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Status Improves For Women, But Problems Remain

A new report concludes that nations around the world have had mixed success in reaching goals set out 10 years ago at a United Nations population conference.

The 1994 conference in Cairo marked an important turning point. The core of the strategy was not simply to control population, but to achieve control by giving women the power they needed to limit family size. Ten years later, a report by advocacy organizations finds that more women than ever have access to contraception. Also, more girls are staying in school and more women are serving in legislatures.

But 123-million women worldwide still can't get the contraceptives they want. And there has been no progress in reducing the rate of maternal mortality. Advocates are meeting this week to craft new strategies to achieve the goals set out 10 years ago. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Award-winning journalist Richard Harris has reported on a wide range of topics in science, medicine and the environment since he joined NPR in 1986. In early 2014, his focus shifted from an emphasis on climate change and the environment to biomedical research.