Rumors often are the enemies of public health. And one rumor that spun out of control earlier this year hurt family planning efforts.

The false rumor: recent studies have found that hormonal contraceptives increase a woman’s risk of contracting HIV.

Dr. Ward Cates, the President of Research at Family Health International 360, talked today about studies that have looked the relationship between hormonal contraceptives and HIV during a session at the International Conference on Family Planning.

MLI's executive director Rosann Wisman looks back at the International Conference on Family Planning and sees it as marking a turning point for family planning. For the first time, she says, officials from ministries of finance and others have begun to understand the importance of family planning as an engine to future economic growth.

 “What have we done to be born into these conditions?”

The question hung in the air in Dakar. It was said by the Hon. Dr. Cornelius T. Mwalwanda, the deputy minister of finance in Malawi, who was imagining what many babies born in developing countries on October 31, 2011, might say if they could share their thoughts.

He was describing his impressions, as part of  an official delegation that visited Mangochi District Hospital in Malawi, which was chosen as the place to welcome the first baby born in Malawi on the day the world’s population reached 7 Billion.