Health Highlights: Jan. 30, 2017

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Dutch Government Launches Birth Control Fund for Women in Developing Nations

The Dutch government has launched and made an initial $10.7 million contribution to an international fund to provide birth control, abortion and sex education for women in developing countries.

The move comes after U.S. President Donald Trump cut funding for such services, the Associated Press reported.

The fund is called “She Decides — Global Fundraising Initiative” and will be managed by the Rutgers Foundation, an international sexual health and rights group based on the Netherlands.

The fund will “prevent women and girls being abandoned,” Lilianne Ploumen, Holland’s minister for foreign trade and development cooperation, said. “Because they, too, must be able to decide for themselves if they want children, with whom and when.”

Trump reinstated a ban on U.S. funding to international groups that provide abortions or even just information about abortions. Since 1984, the ban has been implemented by Republican administrations and rescinded by Democratic ones. President Barack Obama last lifted it in 2009, the AP reported.

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