Tired but jubilant, the Freedom Climbers arrive back safely in Loitokitok, Kenya, on 16 January.

150 gathered for the first Freedom Climb Conference in September to learn how to become advocates for oppressed women and children around the world.

Forty-five women from around the world begin their trek on 9 April to Mt. Everest Base Camp and summit of Kala Patthar Peak in Nepal.

On 1 December, 22 women hiked Tongariro Alpine Crossing to raise awareness and funds for women and children trafficked in France and India.

The OM Costa Rica team is starting a holistic ministry for women in the underprivileged community of Las Tablas in the country's capital San José.

The Lord opens doors for women in Las Tablas, a slum near San José, to learn how to sew and make mosaics.

Anna and Sarah knock boldly on brothel doors in Central Europe, requesting permission to speak to the ladies inside.

The latest UEFA KISS workshop on the further development of women's football looked at ways of improving clubs' infrastructures as well as bolstering the foundations of the game.

Brian Beacom

Moonlight, Film 4, Wednesday, 9pm

Talented young referees and international women referees are in Nyon this week for the latest courses in UEFA's referee development programme.

Chlamydia testing among adolescents and young women without symptoms is recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force, but only approximately one-half of eligible young women presenting for health care are screened appropriately.

Our work indicates that providers screen young women for chlamydia differentially according to patient age, race/ethnicity, insurance status, and sexual health history. Biases in chlamydia screening may contribute to higher reported rates of chlamydia among minority and poor young women. (Read the full article)

Some studies demonstrate that adolescents have different perinatal risks and outcomes than nonadolescents. Few studies have explored the maternity experiences or practices of adolescents that may underlie these differences, or compared these with nonadolescents by using a nationally representative sample.

Adolescents and young adults were more likely to experience physical abuse, late prenatal care initiation, poor prenatal health behaviors, lower breastfeeding initiation and duration rates, postpartum depression, and lower folic acid supplementation than adult women. (Read the full article)

Childhood abuse has been associated with obesity risk in adulthood. Little is known regarding the impact of abuse severity on risk, potential mechanisms are poorly understood, and few studies have been conducted among minority populations.

Severity of child/teenager physical and sexual abuse is associated with increased risk for adult obesity and/or central adiposity in adulthood. These are the first such findings in a large cohort of US black women. (Read the full article)

Obesity is a risk factor for failure to initiate breastfeeding, formula supplementation, and short breastfeeding duration. There is a need for interventions that can improve the breastfeeding outcomes of overweight and obese women.

Breastfeeding peer counseling targeting overweight/obese women did not affect exclusive breastfeeding rates or breastfeeding continuation beyond 2 weeks. However, the intervention was associated with improvements in early breastfeeding intensity and fewer infant hospitalizations in the first 6 months after birth. (Read the full article)

Juice consumption among 2- to 5-year-old children exceeds dietary recommendations. In 2007, the US Department of Agriculture revised the composition and quantities of prescribed foods in WIC food packages to align them with dietary guidelines. Juice allowances were reduced by approximately half.

WIC participants purchased about a quarter less juice volume after implementation of the revised WIC packages. Large reductions in WIC-provided juice were only partly compensated for by extra juice purchases with non-WIC funds. Little compensation occurred for other beverages. (Read the full article)

Timely immunoprophylaxis and completion of the 3-dose hepatitis B vaccine series represents the cornerstone of perinatal hepatitis B prevention. Immunoprophylaxis for infants born to hepatitis B surface antigen–positive mothers reduces up to 95% of perinatal hepatitis B virus infections.

Despite recommended immunoprophylaxis, perinatal hepatitis B virus infection occurs among ~1% of infants. Infants born to mothers who are younger, hepatitis B e-antigen positive, or who have a high viral load or infants who receive <3 hepatitis B vaccine doses are at greatest risk of infection. (Read the full article)

Forty-six teams have entered European qualifying for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France, with 16 involved in the preliminary round draw on 19 January.

Silvia Neid, who led Germany to Olympic gold in 2016, was named best coach at The Best FIFA Football Awards as Melanie Behringer just missed out on the top player gong.

Debutants Kosovo will make the short trip to Albania as the 16 FIFA Women's World Cup preliminary round entrants discovered their groups for April.

Former Scotland captain Shelley Kerr will replace Anna Signeul as coach after UEFA Women's EURO 2017, the ex-defender saying she is "extremely proud and honoured".

Kazakhstan, Albania, Israel, the Faroe Islands and best runners-up Moldova will progress to the qualifying group stage after coming through the preliminary round.

Two-time winners Germany will take on Iceland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and the Faroe Islands in Group 5 following the qualifying group stage draw in Nyon.

As the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying group stage kicks off, we explain how Europe's eight berths alongside hosts France will be decided with tight ties in prospect.

The FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying group stage has begun with the likes of England, Norway, Germany, Iceland and Austria all in goalscoring form.

European champions the Netherlands opened qualifying with a dramatic defeat of Norway as Iceland shocked Germany before being held themselves in October's fixtures.

England, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, Spain and Finland maintained their perfect records but European champions the Netherlands were held by the Republic of Ireland.

Pernille Harder, Ada Hegerberg and Amandine Henry are shortlisted for the 2017/18 UEFA Women's Player of the Year award.

Scotland, Norway, Germany and Sweden have joined hosts France, England, Italy and Spain in the finals by winning their qualifying groups.

The United States beat the Netherlands to retain the trophy in Lyon while Sweden pipped England to bronze.

Lyon trio Lucy Bronze, Ada Hegerberg and Amandine Henry are the UEFA Women's Player of the Year nominees.

Lyon and England right-back Lucy Bronze is the first defender to win the poll of coaches and journalists.

Fans across the world can enjoy Saturday's final between Lyon and Barcelona thanks to UEFA's broadcast partners and live streaming.

UEFA's technical observers have selected their all-star squad from the 2018/19 UEFA Women's Champions League.

Gamla Ullevi, Gothenburg will stage the 2021 UEFA Women's Champions League final

A record 62 clubs from 50 countries have entered the 2019/20 edition: see who is aiming for Vienna.

A $450,000 grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut Research will aid researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences as they explore the potential to empower women farmers in northern Ghana through peanut production.

Peacebuilding cannot succeed if half the population is excluded from the process. Crisis Group’s research in Sudan, Congo (DRC) and Uganda suggests that peace agreements, post-conflict reconstruction, and governance do better when women are involved.

Continuous spread of antimalarial drug resistance is a threat to current chemotherapy efficacy. Therefore, characterizing the genetic diversity of drug resistance markers is needed to follow treatment effectiveness and further update control strategies. Here, we genotyped Plasmodium falciparum resistance gene markers associated with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) and artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) in isolates from pregnant women in Ghana. The prevalence of the septuple IRNI-A/FGKGS/T pfdhfr/pfdhps haplotypes including the pfdhps A581G and A613S/T mutations was high at delivery among post-SP treatment isolates (18.2%) compared to those of first-antenatal care (before initiation of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP); 6.1%; p = 0.03). Regarding the pfk13 marker gene, two non-synonymous mutations (N458D and A481C) were detected at positions previously related to artemisinin resistance in isolates from Southeast-Asia. These mutations were predicted in silico to alter the stability of the pfk13 propeller-encoding domain. Overall, these findings highlight the need for intensified monitoring and surveillance on additional mutations associated with increased SP resistance as well as emergence of resistance against artemesinin derivatives.

BACKGROUND:

Mexican-origin women breastfeed at similar rates as white women in the United States, yet they usually breastfeed for less time. In our study, we seek to identify differences in Mexican-origin women’s breastfeeding intentions, initiation, continuation, and supplementation across nativity and country-of-education groups.

Holders Germany will face the Republic of Ireland, Iceland and Azerbaijan after the elite round draw was made, with seven spots on offer in May's finals in Lithuania.

Holders Germany, former winners Spain and Poland, England, the Netherlands, Finland and Italy have joined hosts Lithuania in May's finals.

Runners-up Germany outnumber champions Spain four to three in the official #WU17EURO team of the tournament.

The elite round line-up is set, with 26 teams earning spots alongside Germany and holders Spain in the 23 November draw.

Seven matches are being broadcast from the finals in Bulgaria: see where you can watch on TV or online below.

The records, statistics and facts from the UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship.

Lieke Martens has won the UEFA Women's Player of the Year award after her player-of-the-tournament performance at UEFA Women's EURO 2017.

Pernille Harder, Ada Hegerberg and Amandine Henry are shortlisted for the 2017/18 UEFA Women's Player of the Year award.

Pernille Harder of Wolfsburg and Denmark has been voted the 2017/18 UEFA Women's Player of the Year.