Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE)

06/15/2021

about CHANGE's which grades the U.S. government’s work on ? We created this tool to critically assess the government’s global health assistance and hold it accountable to its commitments to people around the world.

Visit http://SRHRindex.SRHRforAll.org to check it out!

In 2019, U.S. global health funding was 10.9 billion USD. The U.S. government must be held accountable to its commitment.

06/14/2021

Want to compare how each government actor performed over the years & administrations in regards to globally? This helpful tool does the work for you! Search by actor or domain to see annual grade trends since the ’s annual grades started in 2016: https://bit.ly/2GnKqgG

06/11/2021

06/10/2021

Eric Sambisa is the Co-founder & Director of the Nyasa Rainbow Alliance, a key +-led org in advocating for PEPFAR programming to better meet the needs of LGBTQI+ Malawians.

In 2015, Eric was the first Malawian to openly come out as gay on national television. Eric’s advocacy is highlighted in our report, “A Powerful Force: U.S. Global Health Assistance & in Malawi". Read it here: https://bit.ly/2UkMslZ

Photo by George Ntonya

06/09/2021

Due to the , “most of the community-based organizations who were providing s*xual & reproductive health services for the most vulnerable groups in our community had to close down.”- Nonhlanhla Skosana, Community Education and Mobilisation Unit Manager, Sonke Gender Justice.

https://bit.ly/3k8xYBd

Nonhlanhla Skosana Community Education and Mobilisation Unit Manager, Sonke Gender Justice | South Africa "I am Nonhlanhla Skosana from Sonke Gender Justice.…

06/08/2021

❤️Love is love
🧡Love is love
💛Love is love
💚Love is love
💙Love is love
💜Love is love

06/02/2021

During a 2019 fact finding trip, CHANGE learned from our Malawi-based partners that availability, access & stigma associated with internal & external condoms remain a challenge among priority populations including *xWorkers.

Our Malawian colleagues at Female S*x Workers Alliance reported that only external were available at U.S.-funded clinics, and they often smelled strongly of chemicals. This deters s*x workers from using these condoms. Programs need to do better. *xWorkIsWork *xWorkersDay

Learn more: https://bit.ly/31SlMxk

06/02/2021

For International *xWorkersDay, check out our blog post about the inadequate “ ”, an approach that conflates *xWork with trafficking and creates barriers to health services which is harmful for *xWorkers & society as a whole.

Governments around the world are increasingly adopting strategies meant to decrease s*x work by criminalizing those who purchase s*x, inspired by a 1999 Swedish law that first penalized the purchase of s*x rather than its provision. Many now view the “Nordic Model” as best practice for minimizin...

06/01/2021

CHANGE's President Serra Sippel was quoted in this Rolling Stone article on Biden's FY22 budget proposal. While we're elated his budget removed the , CHANGE & others "are calling for the president to go farther."

How? “Removing the , for starters, is a crucial step in dismantling neo-colonialism and racism in our U.S. foreign policy.”

https://bit.ly/3c6MHcQ

“Where we choose to invest speaks to what we value as a Nation,” the president wrote in a statement accompanying the budget

06/01/2021

Happy month! As always, CHANGE will continue to support LGBTQIA+ individuals and communities by advancing gender identities & s*xual orientations.

05/28/2021

“While CHANGE is encouraged to see the excluded from the Biden administration’s proposed budget for the Fiscal Year 2022, it leaves behind the millions of people worldwide who need access to services.

“Removing the , for starters, is a crucial step in dismantling neo-colonialism and racism in our U.S. foreign policy. It’s long past time for the U.S. to stop imposing funding restrictions that undermine efforts by countries, health care providers and local advocates to make safe abortion accessible to those who need it. Ending Helms is a matter of life or death: its repeal would prevent millions of unsafe abortions and subsequent injuries and disabilities, and would sharply decrease maternal deaths and pregnancy-related complications for women internationally.” - Serra Sippel, President, CHANGE

Find our full statement here:

WASHINGTON, DC -- Moments ago, the Biden administration released its proposed budget, which removes the Hyde Amendment from its language on s*xual and reproductive health care.