroviral treatment to communities of Botswana; the second study, Search, focused on universal HIV treatment for communities in Uganda and Kenya; and the third study, PopART, implemented combination prevention intervention with ART in communities of Zambia and South Africa. The conclusion of these workings points to a 30 percent decrease in HIV incidence proving the success of these testing and treatment efforts. The key to the success is the idea of the “warm handoff” implemented in all three studies in which the health care workers ensured anyone who tested positive for HIV followed up at a clinic and did not forget. These studies are so important considering that...

Healthcare in the West African nation of Mali

July 14, 2019 by Emily WoodrowNo Comments

The West African nation of Mali is one of the world’s poorest countries and has extremely high rates of maternal and child mortality. The WHO has approximated that costs of healthcare are a force pushing 100 million people across the globe into extreme poverty every year. So, in the area of Yirimadio during 2008, the community implemented a free door-to-door health-care plan sponsored by the government in order to ensure wellness and combat health ailments. After 7 years of the trial, the University of California collected data from the region and discovered that child mortality in the region dropped by 95%—marking the program as extremely successful. After this news, the President of Malawi announced the goal for the entire country by 2020 to have localized, free health care for pregnant women and children under the age of 5 to fight maternal and child mortality. This program will focus on training community health care workers, providing door-to-door services, and...

The Irony of the Mexico City Policy

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019 by Molly PaleyNo Comments

In his first days as President of the United States, Donald Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy. Also known as the Global Gag Rule, the policy “gags” international NGOs receiving U.S. aid by not allowing them to “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.” First enacted by President Ronald Reagan, U.S. funding for critical reproductive healthcare abroad has been a partisan issue ever since with every Republican President instating the policy and every Democratic repealing it. President Trump’s reinstatement of the policy greatly expanded its parameters and includes a wide range of global health programs such as HIV funding through PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). The expansion of the policy diminished the provision of services by international NGOS who weren’t previously affected by the policy and who feared losing critical funding from the U.S. Last week, a study published in the Lancet found that when the Mexico City Policy is instated, rates of abortion...

The Inaccessibility of Sexual Health Care for Disabled Women in Canada

February 17, 2019February 17, 2019 by Carly JonesNo Comments

In Canada, standard health protocol recommends that women receive a Pap test every few years in order to detect cervical cancer as early as possible. However, health practitioners at ACCESS, a clinic in Vancouver which provides sexual health services exclusively for disabled women, have identified a significant deficit in the accessibility of such services for the demographic they serve. This inaccessibility is derived in part from a widespread lack of appropriate equipment. Many offices do not possess an accessible exam bed with a lift, preventing gynecological screening for disabled women. Additionally, many doctors, in providing care to these women, draw upon the misguided assumption that individuals with disabilities are not sexually active and thus neglect to ask their patients for a comprehensive history of their sexual health. Because this discourse does not occur, or is not prioritized due to more immediate health issues directly relating to the disability, cervical cancer is rarely screened for amongst disabled women, and thus persists largely...

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