Sexuality
Psychological Foundations: The Journal, Vol.5, No.1, June 2003
This journal issue focuses on sexuality and related issues. One article looks at sexuality in India through Indian fiction. The feature articles cover themes of prostitution, pleasure, disability, gay issues, violence and the body. Other topics include how humour is used to talk about sexuality, the concerns of parents about the sexuality of people with learning disabilities, new approaches to women's sexual problems and preventing burnout among those working in the area of sexuality.
Guidelines for Good Helpline Practice
Talking about Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues (TARSHI), 2003
The TARSHI helpline in India offers a confidential counselling service in Hindi and English on matters relating to sexual health, sexual behaviour and relationships. This booklet describes the principles and practice for good helpline counselling; the elements involved in planning a new helpline; selection, recruitment, training and supervision of staff; documentation, publicity, procedures and policies; and evaluation of the service. A useful booklet for anyone thinking of starting a helpline and for those already involved in one.
Available from:
TARSHI
11 Mathura Road, 1st Floor, Jangpura B
New Delhi 110 014, India
Tel: +91-11-2431-9070
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: 〈www.tarshi.org〉
Does Peer Education Work in Europe?
Entre Nous, No.56, 2003
This series of twelve articles considers the theory and practice of peer education as a means of reaching young people in matters related to sexuality. The articles include the role of peer education in promoting behaviour change and the use of theatre in peer education. A role for medical students, not yet considered authority figures by young people, combining physician knowledge and skills with a peer education approach, is also discussed.
Available from:
WHO Regional Office for Europe
Scherfigsvej 8
DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
Tel: +45-3917-1341
Fax: +45-3917-1850
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: 〈www.euro.who.int/entrenous〉
Risk, Morality, and Blame: A Critical Analysis of Government and US Donor Responses to HIV Infections among Sex Workers in India
Avni Amin, 2003
This paper examines whether targeted interventions have effectively addressed the HIV prevention needs of women sex workers in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. It asks whether these interventions, supported by US bilateral assistance, adequately address the complex factors that make sex workers vulnerable to HIV. The paper points out that organisations previously cited for “best practices” in working with women in prostitution have been denied US funding under a 2003 US law that prohibits funding any organisation that does not have a policy “explicitly opposing” prostitution and sex trafficking.
Available from:
Centre for Health and Gender Equity
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 910
Takoma Park, MD 20912, USA
Tel: +1-301-270-1182
Fax: +1-301-270-2052
E-mail: [email protected]
Violence against Women: The Health Sector Responds
Pan America Health Organization, 2003
In 1995 PAHO launched a project to address gender-based violence in Central America. By the end of 2002, more than 150 community-based violence prevention networks in 10 Latin American countries had been formed using PAHO's integrated approach. This book, full of examples and the voices of women living with violence, documents the progression of this project. The first section explains how early studies considered the critical path women take to solve their problems, the obstacles they encountered, and their associated health needs. The second part looks at policy and legal reforms, integration with the health sector and the value of community networks. It highlights basic principles and lessons learnt by health workers, schoolteachers, police, court officials, women's advocates and other community leaders. The final chapter reflects on how the Central American experience can be applied more widely.
Available from:
PAHO
525 23rd Street NW
Washington DC 20037, USA
Tel: +1-301-617-7806
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: 〈http://publications.paho.org〉
Sexual Health of Mobile and Migrant Populations
Sexual Health Exchange, No.2, 2003
This issue of SHE focuses on mobile and migrant populations, addressing their health and sexual health needs, and why their needs are specific to migrant status. The articles look at a range of programmes serving migrant populations, including an audiotape education scheme for truck drivers in West Africa, mobile health services in South Africa, and HIV/AIDS awareness schemes for migrants in the rural hills of Nepal, wives of seafarers in the Philippines, wives of those crossing the Mexico/USA border, and youth in Kyrgyzstan. Special articles consider the role of the military in HIV/AIDS prevention and the need for multisectoral collaboration in cross-boundary disease containment strategies.
Available from:
Sexual Health Exchange
c/o Royal Tropical Institute Information Services
PO Box 95001
1090 HA Amsterdam, Netherlands
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: 〈www.kit.nl/exchange〉
“My Father Didn't Think This Way”: Nigerian Boys Contemplate Gender Equality
Quality/Calidad/Qualité, Issue 14, 2003
Gary Barker, Françoise Girard
The Conscientising Male Adolescents (CMA) programme in Nigeria aims to get Nigerian boys thinking about and challenging accepted cultural norms about gender. The programme is offered to about 30 boys a year from each of 20 participating secondary schools, choosing the brightest boys, who are usually seen as role models by their peers. The curriculum initially focuses on fundamental concepts of gender and society and progresses to the development of skills in communication and analysis. Approaches used include discussion, role-play, counselling and community work, and methods for these. Direct quotes demonstrate some level of success in changing attitudes. In English, with summaries in Spanish and French.
Available from:
Population Council
One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
New York, NY 10017, USA
E-mail: [email protected]
Recommended Standards for National Health Service HIV Services
British Medical Association Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health, 2002
The twelve standards expounded in this publication are designed to help in the planning, development and auditing of HIV services in the UK, but may be valuable for other countries to adapt. They cover the range of services which the health service should provide and which HIV patients should expect, from early diagnosis through to respite, rehabilitation and palliative care. For each standard there is a rationale, a list of key interventions, implications for service planning and guidance on practice, including further sources of information. The standard relating to pregnancy states that the health service should develop, implement and monitor policies that seek to empower and support pregnant women with HIV to maximise their health and reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The key interventions for this standard include offering and recommending an HIV test to all pregnant women, offering interventions to HIV positive women to reduce mother-to-child transmission, including explaining alternatives such as antiretroviral treatment for the woman, elective caesarean section and avoidance of breastfeeding.
Available from:
BMA House
Tavistock Square
London WC1H 9JP, UK
Tel: +44-20-7388-2544
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: 〈www.medfash.org.uk〉
Kangaroo Mother Care: A Practical Guide
World Health Organization, 2003
Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is a powerful and easy-to-use method of improving the health of pre-term and low birth weight infants, whereby the baby is carried in skin-to-skin contact with the mother almost continuously. This publication briefly reviews the evidence for the effectiveness of KMC, and gives guidelines on the essential practical elements involved. These include the correct positioning of the baby, how to bind the baby to the body, how to deal with feeding, what clothes the baby should wear, how to monitor the baby's progress and what action to take if problems arise. An excellent book on a life-saving procedure.
Available from:
Department of Reproductive Health and Research
World Health Organization
1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected]
National Study on Essential Obstetric Care Facilities in Nigeria
Adesegun Fatusi, Kayode Ijadunola, 2003
This comprehensive survey of 4,503 health facilities in 12 randomly selected states of Nigeria was undertaken to determine the availability and quality of essential obstetric care (EOC) facilities in the country. Overall only 18.5% of the facilities met the criteria for EOC, with private facilities (32.8%) faring better than public facilities (4.2%). 13.9% of annual births were in health facilities, about half of them in private facilities. The very low level of caesarean sections suggests that a high proportion of women with life-threatening complications are not receiving appropriate care. Based on the findings, the recommendations include: upgrading the skills of health workers in essential obstetric care; strengthening the operational capacity of health facilities; increased policy and advocacy to improve the standard of care for pregnancy-related conditions; and continuous monitoring of obstetric achievements.
Available from:
UNFPA Field Office
Abuja, Nigeria
Tel: +234-9-413-5690
E-mail: [email protected]
Human Rights Dynamics of Abortion Law Reform
Human Rights Quarterly, Vol.25, No.1, February 2003
Rebecca J Cook, Bernard M Dickens
This issue of Human Rights Quarterly considers the legal approach to abortion. It charts the evolution of abortion as a criminal act, through the recognition of health care as a fundamental human right, to the stance that reproductive self-determination is a legitimate choice for women, as part of women's right to equal citizenship with men. The final section considers how compliance at the levels of clinical care and health service provision can be monitored and the relevance of local social, economic and legal conditions in its implementation.
Available from:
Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218-4319, USA
Web: 〈http://www.press.jhu.edu/〉
Early Abortion Training Workbook
M Paul, FH Stewart, TA Weitz, N Wilcox, JM Tracey, 2003
This training workbook, part of the TEACH project, starts with an exercise on clarifying values and useful “facts at a glance” on early abortion. It deals with counselling, pre-abortion evaluation, medication, pain control, aspiration abortion procedures, medical abortion, and follow-up care and management. This easy-to-use workbook is available in hard copy and is free on the web.
Available from:
Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health Program
University of California at San Francisco
2356 Sutter Street, Suite 200,
San Francisco, CA 94143-1744, USA
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: 〈www.ansirh.org/training〉
Reproductive Health and Human Rights
Rebecca J Cook, Bernard M Dickens, Mahmoud F Fathalla, 2003
This book is designed as a resource for health care providers and administrators to integrate ethical, legal and human rights principles into the protection and promotion of reproductive health, detailing those aspects of medicine and health care systems which affect reproduction. It gives a comprehensive introduction to reproductive and sexual health, and uses case studies focused on resource-poor settings to illustrate recurrent problems and possible solutions. The various chapters and case studies are supported by a wide range of data, documents and websites, resulting in an integrated text for all those working to improve services and legal protection for women around the world.
Available from:
Oxford University Press
Saxon Way West
Corby, Northants, NN18 9BR, UK
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: 〈http://www.oup.co.uk〉
Adapting to Change: Learning Programme on Population, Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform
World Bank Institute, 2003
The World Bank Institute's Adapting to Change programme aims to improve global reproductive health outcomes. The coursebook, with accompanying CD-ROM, is based on a training course run annually in English in Turin, Italy, and more recently in Mexico in Spanish. It is designed for participants from Bank client countries as well as Bank and donor agency staff. The course addresses three main themes: key concepts underlying the new vision for population and reproductive health; design and delivery of reproductive health services; and reproductive health services and health sector reform. Adapting to Change offers distance learning activities, regional partner networks and regional courses in addition to the core course. There are also electronic training materials and a monthly electronic newsletter.
Available from:
Global Prescriptions: Gendering Health and Human Rights
Rosalind Petchesky, 2003
This book reviews a decade of women's participation in UN conferences, international networks, national advocacy efforts, and sexual and reproductive health provision, assessing both their strengths and weaknesses. It critiques the Cairo, Beijing and Copenhagen conference documents and World Bank, WHO and health sector reform policies, highlighting the collision course of transnational corporate and global trade agendas with the struggle for gender, racial and regional equity and the right to health. Tracing the links between local, national and international policies and activities, the author sets out a realistic agenda for challenging the current global acceptance of profits over people, through grassroots social movements.
Available from:
Zed Books
7 Cynthia Street
London N1 9JF, UK
Tel: +44-20-7837-4014
Fax: +44-20-7833-3060
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: 〈www.zedbooks.demon.co.uk〉
Women's eNews in Arabic
2003
Women's eNews is a New York-based feminist news service, providing regular features on, for example, abortion rights, domestic violence and single motherhood. In recognition of the large number of Saudi Arabian and Qatari women visiting the site, and as a service for Arab and Muslim women everywhere, they have launched an Arabic language site. The first edition covered the role of women in peace between Israel and Palestine and Egyptian women's divorce rights. Anyone can log on, but the Saudi government filters some sites relating to women's health and family planning, so it may or may not be accessible in Saudi Arabia.
Available from:
Web: 〈www.awomensenews.org〉
Faces of Dignity: Seven Stories of Girls and Women with Fistula
Uta Mwanamke, 2003
This booklet recounts the experiences of seven Tanzanian women who have overcome the challenge of living with fistula. It shows that through sheer determination they have maintained their dignity despite social and economic pressures. It also highlights the failure of government policies to reduce poverty and increase health provision to the poorest and most marginalised members of society.
Available from:
Women's Dignity Project
PO Box 79402
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Tel: +255-22-215-2577
Fax: +255-22-215-2986
E-mail: [email protected]
In Their Own Right: Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of American Men
The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 2003
Until recently the sexual and reproductive health needs of men have been considered mainly through the context of their women partners, rather than in their own right. This book aims to help redress the balance by providing an overview of the patterns of men's sexual and reproductive lives and implications for policy and programmes. It considers men by age group, broadly reflecting the different stages of their sexual lives, dividing them into ages 15–19 when they experience their first sexual relationships; ages 20–29 when they establish themselves in society and begin to settle down; and ages 30–49 as they form families. The book also addresses STIs, condom use, sources of information for men, counselling, educational and medical services.
Available from:
The Alan Guttmacher Institute
120 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005, USA
Tel: +1-212-248-1111
Fax: +1-212-248-1952
E-mail: [email protected]
Freedom of Choice Begins with Separation of Church and State
Women's Health Journal, No.2, 2003
This journal issue of the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network centres on how Catholic conservatism is shaping government policy across Latin America and impeding and sometimes reversing progress made through the struggles of the women's movement. Covering events in Argentina, Peru and Nicaragua, it catalogues a series of proposals and legislation to restrict the reproductive rights of women. The need for vigilance is shown in the recounting of Peruvian proposals in May 2003 to require all women to register pregnancies “from the time of conception”, a proposal that was later withdrawn due to opposition from physicians, rights activists and donor institutions.
Human Rights: Unfinished Business
Women's Health Collection No.7
Adriana Gómez, Deborah Meacham, 2003
This collection of articles looks at human rights as unfinished business and considers those rights in relation to health, economic restructuring and sexual orientation. The next section considers sexual and reproductive rights as they relate to contemporary feminism, citizenship, abortion and religion, and includes two articles on the needs of children. The final section considers human rights in a national context, including articles on Argentina, Colombia and South Africa.
Neither whores…
Available from:
Latin American and Caribbean Women's
Health Network
Casilla 50610
Santiago 1, Chile
Tel: +56-2-223-7077
Fax: +56-2-223-1066
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: 〈www.reddesalud.org〉
Preserving Fertility
Network, Vol.23, No.2, 2003
This issue of Network deals with defining and preserving fertility, including a consideration of the factors contributing to fertility, fertility post-contraception, assisted reproduction, and the association of STIs with infertility. Particular emphasis is put on the contribution of men to infertility, not only in terms of STI transmission, but also the social problems of infertile men. Throughout the issue, the value of the ABC approach to sexual activity is considered as a means of reducing infertility.
…nor slaves. Demonstration against the veil, Paris, 8 March 2004
Available from:
Family Health International
PO Box 13950
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA
Tel: +1-919-544-7040
Fax: +1-919-544-7261
Web: 〈http://www.fhi.org〉
Sex Selection: Options for Regulation
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), UK, 2003
This publication details the process used by the HFEA in the UK for their review of sex selection and the conclusions they arrived at. It records the state of current legislation, the scope of the review, the public consultation procedure and the safety and efficacy of various sperm-sorting procedures for sex selection. It concludes that sex selection for non-medical reasons should not be permitted in the UK. When it is permitted for medical reasons, parents should be given clear information and counselling about the implications of the procedure. When the technique is used, the welfare of the child should be thoroughly assessed. It also makes recommendations on which sperm-sorting techniques should and should not be used. These recommendations are expected to be incorporated into law in the near future, and accord with public opposition in the UK to sex selection for non-medical reasons.
Available from:
HFEA
Paxton House, 30 Artillery Lane
London E1 7LS, UK
Tel: +44-20-7377-5077
Fax: +44-20-7377-1871
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: 〈http://www.hfea.gov.uk〉
Sexuality, Morality and the Law
Women's Journal on Law and Culture, Vol.1, No.1, July-Dec 2001
The first issue of this new Philippine journal has articles on love, desire and sexuality; whether there is a feminist morality; sex, sexuality, gender and law; lesbians and Philippine law; abortion law and ethics in the Philippines; mortal sin and human rights in relation to abortion in the Philippines.
Available from:
Women's Legal Education, Advocacy and
Defense Foundation
No.45 Mapagkumbaba Street,
Sikatuna Village
Quezon City, Philippines 1101
tel: 63-2-436-6738
fax: 63-2-435-6823
E-mail: [email protected]
Catholic Attitudes in Sexual Behaviour & Reproductive Health
Catholics for a Free Choice, 2004
The Catholic Church is contending with overwhelming dissent from followers regarding its positions on women, sexuality, reproduction and the family. Using a wide range of data sources, this information-packed booklet documents the extent to which Catholics in many countries around the world disagree with and do not practise the teachings of the church hierarchy on use of contraception, condoms and abortion, and of sexual relationships outside marriage. Quotes with representative opinions, summaries of specific studies and combined data in tables and figures from many studies are all provided with concise descriptions of views and trends.
Available from:
Catholics for a Free Choice
1435 U Street NW, Suite 301
Washington DC 20009-3997, USA
E-mail: [email protected]
Antenatal Care in Developing Countries: Promises, Achievements and Missed Opportunities
WHO/UNICEF 2003
This is an excellent, clearly presented analysis in both words and tables/figures of trends, levels and differentials in antenatal care in developing countries from 1990 to 2001. It covers number of visits; timing of first visit; the effects of rural/urban residence, education, age, parity and household wealth on use of antenatal care; who gets care; type of provider; skilled attendance at delivery; and antenatal interventions received. It discusses how antenatal care relates to delivery and some of the missed opportunities, including in relation to malaria, HIV, nutrition and tuberculosis.
Available from:
Department of Reproductive Health and
Research
World Health Organization
E-mail: [email protected]