PHA-Exchange> 10th International Women and Health Meeting coming up!

[WGNRR]

Please take note of this interesting meeting coming up, a great conference
to link (and follow-up) with the PHAII in July 2005. Also look at the
website: www.10iwhmindia.org or contact us for more info!
Nadia

10th International Women and Health Meeting:

"HEALTH RIGHTS, WOMEN'S LIVES: CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES TO MOVEMENT
BUILDING"
21-25 September 2005

1.	INTRODUCTION

The International Women and Health Meeting (IWHM) has its roots in the
global women’s movement and includes a wide range of organizations,
networks, and grassroots women’s groups. The 10th IWHM will mark nearly two
and a half decades of the global feminist solidarity on issues that impinge
on health and well being of women. The 2005 Meeting is a significant one as
it comes at a moment in history when several national and international
forces adversely impact women’s health. The current context of global
economic restructuring and liberalization of markets, increasing
militarisation of countries and regions, growing fundamentalisms of various
hues, resurgence of population policies, adoption and practice of
developmental models and paradigms that are playing havoc with the
environment, call for urgent action by civil society bodies, including women
’s groups all over the world.

The 10th IWHM seeks to highlight politics, policies and issues that have
adverse effect on women’s health and simultaneously bring out the linkages
and interconnections of these seemingly disparate phenomena. As the title of
the theme suggests, the attempt is to reiterate the holistic concept of
health, and to strengthen the claim for health care and health as a
justiciable right for all people. The lessons learnt from contemporary forms
of advocacy, campaigns, mobilization and resistance to callous, coercive or
exploitative state policies will be highlighted, for sharing and networking
across other groups and regions. The 10th IWHM hopes that such global
networking will eventually build into a movement that can make a difference
to people’s lives and in particular, to women’s lives.


Goal and Aim

The 10th IWHM aims to centre stage the issue of women’s health as a human
right.
 by providing a forum for participants to:

Understand the multi-dimensional ways in which this right is facilitated or
violated
Share the current modes of facilitation of these rights and / or struggles
to oppose violations
Arrive at a broad consensus on positions revolving around the focal themes
of the Meeting
Strategize and help in strengthening the women’s health movement


2. FOCAL THEMES


FOCAL THEME I: PUBLIC HEALTH, HEALTH SECTOR REFORMS AND GENDER

Several countries have gone through at least a decade of structural
adjustment programs as part of the lending conditionality of IMF and World
Bank. The adverse results and impositions have affected the health sector in
several ways, as large-scale transformation disproportionately burdens the
poor and particularly, women. The 10th IWHM hopes to understand how these
processes have had an impact across gender, class, caste, race, disability,
sexuality and ethnicity.

Some questions that will be explored through this focal theme are:

·	What is the role of the state and market in commercialization of health
services and medical education?
·	How do health sector reforms impact gender equality?
·	What were/are the forms of resistance or negotiations with respect to the
consequences of health sector reforms at the local and national levels?
·	How are women and communities being mobilized to evolve alternative models
of health care provision as well as demand right to health care?


FOCAL THEME II: REPRODUCTIVE AND SEXUAL HEALTH RIGHTS

During the past decade, reproductive and sexual rights have seen a number of
shifts, both forward and backward. Diverse struggles are being waged around
the world on these issues. The common threads of patriarchal dominance that
women in general and sexual minorities in particular face will be addressed
in the IWHM.

The 10th IWHM will attempt to address the following questions:

·	How do we place sexual and reproductive rights in the larger context of
decision-making, informed choice, freedom, negotiation and multiple
identities?
·	What should we ask for as “rights” and what would we prefer to leave out
of state intervention?
·	How do broader issues of class, race, disability and gendered roles
interface with sexual rights and reproductive rights?
·	How is the right to information about sexuality and reproduction being
violated by religious dogma?
·	How do heightened militarism, consumerism and fundamentalism in the era of
globalisation, construct masculinity and femininity?


FOCAL THEME III: THE POLITICS AND THE RESURGENCE OF POPULATION POLICIES


The 10th IWHM is particularly keen on unearthing the agenda of governments
across the globe to ‘control’ segments of their population. The Meeting
hopes to cover new ground by examining the following questions:

·	What is the overt and covert agenda of donor agencies/ countries with
respect to population policies of poorer countries?
·	How do ‘demographic anxieties’ of below - replacement level population
growth of rich countries translate into selective immigration and eugenic
policies?
·	What are the gendered health implications of ageing, specifically in
countries that have no security and protective measures?
·	How do population control policies impact upon the discourse around
citizenship and nationhood?


FOCAL THEME IV: WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES

The 10th IWHM is keen to discuss the complexities and contradictions that
medical technology, medical education and medical practices pose for the
health of people in general and for women in particular.


The Meeting will examine, among others, the following questions:

·	How can we strategize for the effective implementation of international
ethical guidelines and regulations for testing and use of new technologies?
·	How can we recover women-friendly safe practices and knowledge systems and
bring them into mainstream health care?
·	Can technologies that repose with communities be tapped to promote women’s
health in a holistic manner?
·	How do structures and functioning of the medical systems and technologies
affect health and social inequalities?


FOCAL THEME V: VIOLENCE [OF STATE, MILITARISM, FAMILY AND 'DEVELOPMENT'] AND
WOMEN'S HEALTH

The 10th IWHM will grapple with the multiple ways in which segments of our
population, women in particular, experience violence with deleterious
consequences for their health, survival and well-being.

The 10th IWHM will examine the following:

·	What is the impact of development policies on women’s livelihoods and
health?
·	How do growing militarisation, war, communal and ethnic conflicts affect
women’s health as well as reproductive and sexual rights?
·	What are women’s countervailing struggles and strategies against all forms
of violence -both in the private and public spheres?

3. CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

The 10th IWHM Organizing Committee invites write-ups/descriptions for paper
presentation, cultural events, organization of workshops, symposia, etc,
relating to the theme and objectives of the Meeting. The deadline for
submission is January 31, 2005

Guidelines for Submissions:
The write-up must clearly address the IWHM theme and objectives.
The contents should focus on work done in the last three years.
It should contribute to action and / or to conceptual clarity.
It should not have been presented in previous international conferences or
meetings.
Please organize the text of the write-up as follows:

1.	A statement of the program/project objectives, or main point of the
paper/workshops/symposiums/cultural events
2.	A statement of the strategies/methods used
3.	A summary of the results/lessons learned
4.	A statement of conclusions reached, including implications for policy, if
any

The write-up must indicate the preferred method of presentation:  oral,
poster, or cultural expression
An author may send up to two write-ups.
The write-up  (in English/ Spanish/ French or in any Indian language) should
not exceed 300 words.
Please capitalize the entire title and do not abbreviate.  Give the complete
names in capitals, for every author.
Use standard abbreviations in brackets after the complete word appears for
the first time
Please do not include graphs, tables and references in the write-up

4. FINANCIAL SUPPORT

A limited number of full and partial scholarships will be awarded by the
organizers to paper presenters, research students, community
organizers/mobilizers, activists, artists, etc Individuals will be selected,
based on guidelines being set by the screening committee.  Priority will be
given to applicants who are in need of financial support, and who can
demonstrate that their participation will enhance their research, community
initiatives or advocacy at the policy level.  Due to limited funds available
for fellowships, interested individuals are also encouraged to seek funds
for themselves.

The scholarship applications have to be submitted by January 31, 2005.
Application forms and other details are also available on the web site:
www.10iwhmindia.org


For further information contact:
Secretariat, 10 IWHM, India
C/o N.B.Sarojini
G- 19, 2nd Floor, Marg No. 24,
Saket, New Delhi 110017
India

Website: www.10iwhmindia.org

Contact e -mails:
Manisha Gupte- Coordinator at 10iwhmindia.org
N.B.Sarojini, Convenorsecretariat @10iwhmindia.org