PUSH
JOURNAL MEDIA SUMMARY
July 1-15,
2007
SEXUAL AND
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS
Darfur Gains
More Midwives Despite Conflict: On July 10, the Christian Science
Monitor reported that NGOs have improved health in Sudanese refugee
camps through midwife training. Groups like Relief International
regularly train Sudanese women to be midwives in their communities
to help reduce the country’s alarming maternal mortality
rate. “Nowadays, people want midwives in their village and
there's a waiting list for classes," said Fatima Houssain,
dean at the Midwifery School of Al Fasher, which is funded by
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Read: Christian Science
Monitor
UK Hints
at Policy Shift: On July 13, BBC News reported that UK International
Development Secretary Douglas Alexander has emphasized the need
in development work for "new alliances, based on common values."
Alexander called for a multilateral approach to global poverty
and disease, and said empowering women must be a top priority
for every nation. "The economic, social and political position
of women in many countries is actively preventing us from reducing
child and maternal mortality, and stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS,"
he said. Read: BBC News
Plan B Usage
Increases: On July 13, the Washington Post reported that sales
of Plan B, the “morning after pill,” have doubled since
the FDA approved it for over-the-counter sale one year ago. Family
planning advocates attribute the increase to increased access
and information about birth control. However, patients seeking
Plan B still face obstacles like pharmacists’ refusal to
stock or dispense the drug, price gouging and an age restriction
of 18 years. "Even though it's now available without a prescription,
there are still significant obstacles that customers are facing
around the country," said Ted Miller of NARAL Pro-Choice
America. "The over-the-counter access is not a cure-all."
Read: Washington Post
NGO Calls
for Health Policy Reform in Nigeria: On July 2 and 3, the
Daily Trust and Vanguard (both Nigeria) reported on a media training
workshop on sexual and reproductive health and rights held there
by IPAS. The U.S.-based nonprofit organization called on Nigerian
officials in a detailed 12 point communiqué to create awareness,
reform laws and approve new policies to address high rates of
illegal abortions and maternal mortality. Read: Daily Trust, Vanguard
EMPOWERING
WOMEN
Women Gain
More Rights in Sierra Leone: On July 4, IRIN reported that
the parliament of Sierra Leone has enacted three laws that will
significantly advance women’s rights. Women will now be able
to inherit property, domestic violence will be illegal and young
women will be protected from forced marriage. The laws will also
increase female participation in government. "These laws
will give women confidence," 50/50 program coordinator Christiana
Wilson told IRIN. "If women are not confident enough, they
will not come out for political positions.'" Read: IRIN
SAVING WOMEN’S
LIVES
World Population
Day: Men Must Play Role in Family Planning: Several media
outlets reported that on World Population Day, July 11, the United
Nations announced that men must play a vital role in family planning
in order to improve women’s health and save lives. Men often
are decision-makers on issues of family planning, and by supporting
a woman’s right to choose the timing and spacing of her children,
men can alleviate poverty and reduce disease and high levels of
maternal mortality. "Experience shows that men's involvement
and participation can make all the difference," notes Thoraya
Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the United Nations Population
Fund. "By discouraging early marriage, promoting girls' education,
fostering equitable relationships, and supporting women's reproductive
health and rights, progress is made." Read: IRNA, Voice of
America, Indo-Asian News Service, Inter Press Service
Former Surgeon
General Cites Political Censorship: On July 10 and 11, the
Associated Press and The New York Times reported that former Surgeon
General Richard H. Carmona had accused the Bush administration
of silencing him on issues such as stem cells, sex education,
emergency contraception, prison and mental and global health.
Carmona said his speeches were edited by political appointees
and the release of major health reports were delayed for political
reasons. "The reality is that the nation's doctor has been
marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget,
and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan
agendas," said Carmona. Read: Associated Press, The New York
Times
Aspiring
Surgeon General Faces Scrutiny: On July 12, The New York Times
reported that President Bush’s nominee to replace Carmona
as U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. James Holsinger, insisted during
confirmation hearings that he would quit if asked to consider
politics before science. Holsinger also faced criticism over a
seemingly anti-gay research paper he wrote 16 years ago, which
alleged unnaturally high levels of disease in homosexuals. Read:
The New York Times
Muslim Ulemas
to Spread Family Planning Message: On July 3, the Jakarta
Post (Indonesia) reported that the National Family Planning Coordinating
Board of Indonesia will draft a handbook for ulemas, influential
Islamic religious bodies, to disseminate family planning information
to the public. Zaidul Huque, a representative for UNFPA, said,
"Indonesia has been on the right track in involving religious
leaders in the family planning program, and we acknowledge that
support from the leaders in the country has gone through a long
process of discussion among the ulemas, the government and other
community leaders, including NGOs," Read: Jakarta Post
MDGs Ignore
Sexual Health: On July 6, the Inter Press Service reported
on a new study by Gender Action, a Washington-based group that
monitors multilateral development banks' policies towards women
and gender equality. It accused the Millennium Development Goals
of ignoring reproductive and sexual health and rights. The report
argued that the banks fail to offer solutions for women’s
health problems and tolerate price-gouging for many lifesaving
HIV drugs. "For these reasons, [the banks’] project
descriptions that promise to sustainably increase access to reproductive
health, HIV/AIDS and other services are misleading," the
report concluded. Read: Inter Press Service
HIV AND AIDS
Women’s
Leadership Needed to Fight AIDS: In early July, several media
outlets reported on an International Women's Health Summit in
Kenya where thousands of activists, doctors and educators determined
that women should take the lead in the global fight against AIDS.
The Nation wrote: “The women pledged to work towards expanding
access to services for women infected and affected by HIV, including
safe testing, treatment, support and to promote the human rights
of young women and children.” Read: Agence- France Presse,
Xinhua General News Service, East African Standard (Kenya), The
Nation
Activist
Says Aids Research Ignores Women: On July 7, the Inter Press
Service reported that Argentine activist Patricia Perez, co-founder
of the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS and
2007 Nobel Prize nominee, lamented inadequate research on AIDS
and women. She said women need to be more visible in health care
systems, and more study should focus on the different affects
AIDS has on women. “The health policies don't have a gender
perspective.” Perez said. Read: Inter Press Service
EDITORIALS
and COLUMNS: On July 6, The Guardian (UK) published an op-ed
by Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of UNFPA, the United
Nations Population Fund, and Jean-Michel Severino, head of the
French development agency (AFD), about the benefits of urban growth.
A recent UNFPA report stated that by 2008, half the world population
will live in cities. Governments have long tried to restrict urban
immigration, but this approach does not work, Obaid said. Instead,
cities must develop housing, health and employment policies to
capitalize on the benefits of urban growth. “Like it or not,
our future will be urban, and it is high time we started supporting
urban development and acknowledging the pivotal role it should
play in public policy. Only then can we capitalize on its potential
to reduce urban and rural poverty.” Read: The Guardian
On July 10,
the Des Moines Register published a letter to the editor from
Dr. Lawrence Smith Jr., president of The Population Institute,
about the need for men to fully support women’s health. Smith
said that without the full participation of men, global health
concerns like maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS cannot be addressed
properly: “Men must be actively engaged in making personal
and political commitments for positive change to achieve global
goals for maternal health, gender equality and combating HIV/AIDS.”
Read: Des Moines Register
On July 5, Women’s
Enews published an op-ed by Yvonne Scruggs-Leftwich about HIV/AIDS
and black women in the United States. "It is a shockingly
under-reported fact that AIDS is the No. 1 killer of African American
women between the ages of 25 and 34," said Dr. Lorraine Cole,
CEO of the YWCA-USA. Scruggs-Leftwich suggested that HIV cannot
be tackled properly until women and race are addressed in health
policy. Read: Women’s Enews
On July 5, the
Washington Post published a letter to the editor by Jill Sheffield,
president of Family Care International, about Afthanistan’s
devastated health care system, its effect on woman and the Millennium
Development Goals. MDG #5 is to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters
by 2015, but in Afghanistan, one in six women die in childbirth,
the highest rate in the world. Sheffield stated that if the Afghan
government and its U.S. backers had invested in reducing maternal
mortality, the country would now have a bare-bones health care
system and its economy, among other problems, would have drastically
improved. Read: Washington Post
On July 7, an
op-ed in The Nation (Kenya) discussed the International Women's
Health Summit held there in early July. Sixty percent of HIV-positive
Africans are now women. The summit determined that the best hope
for fighting the disease is to have women take control of their
health, bodies and futures through education and prevention. “These
women are the ones who have told us of the desperate need for
female-initiated HIV prevention approaches. After all, their lives
and the future of our families and countries depend on it.”
Read: The Nation
On July 2, the
Washington Post published an op-ed by Laurie Garrett, senior fellow
for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, about the
proposed new global health budget of $6.5 billion. She said the
amount is impressive but previous restrictions on family planning
– like allotments for abstinence-only education and the anti-prostitution
pledge – have undermined global health efforts. Garrett said
funds should be spent on programs that will yield results and
save lives. “Americans lead the world in total giving (though
not for per capita giving) for global health. Let's be sure that
we spend it properly.” Read: Washington Post
---
The above
summary is produced by the Communications Consortium Media Center,
401 Ninth Street, NW, Suite 450, Washington, DC 20004, 202.326.8700.
Redistribution is encouraged with credit to CCMC.
Back
to Top
Send
this page to a friend!
