IF IT S NOT ONE CRISIS, it s another. This month, food is taking the center of the global crisis stage. Deadly riots in Haiti and civil unrest in Egypt have broken out over the skyrocketing cost of food.

In addition to welcome media coverage, the world food crisis has commanded the attention of economists, agronomists and political scientists, each with unique policy recommendations for addressing the situation. Demographers, however, have been strangely absent from the general discussion, as if feeding the world s population has nothing to do with people. As if it is possible to explain the lack of food solely in terms of increased use of biofuels and rising meat consumption while ignoring the fact of rising demand due to population growth.

For full article, visit:
http://www.projo.com/opinion

Thanks to Dan Sherr for this article.
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Birthrates Help Keep Filipinos in Poverty, Contraceptives, Rejected by Government, Are Unaffordable for Many in Majority-Catholic Nation

Maria Susana Espinoza wanted only two children. But it was not until after the birth of her fourth child in six years that she learned any details about birth control.

“I knew it existed, but I didn’t know how it works,” said Espinoza, who lives with her husband and children in a squatter’s hut in a vast, stinking garbage dump by Manila Bay.

For full article, visit:
http://www.washingtonpost.com

A dramatic drop in Brazil’s fertility rate over the past four decades is due in part to a national addiction to soap operas, a new study suggests.

Unrealistically small families portrayed in the hugely popular soapies seems to be the main factor in the effect put forward this month by researchers working for the London-based Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).

For full article, visit:
http://afp.google.com/article

Shelburne, VT - On April 22nd, Population Media Center (PMC) will celebrate Earth Day. PMC is an international nonprofit organization that strives to bring about the stabilization of human population numbers at a level that can be sustained by the world’s natural resources, in order to improve the well-being of people around the world and lessen the harmful impact of humanity on the earth’s environment. PMC uses entertainment-education strategies, like serialized dramas on radio and television that encourage positive social and health behaviors, such as the use of family planning and the empowerment of women.

Please join us in celebrating Earth Day on April 22nd. William Ryerson, President and Founder of Population Media Center will be available for interviews.

Population and Environment
Currently, there is a great deal of concern in the media, government, business, and general public regarding the issue of global warming. However, the impact of rapid human population growth on global warming is often overlooked. Decreasing consumption levels will not be enough if the human population continues to rise. The United Nations Population Division estimates that by the year 2050 the world population will reach 9.2 billion, with most of this increase occurring in the developing world. It is estimated that by 2050 over 50% of carbon emissions will come from developing nations. Not only does population growth significantly contribute to an increase in carbon emissions, but it creates a strain on other resources such as water, food, and energy.

Make the Link Between Population and Environment
For more information about population and environmental issues, PMC’s founder and president, William Ryerson, will be available for interviews. Mr. Ryerson has a four decade history of working in the fields of population and reproductive health. As a graduate student, he was Founder and first Chairperson of the Yale Chapter of Zero Population Growth (ZPG). He also served on the Executive Committee of ZPG, as Eastern Vice President and Secretary of the national organization. In 1970, he was featured in Life Magazine’s Earth Day issue organizing student activities on the Yale campus for the first Earth Day.

During the last two decades, he has been working to adapt the Sabido methodology of entertainment-education for behavior change on family planning and family size issues to various cultural settings worldwide. He has also been involved in the design of research to measure the effects of such projects in a number of countries, one of which has led to a series of publications regarding a serialized radio drama in Tanzania and its effects on HIV/AIDS avoidance and family planning use. He received a B.A. in Biology (Magna Cum Laude) from Amherst College and an M.Phil. in Biology from Yale University (with specialization in Ecology and Evolution). He served as Director of the Population Institute’s Youth and Student Division, Development Director of Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania, Associate Director of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, and Executive Vice President of Population Communications International before founding Population Media Center. Mr. Ryerson is listed in several editions of Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the East. In 2006, he was awarded the Nafis Sadik Prize for Courage from the Rotarian Action Group on Population and Development.

The HIV seroprevalence among women aged 15-24 years was compared according to their pattern of contraceptive use in four African countries: Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Data were derived from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted between 2003 and 2006 on representative samples, totaling 4549 women.

It is indicated that users of depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) have a significantly higher seroprevalence than nonusers [odds ratio (OR)=1.82, 95% CI=1.63-2.03] and higher than users of oral contraceptives and users of traditional methods. The results were confirmed in a multivariate analysis including as controls, age, duration since first intercourse, urban residence, education, number of sexual partners in the last 12 months and marital status.

For full article, visit:
http://www.contraceptionjournal.org/article/S0010-7824(08)00061-9/abstract

The January 2008 issue of Population Reports carries a feature article on Population Media Center’s Ethiopian radio serial Yeken Kignit (“Looking Over One’s Daily Life”). The publication can be found at http://www.infoforhealth.org/pr/j56/j56.pdf.

Many thanks to NaHyun Cho, who authored the article.

The first large-scale scientific test of family planning took place in Khanna, India, beginning in the early 1950s. Backed by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, researchers asked 8,000 villagers how often they had sex, whether they wanted to conceive and the details of the women’s menstrual cycles.

The researchers met the villagers monthly and provided contraceptives, while closely monitoring another group that was given no contraceptives. After five years, the women given contraceptives had a higher birth rate than those who hadn’t received any assistance.

For full article, visit:

http://www.nytimes.com

This study examines trends and differentials in key family planning indicators in 35 developing countries. The data are for countries with a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted between 2000 and 2005. Trends are provided for countries with at least one previous DHS survey.

The study investigates how knowledge of contraception and use of contraception have changed; whether public-private, urban-rural, and other differentials in contraceptive use have narrowed, and whether women are making informed decisions about the use of contraception. It also examines discontinuation and switching rates, and decision-making about family planning.

For full article, visit:
http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pub_details.cfm?id=736

This resource pack provides relevant knowledge to facilitate mainstreaming gender-responsive approaches into reproductive health programmes, and the inclusion of specific aspects of gender inequality and disadvantage into national policy frameworks.

It focuses primarily on health, particularly reproductive health; on HIV/AIDS; and on violence against women as it relates to health services. The publication was produced under a UNFPA/UNIFEM strategic partnership aimed at developing a coordinated approach for effective technical assistance to gender-responsive budgeting (GRB).

For full article, visit:

http://www.unfpa.org/publications/detail.cfm?ID=328&filterListType

There are over 200 videos available on-line on the following subjects: Reproductive Health, Fistula, Population and Development, Gender Equality, Humanitarian Response, Human Rights, Adolescents & Youth, Safe Motherhood, Culturally Sensitive Approaches, HIV/AIDS, Advocacy, Reproductive Health Commodities, International Conference on Population and Development.

For full article, visit:

http://video.unfpa.org/