To Fight Zika We Must fight Poverty and Powerlessness and Ensure That Women Enjoy Their Rights

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By: Alicia Ely Yamin, Director of Policy, FXB Center for Health & Human Rights at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

By Alicia Ely Yamin, Director of Policy, FXB Center for Health & Human Rights The speed with which the Zika virus appears to be spreading is only surpassed by the speed at which structural political failures in Latin America have been transformed into apparent personal deficiencies. Zika is transmitted by aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the same mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever. These mosquitoes breed in stagnant water and are most endemically found where poor people lack adequate plumbing and sanitation, and collect water in open containers…read more

From Inaction to Advocacy: Placing Women and Children at the Center of Sustainable Development

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By: Alicia Ely Yamin, Director of Policy, FXB Center for Health & Human Rights at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

While a maternal death is devastating in its own right, a mother’s death is not an isolated event; when a mother dies there are immediate and lasting repercussions for her children, her family, and the broader community. As the dawn of the Sustainable Development Goals fast approaches, it is important that we turn to evidence from the Impacts of Maternal Death on Living Children Study to inform advocacy efforts toward the inclusion of women’s reproductive health and gender equality as a central, fundamental part of global development. Check out this blog to view a panel of maternal health experts we convened for a live webcast to discuss the implications of this research and the strategies advocates can use to mobilize influential donors and decision-makers to prioritize investments in sexual and reproductive health… read more