The 12^th Annual Global Health Mini-University is being held on September 14^th, 2012, at the Cloyd Heck Marvin Center on George Washington University’s campus. This is a free, day-long event that brings together professionals working in a variety of global health areas with presentations that highlight evidence-based best practices and state-of-the-art information.

At past Mini-U events, over 1,000 students, medical professionals, public health experts, members of the military, NGOs, and various other attendees have taken advantage of this unique networking opportunity to engage with diverse professionals with shared global health interests.

With over 60 concurrent sessions, attendees have a wide range of topics to choose from. Among them, Disrespect and Abuse: Safe Motherhood’s “Veil of Silence” will explain how disrespect and abuse in health systems hinder safe motherhood; Follow the mMoney will teach how mobile technology interventions using mobile money can improve public health indicators; and for those looking to broaden their audience and better disseminate their health promotion messages, Global Health and Social Media: How Do You ‘Like’ that Tweet? will share tips on how to effectively leverage social media tools such as Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

I was startled to see in a recent Lancet paper by Babatunde Osotimehin that fully meeting the family planning needs of people in developing countries—of current users and women with unmet need—would cost about US$8.1 billion annually. Currently, writes Osotimehin,“donors, developing countries, and households are investing some US$4 billion, which leaves a shortfall of about US$4.1 billion” each year.

 

Image redrawn from Population Action International, Family Planning: The Smartest Investment We Can Make

Osotimehin, who is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNFPA, urges governments of developing countries to commit significantly more of their own regular budgets and other resources to provide contraceptive information and services. In addition, “Donor countries need to step up their contributions to family planning to fulfill their commitments made at the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).”

One piece of good news for the funding picture came out of the recent London Summit on Family Planning when international donors and foundations pledged an additional US$2.625 billion dollars to reach 120 million more women with an unmet need for family planning by 2020. Developing country partners, including those in India, Indonesia, Malawi, and Nigeria, pledged an additional US$2 billion. These pledges, according to the London Summit Press Release, mean that by 2020, some 200,000 fewer women will have died in pregnancy and childbirth, there will be 110 million fewer unintended pregnancies, over 50 million fewer abortions, and nearly three million more babies will survive their first year of life.