Ipas > Global campaign calls on governments to take responsibility for women’s health

Global campaign calls on governments to take responsibility for women’s health

Health for All – Health for Women

May 28, 2003

Photo courtesy of Peter Barker, Panos Pictures.

Today – recognized worldwide as the International Day of Action for Women's Health – Ipas joins the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights, a host of nongovernmental organizations and many concerned individuals across the globe in launching a new campaign to promote health for all women.The three-year campaign – whose slogan is “Health for All – Health for Women” – recognizes that too many women do not enjoy their fundamental human right to good health. It calls on governments to make good on commitments made nearly a quarter of a century ago, in the 1978 Alma Ata Declaration, to deliver health for all by focusing on women’s unmet needs.

Since 1987, women’s health advocates worldwide have celebrated May 28 by calling attention to the unsatisfactory state of health and health care for women and demanding improvements. Through a wide variety of activities, the campaign launched this year focuses on the urgent need to provide primary health care for all people everywhere, and the particular need to address women’s reproductive- and sexual-health needs. In 2003, the campaign focuses on urging national governments to take responsibility for women’s health.

Among other specific areas requiring attention, this year’s call to action highlights women’s inability in many parts of the world to obtain safe abortion care and the need “to convert reproductive and sexual rights into actual entitlements for women,” in accordance with international commitments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Ipas staff and colleagues around the world plan a number of activities to show their support for the three-year campaign and to call for improving women’s access to high-quality, comprehensive reproductive-health care. For example:

In collaboration with the Nicaraguan Supreme Court, the Judicial School, the Spanish Cooperation Agency, the Women’s Network against Violence and other key allies, Ipas Central America organized a series of workshops on the subject of sexual violence against women. The meetings bring together nearly 200 stakeholders from a wide range of disciplines — such as health, law and human rights — to discuss integrated, ethical approaches to sexual offenses such as rape.
As part of the Safe Motherhood and Citizenship Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Ipas Brazil will give a presentation titled “Humane, comprehensive and dignified care for women undergoing abortion.”
Ipas is financially supporting the NGO Coalition for Healthy Community, in Constanta, Romania, in organizing several events to raise awareness of the importance of women’s health and disseminate accurate information about reproductive health. The activities, co-sponsored by the County Public Health Authority, include free blood pressure and cholesterol checks for 100 women, as well as a round table and press conference to discuss the Alma Ata Declaration and governments’ need to take responsibility for women’s health.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258