PHA-Exchange> CEHAT takes the 'Call for action' to rural activists through the MUKTA- Women's Health Initiative

Wed Jun 2 06:45:39 PDT 2004

I am happy to inform all of you that CEHAT (Centre for enquiry into health and allied themes) was able to take the 'Call for action' declared by WGNRR to about 100 rural activists from all over Maharashtra, India, through it's advocacy meet for women's access to health and abortion care on Saturday, 29th May 2004. The theme of the meet was 'Governments, take responsibility for women's health' as is the theme of the day. It was also the culminating effort after 4 workshops in rural Maharashtra 'MUKTA- Women's Health Workshops' for perspective building and information and advocacy material sharing for rural activists.

The celebrations were attended by about 120 persons totally and Dr. Chitale and Dr. Belambe, public health officials, Dr. Seema Malik, the Medical Superintendent of K.B. Bhabha hospital who listened and responded to the dismal access to health care by poor women in rural areas of Maharashtra. Jaya Velankar, women's health activists and associated with the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan drew a comprehensive picture of issues and concerns of women's health. Dr. Mohan Deshpande spoke about how men can take more initiative to improve women's health and access to health care. Dr. Seema Malik shared the experience of running a crisis centre- 'Dilaasa' - for women facing domestic violence, in a BMC hospital setting.

Four participants who were also the local organisers of the workshops spoke about the women's rights issues in their areas focussing on health. They were Sunita Gandhi, Samvad, Chiplun (Konkan area), Shubhada Deshmukh, Aamhi Aamchya Aarogyasathi, Gadchiroli (Vidarbha area), Dr. Pankaj Gandhi, Niramay Gram Vikas Rachnatmak Kendra, Karmala (Western Maharashtra) and Radha Mogadewar, Sanskruti Samvardhan, Marathwada,all from Maharashtra, India. This was the highpoint of the program as it brought out the stark problems of access and also initiated a dialogue with the officials about problems in their areas. The participants gave a memorandum of demands for women's health,  that came from the interactions in the workshops to the officials,  signed by one and all. They also wrote a letter deploring the continuing practice of sex-selection and exhorted Dr. Belambe, the state appropriate authority to take action. 

We were also successful in getting an article publiched in  a leading Marathi newspaper- Loksatta- Pune Vruttant, highlighting the problems faced by rural women in accessing health care. I can send a scanned article for record. A more detailed report of the event will follow. Please forward this mail to all those connected to the WGNRR groups. 

Warm regards,
Amita Pitre, Audrey Fernandez, Bhagyashree Khaire, Vidya Kulkarni
The team, MUKTA- Women's Health Initiative

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: UNNIKRISHNAN P.V. (Dr) 
  To: pha-exchange at kabissa.org ; IPHCWORLDWIDEY ; PHA-Europe at yahoogroups.com ; pha-ncc at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Sunday, May 30, 2004 12:41 PM
  Subject: [pha-ncc] Fw: PHM and WGNRR media coverage- Women Call For Action

  PHM and WGNRR media coverage- Women Call For Action

  Women Call For Action by Sakuntala Narasimhan

  Deccan Herald , India (May 28th 2004)

  "Health sector reforms : Hazardous to women's health" says the front page title, on a "Call for Action" document released by a women's global network, to mark International Day of Action for Women's Health, observed annually on May 28. 

  How can 'reforms' be hazardous to the health of half the population? Read on, and the details put out by the network   explains how -- in the name of  globalisation policies based on neoliberal theories imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), most developing countries have seen a worsening of women's  healthcare facilities worldwide. Privatisation of healthcare has meant that medical services that used to be provided free by the government, now have to be paid for,which in turn means that those who cannot afford private treatment and medicines are worse off. 

  Women in particular, who are known worldwide to have less access to healthcare compared to men , see the quality of their lives sliding. Also, when services get privatised, women end up having to take on a greater burden of nursing care for the family's sick, infirm or handicapped members. In some African countries, maternal mortality rates have in fact risen, in the wake of  "economic reforms". Even in the developed countries, women are protesting against increasing privatisation. (The Bush administration, for instance, is currently under furious fire from feminist groups, for "yanking out" and deleting data on women from websites meant to give information to the public.Medical facilities pertaining to women's reproductive rights are also being curtailed.The US has not even cared to ratify the international convention on elimination of discrimination against women ,CEDAW)  

  Over half a million women die worldwide, annually, due to complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. Twentyfive years after the nations of the world accepted the Alma Ata declaration on "Health for All by 2000", access to basic healthcare is still a long way off. (Article V of the Alma Ata Declaration says  "governments have a responsibility for the provision of adequate health and social measures") Ten years after the landmark international population conference at Cairo adopted a plan that recognised women's right to reproductive health, we still see reports of the kind that hit the headlines four months ago, revealing that 790 healthy women  in Bengal state were "illegally administered the antibiotic erythromycin to test whether it would work as a contraceptive". Erythromycin is normally taken orally to treat respiratory tract infections, yet the women were administered  the drug as a trans-cervical contraceptive. 

  The latest newsletter of the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) points out that the two doctors involved in the erythromycin-as-contraceptive trials were "repeat offenders" and had been involved in the illegal trials with the drug quinacrine used on women for chemical sterilisation. (Quinacrine was banned in India following a Supreme Court directive.)

  This year's Call for Action from WGNRR for May 28th comes in the middle of a three-year initiative that this coalition of  women's groups from around the world has  undertaken in collaboration with the international People's Health Movement (PHM) for demanding better access to healthcare for women.

  The Call for Action lists initiatives that local communities and activists can take up, to promote equity in women's access to health services. "Demand that governments stop the promotion of unsafe contraceptives and sterilisation methods," the document suggests. "Urge the government ,through your elected representatives and legislators, to  increase the budgetary allocation for basic health services" is another suggestion. Primary health centres in thousands of Indian villages remain useless, with no medicines or doctors or even paramedical staff, while hundreds of crores of rupees get allocated for fancy super-speciality hospitals or IT parks that cater only  to the elite, urban  minority population. (In Hombegowda Nagar slum  in south Bangalore, for example, the residents' public toilet was demolished, and treatment for the poor at the nearby government hospital turned from a free to a  payable service, while a spanking private hospital has quickly come up, just next door to the slum). 

  Other suggestions for concerned citizens include signing up for campaings as supporters, demanding more gender-sensitive health policies, and building civil society alliances with  youth groups, journalists, and parliamentarians, to press for the implementation of the promises made under the Alma Ata declaration on 'Health for All".

  In the time it took you to read this, six women would have died of pregnancy related causes, women whose lives could have been saved if women's health enjoyed better priority in the minds of the policy-makers. Forty four per cent of deliveries in India still take place without  a trained midwife in attendance, 80 percent of pregnant women in India suffer from anemia (the highest percentage in the world) and malnutrition and botched abortions by quacks continue to kill thousands of  female. As the People's Health Movement points out, social justice rather than commercial profits, should be the criterion, but globalisation emphasises the latter, at the cost of  equity and fairness.Pharmaceutical companies , driven by profit motives, invest millions in investing costly cures for rare maladies rather than making affordable medication available for more pervasive, preventable diseases. Signatories to this year's Call for Action include women's groups from USA, India, UK, Netherlands, Uganda, the Philippines, and Cameroon, while activists from countries like Australia, Switzerland and Hungary have pitched in with reports on women's health issues that need attention in their respective regions.

  (More information can be found at 

  www.wgnrr.org (Netherlands)

  www.wahc at wgnrr.nl

  www.phmovement.org 

  www.awid.org

  www.arrow.org.my  (Malaysia)

  Forwarded by:

  Dr.Unnikrishnan PV
  Fellow: Humanitarian Action
  ActionAid - Asia Regional Office, Bangkok, THAILAND

  Tel:  +66 2 651 9066-9   ; Fax: +66 2 651 9070
  E-mail: unni at actionaidasia.org (office) / unnikru at yahoo.com  (personal)
  Yahoo messenger: unnikru at yahoo.com  /   MSN Messenger: unnikru at hotmail.com 
  Website: www.actionaid.org  

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