News

In the spirit of collective strength and shared values, during the IPPF 2025 General Assembly, the IPPF Courage Awards were presented, recognizing Member Associations, strategic partners, youth leaders, and volunteers whose bravery, leadership, and care continue to drive change across our Federation.  Among them, Jeffthanie Mathurin of the Haiti Midwives Association received the Member Association Staff Courage Award. A midwife and fearless advocate, she delivers essential maternal and reproductive health services in one of the world’s most under-resourced health systems, while also leading efforts to strengthen quality of care from within Haiti’s health response. Her work reflects the resilience, commitment, and community-rooted leadership that sustain sexual and reproductive health services even in the most fragile and complex contexts.  Just like Jeffthanie, IPPF ACRO Member Associations and the Secretariat stand together supporting, amplifying, and protecting the work being carried out on the frontlines, despite the context in which we operate continues to be deeply contested. Across the Americas and the world, civil liberties and sexual and reproductive rights face renewed pressure from political and policy shifts that threaten progress made over decades.   In our region, developments such as the expansion of the Global Gag Rule to cover not only abortion-related services but also programs related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity rights is indicating this won’t be an easy year. Fromthe U.S. imperialist intervention in Venezuela and threats to the sovereignty of some Caribbean states including Haïti; elections in Chile, Honduras, and Bolivia that have resulted in new ultra-right or conservative governments; pose serious challenges for global development and the rights to lives with health and free of violence for people – all these events create impossible choices for frontline providers and jeopardize essential care for the most vulnerable.  However, in 2026, we remain committed to advancing rights with courage, deepening humanitarian sexual and reproductive health programming, and building narratives that resonate with the values and lived realities of communities across 30 countries in the Americas and the Caribbean.  As affirmed at our recent General Assembly, Although the threats we face, from deepening inequalities to shrinking civic space, are real and growing, but so too is our capacity to resolve.  Together, we move forward clearer in purpose, stronger in federation, and more determined than ever to uphold human dignity and to be a source of hope and action for change.