Memory Banda’s life took a divergent path from her sister’s. When her sister reached puberty, she was sent to a traditional “initiation camp” that teaches girls “how to sexually please a man.” She got pregnant there — at age 11. Banda, however, refused to go. Instead, she organized others and asked her community’s leader to issue a bylaw that no girl should be forced to marry before turning 18. She pushed on to the national level … with incredible results for girls across Malawi.

Watch Memory’s talk at TED Women 2015 below:

By: Patrick Mwesigye, Founder/Team Leader – Uganda Youth and Adolescents Health Forum (UYAHF), Ag. Coordinator Africa Youth and Adolescents Network on Population and Development (AfriYAN), and Member of the Have You Seen My Rights Coalition

This post originally appeared on Patrick Mwesigye’s blog here. Reposted with permission.

On Thursday 18th June 2015, over 150 young women and men of ages 15 to 26 who are victims of child marriages, teenage pregnancies, sexual exploitation and domestic violence, all from the slum areas of the Kawempe Division namely; Bwaise, Kalelwe, Mulago, Wandegeya and Kyebando in Kamapa- Uganda’s Capital, gathered at the Lord Harvest Cathedral in Bwaise Slum, at community dialogue to celebrate the Day of the African Child. The community dialogue organized by Uganda Youth […]

The Business Plan to operationalize the Global Financing Facility in Support of Every Woman Every Child (GFF) is now available online. Announced at the UN General Assembly in September 2014, the GFF will bring to bear smart, scaled and sustainable financing designed to achieve and measure results, and help prevent up to 3.8 million maternal deaths, 101 million child deaths, and 21 million stillbirths in 63 high-burden countries by 2030. The GFF will serve as a major vehicle for financing the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on healthy lives and will play a special role in scaling up financing to support the UN Secretary-General’s renewed “Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health”. The business plan is the result of seven months […]

This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post here. Reposted with permission.

By Flavio Bustreo, World Health Organization Assistant Director-General for Family, Women’s and Children’s Health, and Vice Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

“We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children.” This sentiment I share with David Brower — regarded as the founder of the modern environmental movement.

Bower’s vision is as relevant today as ever. We must aim not only to avoid problems for tomorrow, but to leave things in a better state than we found them — a world where everyone can exercise their right to good health.

Towards a new Global Strategy

This commitment to make life healthier for future […]