In June 1969, the Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan served as a critical tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. Each June, communities around the world celebrate Pride Month to honor this struggle and continue fighting for a more equal future. More than 50 years after Stonewall, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning (LGBTQ+)* people in the United States struggle to access culturally competent and respectful sexual and reproductive health care.

“As we’re talking, the bodily autonomy of millions of women and girls around the world is still denied,” said Klaus Simoni Pedersen, Acting Director of the Division of Communications and Strategic Partnerships for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) at the recent U.S. launch event of the 2021 UNFPA State of the World Population report, hosted by the Wilson Center and UNFPA. The report, My Body is My Own: Claiming the Right to Autonomy and Self-Determination, examines the global status of women and girls as reflected in their agency and decision-making power.

 “Ask a big enough question, and you need more than one discipline to answer it,” said modern dance legend Liz Lerman.

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that there would be no going back to normal. They knew a failure to make timely and accurate public health decisions for a pandemic would prove to be the “difference between life and death.” How correct they were.

Jordan is facing a deepening, multi-faceted freshwater crisis. Climate change and population growth are exacerbating its extremely limited natural water availability and dependence on transboundary rivers and groundwater. Water-poor and functionally landlocked, Jordan serves as an archetype of a water-stressed nation.

Joyce Makasi, a young woman in Kambiti village, Kitui County, Kenya, went into labor with her second child one afternoon in December 2020. She had just enough money to hire a motorbike to take her to nearby Waita health center. At the facility, the clinical officer and nurse told her she would need a cesarean delivery. It wouldn’t be her first cesarean, but COVID-19 presented new obstacles.

“Midwives and nurses contribute to the health of women, families, communities, and society at large, but the impact of their care goes much further… Their care is transformational,” said Diene Keita, Deputy Executive Director for Programmes at UNFPA. She spoke at a recent event hosted by Women in Global Health, which virtually convened nurses and midwives from around the world to celebrate 100 outstanding women nurse and midwife leaders from over 50 countries. The event occurred in honor of the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, as designated by the World Health Organization (WHO). The list of 100 leaders is the first global recognition of its kind and commemorates women’s unique stories of resilience, leadership, and hard work.

When Mwanahamisi Abdallah’s mother announced plans to marry her off to a stranger, the 14-year-old Tanzanian girl burst into tears. She had no desire to marry—especially after learning the man already had three wives. Remembering advice from a teacher, she phoned authorities to intervene. They blocked the wedding and eventually delivered Mwanahamisi from her village in southeastern Lindi region to a girls’ shelter in Dar es Salaam.