Over the past decade, the mobile phone has changed the way I live my life – from connecting me to friends, to being able to access a world of information while on the move. In August 2014, South Africa’s Minister …
May for me, as Head of DFID Kenya, was a month of stark opposites. Highs and lows, achievements and failings, celebrations and disappointments. To explain, the government of Kenya released a report called a 'A Price Too High to Bear', …
Today is Human Rights day and the last of 16 days of activism to end violence against women. Around 140 million women are living with the effects of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C). In Africa alone, there are around three million …
After visiting Siavonga District (mentioned in my last post), we travelled to Monze District and then deep in to the bush to visit a remote health post at Kayola. The first leg of the journey was down 20 kilometres of …
I am writing this sitting in Johannesburg airport on my way back from a fascinating week in South Africa, where I have been conducting a review of a UK aid supported programme on maternal and child health. The programme supports …
Babies don't get to choose where, when or how they come into the world. Giving mothers the chance to make those huge decisions could make all the difference in the world. I learned just how serious birth can be when …
As we celebrate Mother's Day, and the deadline approaches for reaching the Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality by three-quarters, it is worth considering that giving birth in some countries still remains one of the most dangerous things a …
I celebrated the 101st International Women's Day in the halls of the United Nations last week. I followed Twitter, and shared blogs and news stories that collectively called we women to action. When I take a step back, as I …
Of all the things I thought I'd be doing when I got the chance to go to Africa and see Red Nose Day cash being spent - mixing cement wasn't one of them. After the years I spent working on …
Population has become a dirty word. It is a word that many of my predecessors and counterparts have, some might say understandably, steered clear of for decades. That's because it is normally followed by words like 'control' and 'explosion'. It …
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