This comment in the Lancet explores the role of policy and research in using the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage and suggest a joint meeting by WHO and FIGO to revisit the 2009 statement by WHO which does not recommend the use of misoprostol at the community level.

Comment in the Lancet about the Return of the Population Growth Factor: its impact on the Millennium Development Goals, a report of hearings held in the UK Parliament.

This commentary article refers to the meeting of the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (FIGO) in Santiago, Chile in 2003, which made reducing post-partum hemorrhage a priority, and two meetings supported by Venture Strategies in May and July 2004 in Kampala, Uganda and Nairobi, Kenya, which took the first steps toward meeting that goal

This letter to the lancet discusses the need to meet the increasing demand for access to modern family planning and family as a strategy for global security

The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development set broad new goals for family planning and reproductive health. The resources available to fund these much needed programmes, however, are much smaller than was originally calculated. To divide the limited budgets for the maximum health impact, likely resource flows need to be set against the cost of various family planning and reproductive health interventions. Preliminary analysis suggests that selection of cost-effective delivery of family planning services would still meet much of the need for family planning, and that some progress could be made towards improved control of sexually transmitted diseases.

Letter to the Lancet

The goal of doubling the number of contraceptive acceptors in the world during the 1990s is achievable if family planning services are made universally accessible and a continuous supply of contraceptives is maintained.

In the 25 years since the late Sir Dugald Baird expounded his ideas on a fifth freedom –freedom from the tyranny of excessive fertility-what has happened to family planning services worldwide? Dr Potts and Professor Rosenfield review the policies that have been adopted and suggest realistic strategies for the future.