Morning Briefing

"Africa has the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 48 percent of all global maternal deaths occurring in this region," Jotham Musinguzi, regional director of the Partners in Population and Development Africa Regional Office in Kampala, Uganda, writes in an Independent opinion piece. But "[i]f we provide girls, women and their partners with family planning information and services we can empower them to decide the number, timing and spacing of their children -- and whether they want to become pregnant at all," he states, adding, "Intended pregnancies are safer and healthier pregnancies."