The intimate labour of internationalism: maternalist humanitarians and the mid-twentieth century family planning movement

This article moves past high politics and the most prominent activists to explore the daily, intimate practice of international movement building by mid-level fieldworkers within the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) during its first decade of existence (1952–62). It illustrates how fieldworkers and the IPPF’s practitioner-oriented newsletter Around the World attempted to bridge the ideological and geographic diversity of the family planning movement and connect with advocates around the world through an emotive narrative of suffering, love, and global humanity, reinforced by affective bonds and women’s volunteerism. The story of global family planning must thus be seen not only as part of the history of eugenics, population control, and feminism, but also as part of the longer trajectory of maternalist humanitarianism. This mid-twentieth century version of maternalist humanitarianism built on earlier traditions but also incorporated concepts of human rights, critiques of dominant gender and sexual norms, and an official commitment to local self-determination in the context of decolonization movements. Still, the organization was plagued by the problems that shape humanitarianism more broadly, including the difficulty of moving past colonialist discourses, deeply rooted feelings of racial superiority, and the contradictions inherent in attempts to impose an impossible ideal of political neutrality in a politically complex world. Looking at the history of global family planning from this perspective thus helps us understand how the different traditions, intimate relationships, and practical experiences mid-level actors bring to their work shape the broader process of international movement building, beyond high-level political and ideological activism.

How Sex Ed Fails People With Periods

Long before I taught law students the intricacies of statutes, I taught junior high school students sex education. It was a part-time job while I was in college in Los Angeles, through a program with Planned Parenthood that provided a two-week curriculum in public junior high schools. Today I joke that it gave me my unflappable nature in the classroom—if you can tell preteens about syphilis, nothing that happens in a law school classroom will break your concentration—but it also gave me an indelible memory of how far sex ed in America has to go. During our training, one of my fellow teachers referred in passing to how annoying it was to change her tampon every time she had to urinate. She was a bright college student and engaged with reproductive work enough that she successfully applied to work at Planned Parenthood. Yet, she didn’t know that the vagina and urethra were different anatomical structures.

Preparing for and responding to sexual and reproductive health in disaster settings: evidence from Fiji and Tonga

Background Pacific Island countries are vulnerable to disasters, including cyclones and earthquakes. Disaster preparedness is key to a well-coordinated response to preventing sexual violence and assisting survivors, reducing the transmission of HIV and other STIs, and preventing excess maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. This study aimed to identify the capacity development activities undertaken as part of the SPRINT program in Fiji and Tonga and how these enabled the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) response to Tropical Cyclones Winston and Gita. Methods This descriptive qualitative study was informed by a framework designed to assess public health emergency response capacity across various levels (systems, organisational, and individual) and two phases of the disaster management cycle (preparedness and response). Eight key informants were recruited purposively to include diverse individuals from relevant organisations and interviewed by telephone, Zoom, Skype and email. Template analysis was used to examine the data. Findings Differences in the country contexts were highlighted. The existing program of training in Tonga, investment from the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) Humanitarian Hub, the status of the Tonga Family Health Association as the key player in the delivery of SRH, together with its long experience of delivering contract work in short time-frames and strong relationship with the Ministry of Health (MoH) facilitated a relatively smooth and rapid response. In contrast, there had been limited capacity development work in Fiji prior to Winston, requiring training to be rapidly delivered during the immediate response to the cyclone with the support of surge staff from IPPF. In Fiji, the response was initially hampered by a lack of clarity concerning stakeholder roles and coordination, but linkages were quickly built to enable a response. Participants highlighted the importance of personal relationships, individuals’ and organisations' motivation to respond, and strong rapport with the community to deliver SRH. Discussion This study highlights the need for comprehensive activities at multiple levels within a country and across the Pacific region to build capacity for a SRH response. While the SPRINT initiative has been implemented across several regions to improve organisational and national capacity preparedness, training for communities can be strengthened. This research outlines the importance of formalising partnerships and regular meetings and training to ensure the currency of coordination efforts in readiness for activation. However, work is needed to further institutionalise SRH in emergencies in national policy and accountability mechanisms.

Personalizing Moral Reframing in Interpersonal Conversation: A Field Experiment

Organizations in the contemporary United States face substantial challenges with persuading citizens and moving them to take action. Prior research finds that citizens’ views can be changed and strengthened using frames consistent with their moral values. However, it can be difficult for organizations to tailor their appeals to individuals’ moral values given the difficulty in predicting which moral values matter to which citizens. We present a pre-registered field experiment in which canvassers for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (n = 52) sought to overcome this challenge by listening for individual voters’ (n = 1, 034) moral values and then tailoring their appeals to those moral values. In contrast to an earlier study finding no impact of long-form canvassing on abortion attitudes, we find these conversations had large effects on interest in taking action and some evidence of changes in policy attitudes. This experiment provides a template for practitioners and researchers to build on.

Estetrol and the possibilities of its clinical use

Summary Combined hormonal contraceptive methods are one of the most commonly used methods of planned parenthood. They show high contraceptive effectiveness, reasonable cycle control and bring several non-contraceptive benefits. A limitation of the widespread use of combined hormonal contraception is the risk of cardiovascular complications in individuals with specific risk factors. The risk of cardiovascular complications is related to the used estrogen component. Currently, the most common use of estrogen in combined hormonal contraception is ethinyl estradiol and estradiol valerate. The good estrogenic part of combined oral contraceptives is estetrol, a hormone produced exclusively by the fetal liver. Estetrol exhibits a tissue-selective receptor activity. Unlike previously used estrogens, it does not negatively affect the production of liver proteins and blood clotting parameters. Estetrol is not a perspective for combined hormonal contraception only. It is also promising for treating and preventing osteoporosis, hormonal therapy of menopausal syndrome, and vulvovaginal atrophy syndrome.