In a victory for women's health rights advocates, the White House announced two weeks ago a working group that will address the intersection of HIV/AIDS, violence against women and girls, and gender-related disparities. The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) recently met to address the intersection...

Thirty years into the AIDS epidemic, the global community has developed a sense of solidarity and urgency to save lives. On International Women's Day, we need to leverage that solidarity and urgency to help those who are most affected -- women. Currently, half of those infected with HIV globally and...

It's that time again. It's an election year, when the easiest thing to lose actually isn't the vote. It's perspective.

In 2011, Congress' cup runneth over with attempts to limit or restrict completely women's health and rights, both at home and abroad. In 2012, there is a presidency at...

Last month, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), in partnership with George W. Bush Institute, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and UNAIDS, launched the global "Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon" campaign, an initiative that integrates cervical and breast cancer education, screening, and treatment with HIV services....

It is timely that this week's Diversity Women's Business Leadership Conference followed the announcement of three women from West Africa and the Middle East being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Both events are reminders that women in positions of leadership are making a difference.

The...

A remorseless House of Representatives returns to Capitol Hill today, armed with a grim anti-woman agenda. Brace yourself for another tiresome, ideological attack on women's health and rights, in the form, once again, of the Global Gag Rule. It's an attack driven by propaganda and riddled with lies by those...

Last week marked the 30th anniversary of what we recognize as the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In the subsequent days, we've seen stories measuring progress, touting the newest prevention methods, and updating the statistics. However, in all the talk, there has been one core aspect of HIV/AIDS that has...

We can end HIV/AIDS right now if we want to. We already know how. We know how it's transmitted; we know how to prevent and treat it. We're just not doing what it takes to end it.

The United States and other countries represented at the United Nations High...

Last week, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) decided that what taxpayers in his Trenton district really needed was for him to intercede in Kenyans' democratic decisions around abortion. Not content to rest after failed attempts to redefine rape in domestic legislation, he dipped his hand into taxpayer money...

Teresia Otieno, from Kenya, was 26 years old when she was forcibly sterilized. It was decided for her that, because she was living with HIV, her reproductive rights did not matter, and therefore should be taken away -- permanently. It is a rather astonishing take on where HIV, maternal health...

There are times when the words are hard to find, because the action they are needed to describe is so repugnant that any language in its entirety is insufficient.

A Ugandan gay rights activist, David Kato, was beaten to death with a hammer in his home yesterday, the result...

The incoming chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), said yesterday that the economy would be "foremost" in the decisions she makes regarding foreign assistance, and that she will trim the "fat" in existing aid programs. The current chair of the committee, Rep. Howard L. Berman...

With 80 percent of HIV cases worldwide transmitted by sexual contact, promoting abstinence until marriage and marital fidelity would seem to make sense as a way to limit the spread of HIV. However, authors of The Secret: Love, Marriage and HIV expose this approach to HIV prevention--which has...

Progress on women's sexual and reproductive health and rights has always been vulnerable to political whims. U.S. foreign policy affects women overseas tremendously, yet often places women's actual well-being secondary to domestic political agendas. To assess the role and impact of current U.S. foreign assistance on maternal health, family planning...

Recent news around misuse of craigslist for the sexual exploitation of minors has led the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) to make the difficult decision to return a sizeable charitable contribution from craigslist Charitable Fund.

To be clear, we do not believe that craigslist actively...

Applause to the United Nations for releasing a joint action plan set on attacking Millennium Development Goal 5 -- reducing maternal mortality. It's one of the Millennium Development Goals the world is fast on track to miss. At the international Women Deliver conference last week, where the plan...

While the decrease in the maternal mortality ratio reported yesterday by the Lancet is a victory, it is anything but a "mission accomplished." We are not off the hook--the same report also documented that HIV is responsible for more than 60,000 maternal deaths each year. The US--whose maternal...

Today, we have two tools to prevent HIV, other STIs, and unintended pregnancy--female and male condoms. So why aren't HIV infection rates showing any signs of slowing down?

The short answer is 1) Condoms--especially female condoms--are underfunded and underused; and 2) Stigma, misconceptions, and a lack of political commitment...

Right now, the United States has a rare opportunity to stem or eradicate some of the world's most common and fatal health threats. However, as with most opportunities, we have a small amount of time to leverage it effectively.

President Obama's Global Health Initiative (GHI) has the...