Linda Bartlett, an esteemed scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, discusses maternal health in Afghanistan, highlighting her experiences during the Reproductive Age Mortality Survey (RAMOS), which she had conducted on horseback only months after the fall of the Taliban in 2002.

This session was part of the Maternal Health in Afghanistan and Pakistan roundtable series.

This roundtable, part of the ExxonMobil Women and Development Series, looked at successful and sustainable agricultural innovations used to enhance productivity and women's income-generating abilities in the developing world.

Isobel Coleman says "virginity tests" performed on women protesters in Egypt are a new twist in the longstanding mistreatment of Egyptian women by military and civilian men.

This roundtable looked at successful and sustainable agricultural innovations used to enhance productivity and women's income-generating abilities in the developing world.

Experience has shown that community-based interventions not only reduce maternal mortality in Afghanistan, but also complement broader efforts to achieve stability and development in this war-torn country. Denise Byrd, an expert in maternal and child health, reproductive health, and family planning, described the challenges faced by maternal health providers in Afghanistan and discussed several successful intervention programs.

This session was part of the Maternal Health in Afghanistan and Pakistan roundtable series.

This meeting was part of the ExxonMobil Women and Development roundtable series, organized by CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative.

CFR's Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy and Director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program sits down with Anne-Marie Slaughter, Former Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Deparment, to discuss the State Department's approach to alleviating poverty and empowering women in the developing world.

A group of experts discuss the impact of family planning policies on U.S. Foreign Policy.

This session is part of the Family Planning and U.S. Foreign Policy Project.

The United States should see family planning as a foreign policy priority that leads to healthier and more prosperous societies, and should increase funding, resources and support for those countries with the highest unmet need, argues CFR's Isobel Coleman.

CFR fellows Isobel Coleman and Gayle Lemmon convincingly argue that investment in voluntary international family planning is one of the most cost-effective ways to strengthen critical U.S. foreign policy objectives, including improving global health, promoting economic development, stabilizing fragile states, and encouraging environmental sustainability.

Experts discuss the impact of family planning initiatives on U.S. foreign policy.

This session is part of the Family Planning and U.S. Foreign Policy Project.

Family planning and reproductive health programs improve public health, foster stability, and enhance efforts to maximize economic growth. Consequently, investments in reproductive health and family planning are necessary for the success of U.S. foreign policy goals in high population growth countries, such as Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Current global population growth rates and consumption patterns are not environmentally sustainable because rapid population growth strains resources and contributes to environmental degradation. Integrated population and environment approaches allow governments to effectively address these at both a macro and micro level.

U.S. foreign aid will be more effective if increased investments are made in high population-growth countries for reproductive health and family planning programs. These programs are cost-effective because they help reduce the stress that rapid population growth places on a country's economic, environmental, and social resources.

One of the greatest challenges facing some of the poorest developing countries is the urgent need for comprehensive, integrated reproductive health services, including family planning. If unanswered, this challenge will jeopardize poverty reduction measures taken by governments, civil society, and aid-based organizations and threaten their long-term economic growth prospects.