Pinoy RH

Philippines AIDS Summit- Call to Action for Broad based Responses for HIV/AIDS by Leaders

2010-04-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

An AIDS Summit held in Manila Philippines identified the following key agendas for the next three years: strengthen policy and governance; increasing investments to scale up responses; sustain capacity of resources to deliver services; intensifying scale up of coverage to reach most at risk population; evidence based programming and decision making.

The AIDS Summit was held in Manila Philippines on 12 April 2010, organized by the Philippine National AIS Council an attached agency of the Department of Health The Summit was attended by several government agencies, civil society organizations, positive communities, and donor agencies. The Summit was originally proposed by the Catholic groups challenging the government for a face to face debate on HIV prevention sans condom promotion and condom use. The call for a Summit by the Catholic group was triggered by a massive condom distribution activity led by the Department of Health during Valentine's celebration in February and in the succeeding months as part of mobilizing civil society organizations for condom promotion to populations as risk, plus the fact that there is an increasing number of HIV cases among men who have sex with men.

The Summit was a venue and opportunity for the positive community to raise urgent issues and concerns affecting their lives particularly on ARV and OI treatment. The country at the moment is heavily dependent on external sources where 67 percent of funds come from donors like Global Fund, USAID, World Ban, ADB, etc. Domestic source is only 20 percent while private sector contributes only 13 percent.

Currently, ARV is provided for free by the Global Fund to more than 800 Filipinos living with HIV. The Department of Health assured the positive community that ARVs will be provided to all those in need of the treatment until year 2012 and beyond. A concrete treatment investment plan is demanded by the leaders of positive community to make sure that the government will be true to what it had committed.

The Department of Health is now faced with more challenges posed by its partners Two decades in addressing the epidemic, and yet there is nothing different in the approaches and strategies utilized by key stakeholders .For one, policy area should be strengthened and harmonized to address HIV and IDU harm reduction activities. The current law of the country on drug use negates IDU and HIV activities. A person caught with needle and syringe may be apprehended and jailed for having in possession injecting equipment.

Most importantly, Mr Mario Taguiwalo, a consultant and expert on strategic planning and health reforms said that though the country is a low prevalence country with a low number of cases, described the epidemic as rapidly growing. He also cautioned the government and all the stakeholders that the current effort is not enough and given the kind of status and the approaches utilized , the country may have a bigger problem in the near future.

With this word from a Filipino expert, the positive community, particularly Pinoy Plus Association is ready to sit down with the government to discuss, assess, thoroughly develop meaningful approaches to stop further spread of the virus and mitigate the impact on those who are already infected and to the over all economy of the country.

Jerico Paterno
President
Pinoy Plus Association

Davao SP Says “YES” to Women's Health Care Clinic Ordinance

2010-01-19T19:43:00.000-08:00

Fourteen (14) incumbent legislators of the City Council of Davao gave their overwhelming support to City Ordinance No. 335-10, otherwise known as the Women's Health Care Clinic Ordinance of Davao City, as they voted “yes” during a session at the Sagguniang Panlungsod plenary hall last January 12, 2010 which was presided over by a woman vice-mayor, namely Hon. Sara Duterte.

Through the staunch efforts of its major proponent, Hon. Angela Librado-Trinidad, an ordinance that provides a comprehensive reproductive health service for the people of Davao has finally came to fruition despite the strong opposition from some segments of the local Catholic hierarchy. This initiative has been pushed for the last five (5) years in the city council. The ordinance is part of the commitment of the local government of Davao City to adopt a reproductive health care approach at all levels of health care delivery which integrates many issues not previously considered in population, such as, sexuality, reproductive tract infections, gender power relations, domestic violence and shall not be limited to family planning and child bearing only.

The legislative measure outlines the mechanisms for the operation of a clinic that will provide affordable, accessible and accurate reproductive health information and services to the people especially women and children. One of its guiding principles says, “The law must protect the sexual and reproductive health of men no less than that of women, but because women bear the burden of gestation and their lives and health are more at stake in pregnancy and childbirth than those of men, women are more centrally concerned than men in legal protection and promotion of reproductive health.”

Among those who believed in the spirit and letter of the ordinance were Honorables Bangoy, Monteverde, Abellera, Ortiz, Cabling, Librado, Duterte, Sudagar, Bonguyan, Mahipus, Bello, Villafuerte, Acosta and Dayanghirang. Councilors Militar, Apostol and Baluran expressed their abstention while Councilors Braga, Lavina and Reta persistently voted against the ordinance.

The community of non-government organizations, grassroots women's association and people's organizations through the leadership of Lyda Canson of the Reproductive Health Network-Davao extended their gratitude to the councilors who heard the woes of many women and children of Davao through their positive endorsement of the ordinance. She also thanked all the people behind the organizations who did not waver in their campaign for women's health namely the RH Network, Catholics for Reproductive Health Speak Out Movement, and the Women and Children Coordinating Body. “This is a good start for 2010. After years of struggle, the city council finally heard the lamentations of women. In behalf of the women, I thank the city council of Davao for taking a bold step to protect the interest of the marginalized – our women and children,” she said.

This ordinance is long overdue. Finally, the women and children of Davao obtained a policy support that will promote and protect their reproductive health. May the creation of a women's health clinic in the city help reduce maternal mortality, unwanted pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections, among others. Through this, the women in our communities may look forward for a substantial development in the City of Davao.-#-

Cairo to Calatrava

2009-09-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, the tabloid Bulgar carried this most sordid headline: “4 Anak Nilunod ni Mommy” (4 Children Drowned by Mommy).

I’ll give a brief summary of what happened, omitting the names of the people involved. A 35-year-old woman told her husband she was taking her four children, aged 12, 6, 5 and 6 months, to the river. Two hours later, she returned alone and told her husband she had drowned all the children. The husband rushed to the river but was too late to save the children.

The woman said she had drowned the children because of poverty. Reading about the incident, I realized poverty is so much more graphic when it’s described in Tagalog: “wala na siyang maipakain”—she could not feed them anymore.

I’m going to return to this incident toward the end of my column, but I want to be very clear here that I’m not zeroing in on Calatrava. It could have been any other town in the Philippines, or some other country. My column title, “Cairo to Calatrava,” gives a broader context in which such tragedies happen.

Read more...

By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:52:00 09/09/2009

RH Bill Infomercial

2009-09-02T05:10:00.000-07:00

We urge our legislators to pass the the Reproductive Health Bill this year. The link below shows why we need a comprehensive RH program here in the Philippines.

http://likhaancente rforwomenshealth .blogspot. com

MSMs and transgender tackle HIV-AIDS issue

2009-08-06T22:52:00.000-07:00

HIV infections are on the rise in the Philippines, with 85 new infections registered in May 2009 alone. This is the highest reported in a month, and brings the total for 2009 (January to May) to 322. Most of these cases (88%) were men, with the 20-24 year age group reporting the most cases (29%). Fifty-seven percent of the reported cases came from the National Capital Region (NCR). All cases reported sexual contact as the mode of HIV transmission, with homosexual contact (36%) as predominant.

The other populations at risk from HIV-AIDS include female sex workers and their male clients and injecting drug users. The vulnerable populations of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), out-of-school youth, and street children are also at high risk, and require comprehensive and targeted programmes as well. In 2007, an estimated 7,490 people were living with HIV, up from the estimated 6,000 in 2002.

All the main ingredients for an epidemic are present in the country. First, HIV transmission through unprotected sex accounts for 89% of reported cases. Second, condom use among the most at-risk populations remains below the universal access target of 90%.

Given this situation, the Government of the Philippines and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched a three-year programme entitled “Promoting Leadership and Mitigating the Negative Impacts of HIV and AIDS on Human Development.” Its first project is the 1st National Conference on HIV-AIDS by Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) and Transgender Filipinos, being held July 23-24 at Greenhills Elan Hotel.

This project will define the profile of MSM and transgender Filipinos as well as their changing behaviors. It will also map and assess existing programs, and recommend advocacy strategies and cost. It will further pilot-test these strategies to scale up the national MSM response, including involvement in shaping of policy.

Renaud Meyer, the Country Director of UNDP, said: “This programme demonstrates UNDP’s commitment to contribute to the global response to combat AIDS, which is embodied in Goal 6 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – to reverse and halt the spread of HIV-AIDS and other diseases. Our overall goal is to support improved human development outcomes and contribute to the attainment of the goals of the Philippines’ national AIDS response through comprehensive leadership programmes. This project – which aims to develop the capacity of MSMs and transgender Filipinos as well as their organizations – is a significant step in this direction.”

The national conference fulfills two of the five components of the UNDP programme. These are to provide strategic information and community leadership among MSM and transgender Filipinos, as well as provide knowledge, community, and advocacy to promote a deeper understanding of HIV and AIDS. The three other components of the programme are:

*Leadership for effective and sustained responses to HIV and AIDS;
*Strengthening institutional capacities and partnerships on HIV and migration; and
*Mitigating the economic and psycho-social impacts of HIV and AIDS.

For this programme, the UNDP is working closely with relevant Government agencies such as the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), TLF Sexuality, Health and Rights Educators Collective, Inc. (TLF SHARE), Health Action Information Network (HAIN), and the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC).

Philippines: Contraceptives As Life-savers

2009-08-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

Mina was too poor to buy pills and too powerless to say no to her husband whenever he came home drunk. "I would always give in," she said. "Otherwise, he might have created a scene and disturbed my employer, Ate Cris, who took us all in, including my son, when I applied as her helper."

Mina eventually became pregnant but prioritised the schooling of her son over prenatal care. She got access to health care only in her seventh month and only when a neighbour referred her to the nearby Community Health Care Clinic of the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines. "The medical personnel there were really alarmed when they saw me," recalled Mina.

By Perla Aragon-Choudhury, Womens Feature Service

Philippines: Contraceptives As Life-savers

Spoof and Tragedy

2009-07-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

The president is on time. Her purple gown is big and wraps her shoulders like a protective gear. She is flanked by sunglass-sporting escorts and piña-clad lawmakers. The carpet is red and waiting.

As she walks to take her place in front of the giant Philippine flag, the president’s body language tells the audience she is upbeat. She waves like a movie star, nodding in all directions as if she knew everybody in sight. She is giggly like the colegiala she once was, fixing her hair compulsively and tilting her head just a little too much that you wonder whether her neck isn’t aching already.

She calls the attention of the Senate president for being too busy hitting the key pads of his cellular phone. He mumbles something about going after his lost pre-paid credits and wanting to download videos into his phone. And then the president starts addressing the nation, telling her countrymen that it is an important junction in history— Michael Jackson is dead and Santino has spoken to Bro.

It was a typical mock Sona, this one that took place at the Bahay Alumni at the University of the Philippines last Wednesday. The President is portrayed as the vain, shallow, glory-seeking, and truth-selective chief executive who bothers with trivial details and offers simplistic fixes to complex national issues. To a certain point, this mock exercise differs little from all the other imitations of the event that takes place today at the Batasan. Numerous other groups are out there to deliver their own versions of the president’s speech. The general idea is to ridicule the chief executive for her misplaced priorities and her doublespeak.

But this event stops being one of many mock Sonas when, toward the middle of the address, the president—the actor playing the role of Gloria Arroyo, that is—is confronted by her conscience. She is asked why there is no mention at all of the government’s reproductive health program in her speech. But it’s not an urgent issue, the president says. It’s the economy that matters. Women in dasters protest. This is just as urgent. And so this Sona—The State-of-The-Nanay Address—takes a different turn.

Veiled women, harbingers of sad stories, rattle off bleak figures for the president’s consumption. More than four thousand women, eleven in a day, die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related, but otherwise preventable causes. Thirty percent of pregnancies occur in minors. An estimated 400 thousand women undergo abortions every year. Sixty percent of married women do not anymore want to increase the number of their children, if only the knowledge and the service were available to them.

These do not include yet the more comprehensive—and disheartening—findings of international agency Save the Children Inc. in its State of Filipino Mothers Index 2008. Nor does it include the findings of the Social Weather Stations in October 2008 that 76 percent of Filipinos want family planning education in schools and 71 percent favor the passage of the reproductive health bill.

The figures are many and overwhelming but they point to the same message: something is wrong. Despite the Philippines’ impressive ranking in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report (the country is the best performing among all developing nations), Filipino women, specifically the poor and uneducated, are held hostage by poverty and lack of access to information that would enable them to give their children a better quality of life—and themselves enough health protection and power to determine their living conditions.

Now comes the reproductive health bill, also known as the Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008, pending in both houses of Congress. The bill seeks to institutionalize the public’s access to family planning information and tools. It also paves the way for age-appropriate reproductive health education among children and adolescents. The bill’s advocates claim they have more than enough signatures from lawmakers to pass the bill and put it on the President’s table. But the chances of the bill ever making it to Malacañang are getting dimmer by the day.

For one, President Arroyo—the real one—has not shown any interest in seeing to it that the bill is enacted. Before the United Nations General Assembly one day in September 2005, during evaluations of member-nations’ progress in attaining Millennium Development Goals (Goal 5 pertains to bringing down the rate of maternal mortality), Mrs. Arroyo is reported to have said: “We expect the United Nations to respect the deep Catholicism of the vast majority of the Filipino people.” Four years, and it doesn’t seem as though the President is changing her mind. Whether it’s religious conviction or political expediency masquerading as religious conviction, she doesn’t seem inclined to sign the bill when it makes it to her desk. But at least she can do nothing and let it lapse.

At this point, however, there is still something she can do. She can certify the bill as urgent and require Congress, whose sessions begin anew today, to pass it within 20 session days.

That’s also the suggestion of the “konsyensya” to the Arroyo impostor during the mock Sona. Towards the end of the address, the President “sees the light” and heeds the suggestion. Is that a realistic expectation or a far-fetched dream? Reproductive health advocates are worried, especially since House Speaker Prospero Nograles has released a list of his priority measures which conspicuously does NOT include RH bill.

Admittedly, the timing is off. Elections are coming in less than a year and our lawmakers would not dare fall out of the graces of the Catholic Church hierarchy lest their chances (or the chances of their wives, children, brothers or sisters in case they are now on their last term) be compromised. Tragically, religious organizations can still make or break a politician these days. The public and the politicians themselves are not without fault for preserving this dynamo.

These lawmakers elected to represent the people conveniently set aside their constituents’ wishes for political expediency. (Of course I am talking about those who secretly support the bill but are too cowardly to do it publicly. We respect the views of those staunchly against it on the basis of their legitimate moral beliefs.)

Despite this, reproductive health advocates are psyched to fight it out these next few weeks. Anybody who believes that putting in place a national reproductive health program is less important than ramming Charter change down our throats these days is either stupid or does not really love his country.

Article by Adelle Chua, Manila Standard Today, July 27, 2009

State of the ‘Nanays’

2009-07-23T22:16:00.000-07:00

Anticipating the State of the Nation Address next Monday is another SONA, the “State of the Nanay Address” taking place this afternoon at the University of the Philippines Bahay ng Alumni.

This alternative SONA is born of civil society’s “frustration over the deliberate sidetracking of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill in Congress,” said Elizabeth Angsioco, secretary general of the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN), composed of various organizations involved in reproductive health and women’s rights. “We are clueless as to whether the President will acknowledge the importance of the bill’s passage in her official SONA,” added Angsioco, and the “State of the Nanay Address,” she said, is the group’s way of pointing out that the reproductive health of mothers, children, women and men is as important as her other priorities.

Since it’s doubtful if the President will even deign to mention reproductive health in her SONA (she is said to be “allergic” to the term which is commonly used in the United Nations and by the rest of the world), the alternative SONA could also be a way of informing the Filipino public just how mothers have been faring under the Arroyo administration.

It has often been mentioned in this space that an average of 11 Filipino women die every day in this country due to pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. If the kidnap and rape of the young daughter of a narcotics agent can so enrage the President as to make her reconsider her long-standing policy against carrying out the death penalty, shouldn’t the daily, preventable deaths of 11 women move her in equal measure? After all, she is a woman, a mother, and a grandmother. Maternal deaths are very much a part of reproductive health.

Read more...

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 22, 2009

Maternal Death and Illness Now Recognized as Pressing Human Rights Concerns

2009-07-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

On 17 June 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution recognizing maternal death and illness as pressing human rights concerns. Ximena Andión Ibañez, International Advocacy Director at the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights and one of the key actors in organizing for this resolution, spoke with Masum Momaya about the resolution and its implications.

On 17 June 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution recognizing maternal death and illness (MDI) as pressing human rights concerns.
The World Health Organization defines maternal mortality as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes. [1]
More than 1500 women and girls die every day from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth; that translates to around 550,000 annually.[2]

Ninety-nine percent of maternal deaths worldwide occur in developing countries where women often cannot control whether, when, and whom they marry; may be subject to early marriage; and may be forced to bear children “too early and too often.” These conditions, paired with lack of access to basic family planning methods needed to delay, space, or limit childbearing, lack of access to safe abortion services, and lack of access to emergency obstetric care contribute to the ongoing toll in women’s lives and health. [3]

Read More...

Article License: Creative Commons - Article License Holder: AWID

Early marriage: a different perspective for teenage pregnancy

2009-06-30T01:45:00.001-07:00

The prevalence of early marriage in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the Philippines is diffi cult to monitor considering that there is insuffi ciency of data due to low rate of registration of births and marriages.

One recent research by Nisa Ul Haqq Fi Bangsamoro (NISA) and Al-Mujadillah Development Foundation (AMDF), which was conducted in Sulu, Basilan, Maguindanao, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Shariff Kabunsuan, has found out that the youngest bridal age is nine. Out of 598 respondents, 17 percent aged from nine to fourteen and 83 percent were at the range of fi fteen to seventeen upon marriage.

At present, close to 40 percent of the respondents are raising one to three children, 27.9 percent with four to six, 19.2 percent attend to more than seven children, while 13.7 percent do not have children yet. This illustrates that the younger a girl marries, the more she will likely to bear many children.

Read more...

Too young, too curious

2009-06-30T01:43:00.000-07:00

Adolescence is a period marked by confusion, as adolescents try to make sense of the changes in their physical appearance, as well as to establish their own identity. It is a crucial stage where being curious is not enough; that curiosity has to be satisfi ed, and the consequences can often be dire. One of the pressing concerns facing adolescents is the rise of unwanted pregnancy and incidences of sexually transmitted infections (STI) among this particular age group.

Sexual initiation among adolescents is occurring at a younger age; the typical age for boys is 13 and 14 for girls. More alarming, most of fi rst time sex were either
unplanned or non-consensual. The 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study (YAFS) conducted in the Philippines showed that 57 percent of fi rst time sex fell in
the unplanned or non-consensual category. For unplanned - and therefore unsafe - sex, the risk of unwanted pregnancy and/or getting STI becomes higher.

Read more...

Maternal & Child Health: the unpleasant truth

2009-06-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

Mother and child has been a recurring theme in arts, owing mainly to the powerful images it evokes - that of the mother as a life-giving and caring creature, and that of the child as a personifi cation of purity and innocence. But the adage of art
imitating life certainly does not apply to this particular theme, for the truth about maternal and child health (MCH) situation is far from pleasant.

The latest issue of Health Alert Asia Pacific newsletter, provides untangles the sociopolitical context of Maternal and Child Health (MCH), providing an overview of the scope of the problem -- high incidences of maternal and child deaths, and mother to child transmission of HIV-- making MCH one of the pressing health concerns worldwide. This also features domestic violence situation in Vietnam which details the learnings of a Vietnamese organization in handling a gender-sensitivity and anti-violence against women program. The article also provides a few insights on how other organizations can help eliminate gender inequality and violence against women in their respective areas. Another article provides comprehensive look at the global burden of child labor including using children as child-warriors. Another article entitled, “Similarities and Differences of Traditional and Professional Health Care System in B’laan Communities,” explores the divergence and convergence between Western medicine and the traditional beliefs and practices of the B’laan tribe, an indigenous peoples living in the Philippine island of Mindanao. This issue of Health Alert also focuses on adolescent reproductive health and how the lack of information and services makes the youth more vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections and early pregnancy.

To request for copies of the newsletter, please write to hain@hain.org.

Searching JSTOR through HAIN

2009-05-28T00:26:00.001-07:00

Health Action Information Network is currently subscribing to JSTOR, an online digital archive of academic journals, scholarly works and other materials needed for research and teaching. Mainly covering Arts and Sciences, the collection includes core journals in economics, history, political science, and sociology, as well as in other key fields in the humanities and social sciences. This collection also contains titles in ecology, mathematics, and statistics. Overall, there are 119 titles in twenty-one disciplines. Example of titles include-

· Annual Review of Sociology
· Anthropological Review
· Anthropology Today
· Applied Statistics
· Current Anthropology
· Demography
· Family Planning Perspectives
· International Family Planning Digest
· International Family Planning Perspectives
· International Family Planning Perspectives and Digest
· Journal of Health and Human Behavior
· Journal of Health and Social Behavior
· Journal of the History of Ideas
· Man
· Population and Development Review
· Population Index
· Population Literature
· Population Studies
· Population: An English Selection
· Studies in Family Planning
· World Politics

How to Access JSTOR Collection
The collection may be accessed through HAIN by sending an email request on specific topics or journal articles that you wish to search. Our staff will conduct the research and will deliver the materials to you online at no cost. Charges will apply to those who are requesting for printing and mailing.

For more information, please contact Emie or Tere at 952-6409 or 952-6312
Or email us at emie.devera@hain.org, noemi.leis@hain.org, tere.godito@hain.org

Two-Thirds of Young People With HIV Are Girls

2009-05-25T00:43:00.000-07:00

YOUNG women are suffering disproportionately from HIV and AIDS according to a new report from UNICEF UK. Two-thirds of the 5.5m people aged 15-24 living with HIV are female.

The biggest difference among the sexes is in sub-Saharan Africa, home to 3.4m of young HIV sufferers, where young females are around three times more likely to have HIV than males. Girls are more at risk through poor education, having multiple sexual partners or having sex with older men. Elsewhere in the developing world, it is young men who are more likely to have HIV.

http://www.unicef. org.uk/press/ news_detail_ full_story. asp?news_ id=1310

Two in Three Young People with HIV Are Female

UNICEF UK has highlighted that insufficient attention is being given to preventing the transmission of HIV among young people under the age of 25. In a new report, 'HIV prevention with young people: The key to tackling the epidemic', the world's leading children's rights organisation called for urgent action, stressing that prevention of HIV among young people is key to tackling the global epidemic.

The report marks the launch of UNICEF UK's 'We want to live free from HIV' campaign, which aims to raise £2 million for HIV prevention and remind governments of the importance of effective HIV prevention amongst young people.

Statistics in today's report reveal that girls and young women remain far more vulnerable to HIV infection than young men, with two-thirds of the 5.5 million 15- and 24-year-olds with HIV worldwide being women. The majority of these young people still lack comprehensive and correct information about how to prevent HIV infection, or do not have the power to act on that knowledge.

"Many young people have heard of HIV and AIDS but don't know how it's spread and don't believe they are at risk," said Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF UK, Anita Tiessen. "More attention has to be given to preventing the spread of HIV by working alongside young people to make sure that prevention work is designed and delivered in a way that is 'youth friendly' and really meets their needs," she added.

In Southern Africa, home to 67% of all people with HIV, young women are two-to four-and-a-half times more likely to be infected than men of the same age. Girls are put at risk through having multiple sexual partners at the same time, having sex with older men, having sex in exchange for money or goods and being abused.

"HIV can be best avoided through a three-pronged approach - by making sure people have the right information, can access health services, and get protection when they need it," Anita Tiessen added. "Up until now, these three approaches have too often been used in isolation and not enough attention has been given to knowing how HIV spreads and to taking a more effective combined approach."

UNICEF is working globally to provide the training and skills young people need to live free from HIV, with HIV prevention programmes addressing behavioural change and social issues, as well as providing essential health services to reduce the risk to children and young people.

'We want to live free from HIV' is part of UNICEF's global campaign 'Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS', launched globally in 2005 to place children at the centre of the response to HIV and AIDS.

From WUNRN
http://www.wunrn. com
http://www.economis t.com:80/ daily/news/ displaystory. cfm?story_ id=13612889&fsrc=nwl

Teenage Pregnancy on the Rise in Philippines

2009-05-25T00:37:00.001-07:00

Teenage pregnancy is on the rise in the Philippines and women's groups said it is time to introduce sex education in government schools.

But their proposal has met with stiff resistance from the country's influential Catholic Church.

On the eve of the senior prom, when most teenagers worry about what to wear, 19-year-old Mel has other things on her mind. In three months, she will be giving birth to her first child.

She said: "At that time, I was searching for love. I felt all alone and unloved. So I thought that by giving myself to my boyfriend, I will be able to feel love and he will love me forever."

Mel now lives in a shelter for teenage mothers. She is hoping that when the baby arrives in August, her parents will give in and accept them back.

Mel's story is a familiar one. She is one of 3.6 million teenage mothers in the Philippines.

According to the World Bank, the Philippines is among the top ten countries where there is an increasing number of teenage mothers and these statistics often translates to a higher incidence of poverty in the country.

Women's groups are alarmed by the steady increase in teen pregnancies. Seven out of every 10 women who are pregnant are teenagers, and most of them are younger than 19.

Dr. Junice Melgar, executive director, Likhaan, said: "We need to stress that delaying the age of pregnancies are important for them, not just physically to save their lives because of the risks of early pregnancy, but also economically, because we know that young people who are able to have opportunities are the people who are able to delay sexual engagements, especially having pregnancies. These are the ones that are able to finish school and have a better job."

Non-governmental organisations are pushing for the enactment of a Reproductive Health bill. That piece of legislation would uphold the use of artificial contraceptives and institutionalise sex education in schools.

But the influential Catholic Church's opposition to it has put it on hold.

Dr Junice Melgar said: "Unfortunately, even sexuality education is being challenged and opposed by conservative forces in the Philippines. Whether we like it or not, whether parents approve it or not, the young people are getting all source of information from the Internet, from their peers, etc.

"And if there's no authoritative voice that tells uniformly on a standard basis what's the harm, what are the risks, how can young people avoid the risk of early pregnancy? Then the risks to young people will stay as is, or could even increase the incidence of teen pregnancies in the country."

As the debate rages on, Mel and others like her, can only hope their children will learn from their experience, and not close the door on a better future.

Source: Channel NewsAsia (Asia-Pacific )
Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Not a Motherhood Statement

2009-05-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

Its hard to imagine, what with pregnant women sharing beds at the government-run Fabella Hospital and more mothers waddling their way to make the Philippines one of the most populous nations this side of Catholic Asia.

But according to a report issued by the international agency Save the Children, 11 Filipino mothers die everyday due to childbirth and other pregnancy-related complications. That would total some 4,000 maternal deaths annually, according to the report titled The State of Filipino Mothers 2008.

There are six reasons why mothers fall on the wayside, cited the report:

1. Limited access to health facilities and quality maternal care

Mothers must have their deliveries in hospitals or other health facilities such as lying-in clinics so they can be assisted at once when they experience complications, noted Stephanie Anne Sison, project director of the report. But in fact, according to the report, less than four out of 10 births (or 38.8 percent) in the Philippines are delivered in a health facility. Most mothers, especially in rural areas, still deliver their babies at home.

That means that few mothers are attended to by skilled doctors, or have access to emergency obstetric care and blood supply, the report said, adding: Since hemorrhage, or blood loss, accounts for a large proportion of maternal deaths, mothers who are unable to get to a health facility in a timely manner are especially vulnerable.

2. The lack of access to a full-range of reproductive health care, including family planning information and services

Knowledge about family planning means knowing the advantages of birth spacing, low fertility, and planned pregnancy, the report said.

Childbirth is a traumatic experience for the body. It is best to space pregnancies so the mothers body can recover and return to good health. After a live birth, the next pregnancy should at least be after 24 months. High fertility, on the other hand, is risky for a mother since each successive pregnancy after the fourth one increases the risk of complications, Sison explained.

3. Unplanned pregnancies could lead to induced abortion, and consequently, maternal deaths

According to the report, almost half of all pregnancies are unplanned. Planned pregnancies will lessen the number of those who resort to abortion, which results in 800 maternal deaths annually, the report quoted from an earlier study on unintended pregnancy and induced abortion in the Philippines made by the Guttmacher Institute.

Almost all of the 400,000 induced abortions annually are performed under unsanitary conditions or through medically-unsound practices that increase the risk of hemorrhage and infection.

4. The lack of political will to provide maternal health services

Government should answer to Filipino mothers on why a significant number among them die from childbirth and pregnancy-related complications. Political support is often vague, biased or absent as exemplified by a lack of adequate local and national policies that ensure sustained provision of maternal health services, the report pointed out.

5. The health sector, according to the report, remains underfunded at 3.3 percent of the countrys Gross Domestic Product, lower than all Southeast Asian countries except Myanmar

This is way below the World Health Organizations indicators for adequate health coverage, which is at least five percent of a countrys GDP. The low investment on health means that the government is leaving it up to the private sector and individual households to take care of almost half of all expenses related to family planning, the report said.

6. The lack of a reproductive health law that would require appropriate funds to ensure full access to quality reproductive health information and services that include maternal health and family planning

This glaring omission, according to the report, undermines commitments made by the Philippines when it ratified several United Nations treaties, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The UN Committee on the CEDAW, which reviews the countrys implementation of this international treaty on womens rights, has called on the Philippines to fulfill its obligations to advance womens reproductive and sexual health rights. It attributes the countrys high maternal mortality rates to induced abortions, high fertility rates, inadequate family planning services, the low rates of contraceptive use, and difficulties in obtaining contraceptives.

It doesnt have to be that way, said Save the Children country director Latha Caleb. The leading causes of mothers deaths in the Philippines can all be prevented or treated. (We must remember that) the deaths of mothers during pregnancy or childbirth have a profound impact on the survival of the children they leave behind. Newborns who have lost their mothers are ten times more likely to die than those whose mothers survive childbirth.

The report puts forward several recommendations to save the lives of more Filipino mothers.

First, lets make sure that all pregnant women have access to safe, quality health facility-based services and care, including deliveries. Local governments especially need technological and financial support so they can come with a health system that will provide these. Second, national and local policies, such as a comprehensive reproductive health law, must be put in place to allow access to maternal care before, during and after pregnancy. And third, policies and programs targeting mothers must be gender-responsive, rights-based, and culturally-sensitiv e, Sison said.

The report added: (T)he Philippines is an archipelago rich with several ethnic groups, varying religious beliefs, and diverse cultural practices. Maternal and reproductive health interventions must be designed and adapted appropriately to ensure maximum effectiveness. Furthermore, collaborating with other community stakeholders, like religious and non-government organizations, will make reproductive and maternal health care programs more effective.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: Sunday, May 10, 2009
Author: Elena Masilungan

Global Coalition Backs New U.N. Gender Body

2009-04-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

An international coalition of over 300 women's organisations and human rights groups, representing more than 50 countries, is lending its support to a proposal aimed at creating a strong new women's body at the United Nations.

The coalition, which has been running a longstanding global campaign called Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR), has opted for a "hybrid" body: a mix of a U.N department and a U.N. agency, combining the best of both worlds. A paper by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, spelling out four options to strengthen the U.N.'s gender architecture, will go before the current sessions of the 192-member General Assembly for a final decision before September this year.

Charlotte Bunch, executive director of the Centre for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University, told IPS the majority of the members of the General Assembly, and its President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, not only support the creation of a new, stronger entity for women, but also have voiced a preference for a composite body.

The first option, as proposed in the paper, is to maintain the status quo, namely the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, the U.N. Division for the Advancement of Women, and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) - but with increased resources.

The second option is to create a fund or programme (much like the U.N. Development Programme or the U.N. children's agency UNICEF), but financed with voluntary contributions from member states.

The third option is to create a new department (much like the Department for Economic and Social Affairs) within the Secretariat.

And the fourth option is to create a new hybrid entity, incorporating option two and three.

"We are not advocating for a department within the U.N., and have made it clear to all involved that we would not find this acceptable," said Bunch, whose organisation is part of the GEAR coalition.

"However, we also want to be clear that the secretary-general' s paper is also not recommending a department, but rather a composite," she added.

From the beginning, Bunch pointed out, "we have been asked if we prefer a department or an agency and we have consistently said that we want a combination of both."

"We believe that the separation of the normative/policy side in a department, from the operational in a fund, is one of the problems in the current arrangements for women's rights and believe that a stronger entity that combines both would be best," Bunch said.

The trend in U.N. entities over the past two decades has been to combine both functions although they still follow the old structural divides.

"What we think would be the most effective is to create a structure that recognises these trends and needs, and that is why we support the composite," she declared.

Colette Tamko of the Women's Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO), which is part of the GEAR coalition, told IPS there is a consensus among member states that maintaining the status quo is not a viable option.

"It is evident that the current U.N. gender equality architecture is fragmented, under-resourced and lacks a clear driver. This is the very reason behind the reform process and the GEAR Campaign," she added.

Asked whether the coalition hopes for a minimum of a one-billion- dollar annual budget for the new U.N. women's body, as proposed by some, Tamko said the GEAR Campaign is expecting the composite entity to be "ambitiously funded" - as stated in a report by a high-level panel of former world leaders and government officials, released in late 2006.

"We are still asking for a minimum of 1.0 billion dollars, which we think needs to come from both assessed and voluntary contributions," she added. "We believe that a combination of both voluntary and assessed contributions would provide a more secure source of funding for the new women's entity."

The only option that offers such combination, she said, is a composite body.

"Having both voluntary and assessed contributions would also ensure more of a balance in terms of ownership between both northern and southern countries," she added.

She recalled that when former Secretary-General Kofi Annan's office sought to advance this proposal in November 2006, they suggested a "hybrid" agency that had dual reporting so that it could combine normative and operational elements.

Addressing a meeting of delegates recently, the secretary-general expressed his own preference when he said that a department would not provide a robust field presence.

And a fund or programme would not fully eliminate fragmentation, link normative and operational work, or exercise the level of authority needed to hold all entities accountable for performance.

"Thus, the composite entity remains the most promising option," he told delegates. (END/2009)

Source: Inter Press Service -IPS, March 30, 2009

Surveys of Manila and Parañaque on RH Bill

2009-03-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

Surveys of Manila and Parañaque on RH bill
By Mahar Mangahas
Philippine Daily Inquirer, 03/07/2009

Filed Under: Opinion surveys, Legislation, Family planning, Abortion Last Wednesday, at “Usapang PopDev” of the Forum for Family Planning and Development, SWS reported on its February 2009 survey in Parañaque City, showing public opinion on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill as very favorable. This means it is the same as the public opinion on the RH bill in the City of Manila and the Philippines as a whole, as polled in December 2008 and September 2008 respectively.

Among the items of the three surveys were probes into agreement, disagreement, or neutrality on the four key attitudinal statements found below. After each statement are the percentages that agreed versus disagreed; balances from 100 percent pertain to those who were neutral or who did not answer.

1. “The use of condoms, IUDs and pills can also be considered as abortion.” Parañaque: 33-53; Manila: 29-56; Philippines: 33-50.

Thus, at most, one-third of respondents classify condoms etc. as forms of abortion, as claimed by many in the Catholic hierarchy. Abortion is, of course, constitutionally illegal. The surveys make it clear that most Filipinos would not bother to dispute the legal status of these contraceptives on the basis of the abortion argument.

2. “There should be a law that requires the government to distribute condoms, IUDs, and pills to people who want to avail of them.” Parañaque: 70-19; Manila: 64-22; Philippines: 68-15.

This shows an overwhelming public rejection of the Catholic hierarchy’s opposition to governmental provision of the above-mentioned contraceptives for those who want them. Of course, most people know what church officials are up to — 66 percent in Parañaque and 62 percent in Manila agree that “The church interferes in the affairs of the government, especially in the issues of reproductive health and family planning” — and yet they still maintain high trust in the Catholic church.

Fortunately for the faith in the Philippines, there is much more to being a Catholic than following every wish of one’s bishop.

It may be noted that only 15 percent of Filipinos object to having a law requiring the government to distribute condoms etc. to those who want them, even though as many as 33 percent regard such contraceptives as abortion. This means that, even among those personally opposed to condoms etc., most are open-minded enough to let others have an effective freedom of choice.

3. “If family planning would be included in their curriculum, the youth would be sexually promiscuous.” Parañaque: 25-58; Manila: 29-59; Philippines: 25-54.

4. “There should be a law that requires the government to teach family planning to the youth.” Parañaque: 85-9; Manila: 88-7; Philippines: 76-10.

The above are consistent with agreements that “Students of age 15-24 should be given adolescent health education in school” of 87 percent in Parañaque and 92 percent in Manila. They are also consistent with percentages agreeing that “Men and women 15-24 years old should be given family planning information and services” of 86 in Parañaque and 89 in Manila.

Filipinos who know of the RH bill pending in Congress are almost half in the entire nation (46 percent), and exactly half in Parañaque (49 percent) and Manila (51 percent). The bill was described in the survey as “giving the government the duty to promote responsible parenthood through giving enough information to the people and having safe, legal, affordable and quality reproductive health care services for people who want it.”

The bottom lines of the three SWS surveys are the percentages in favor of, versus opposed to, the RH bill: Parañaque: 84-9; Manila: 86-8; Philippines: 71-8.

The basic reason why opinions are overwhelmingly in favor of the RH bill is the widespread recognition that the problem of overpopulation in the Philippines is critical. Here are percentages that agree with the following statements: “Population growth increases poverty incidence” — Parañaque 71, Manila 74; “Population growth worsens environmental degradation” — Parañaque 65, Manila 69; “Population growth slows down economic growth” — Parañaque 68, Manila 70; “There is a population growth problem in the Philippines” — Parañaque 64, Manila 69; “There is a population growth problem in our city” — Parañaque 60, Manila 69; “The government of our city should have a policy on reproductive health and family planning” — Parañaque 86, Manila 88; and “The government should provide free supplies or service to the poor who wish to use any family planning method” — Parañaque 87, Manila 90.
* * *

The first of the three surveys was done on Sept. 24-27, 2008, on a nationally-representative sample of 1,500 persons of age 18 and up (error margin of 2.5 percent). The second survey, on Dec. 27-29, 2008, had a sample of 600 persons of reproductive age (meaning, 15-54 years old for males and 15-49 years old for females) from the City of Manila. The third survey, on Feb. 14-17, 2009, had a sample of 600 persons of reproductive age in Parañaque City. The city-level error margin is 4 percent.

All samples were equally divided between males and females. The city-level samples were equally divided among congressional districts, so as to be of equal quality among them; the city-surveys found public opinion the same across districts.
Congresspersons who dispute the Social Weather Stations polls, but sincerely care about opinions in their own districts, should commission their own scientific polls at the local level. In the process, they may as well gather data on how their chances of being re-elected in 2010 might relate to their constituents’ opinions about the RH bill. How many can feel certain that, like their local bishop, they are so appreciated by the electorate that they can afford to openly oppose the RH bill?
* * *

Contact SWS: www.sws.org.ph or mahar.mangahas@sws.org.ph

Gov’t warns against HIV danger in MSM sector

2009-03-01T19:56:00.000-08:00

MSM or males who have sex with males refers to men who engage in sexual activity with other men whether they identify themselves as gays, bisexuals, or straight men.

Considered as behavioural category, this term is intended to reference of males who are at higher risk for sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV.

Dr. Eric Tayag, head of the health department’s National Epidemiology Center, said that “it is possible that the same sex experience is enjoyed as an alternative behaviour to opposite sex relationships either influenced by peers or by society’s permissiveness”.

Health groups are struggling with the problem of declaring an epidemic of HIV infection among a sector called MSM.

According to Department of Health’s HIV/AIDS Registry, a collection of reports from hospitals, clinics and treatment centers of laboratory-confirmed HIV tests, 210 new infections in 2005, 309 in 2006 and 342 in 2007. From January 2008 to September 2008, there were already 395 cases, up 96 percent since 2005. Dr. Eric Tayag, head of the health department’s National Epidemiology Center, said that there was nothing like this in the 21 years since the government kept an official record of HIV in 1984 when the first AIDS case was reported in the country. He also noted that for the first time in 2007, homosexual and bisexual mode of infection surpassed heterosexual transmission -- 56 percent as against 43 percent and from January to September 2008, it rose to 67 percent as against 34 percent. In the cumulative total of 1,097 infected MSM from 1984 to 2008, 49 percent were reported in the last three years alone. 108 have died when reported and slightly more MSM were reportedly already with AIDS. The most affected age group among males has also moved younger -- from 45 to 49 years old to 20 to 29.

Primary health care-based approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights

2009-01-30T00:24:00.000-08:00

As we celebrate the 30th year anniversary of the Alma Ata declaration on Primary Health Care, and as the debate on reproductive health continues, HAIN is proud and happy to publish this material entitled, “Primary Health Care Approach to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.”

The comprehensive primary health care (PHC) approach articulated at Alma Ata remains as relevant today as it was 30 years ago. Certainly, sexual and reproductive health and rights are integrated in the concepts of primary health care.

The PHC approach has provided the shift in perspective from a medicalized and biomedical framework to a more sociopolitical-cultural and biopsychosocial approach to health.

The principles of PHC clearly embody the role of social determinants in health, ie, poverty, inequity, social injustice, as factors lying outside the medical and public health services that strongly determine health. As we look at the experiences of countries, it is evident that countries which achieved the more lasting improvements in health were those with a commitment to equitable development.

It is on these premises that the focus on sexual and reproductive health should not be on population control or sex act itself (as is the direction of the current debate), but on population as it relates to poverty, environment, education and other social issues. The campaign for the recognition of sexual and reproductive health and rights should be seen in the over all pursuit of human rights, including the right to health and the right to development. These rights can only be attained if we struggle against unequal and unjust social, economic and political structures which are the root causes of poverty, ill health, and underdevelopment.

HAIN hopes that that material will provide our readers this perspective.

-- from the preface of the book by Dr. Edelina de la Paz, Executive Director of HAIN

Survey: Most Pinoys Back Reproductive Health Bill

2009-01-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

Six out of 10 Filipino adults are in favor of the controversial bill promoting family planning and the use of contraceptives despite opposition from the Church, according to a survey released yesterday.

Pulse Asia’s October 2008 Ulat ng Bayan Survey found 63 percent of Filipinos in favor of the reproductive health (RH) bill, eight percent not in favor and 29 percent ambivalent on the matter.

The Catholic Church, which counts over 80 percent of Filipinos as followers, has said the bill, which has been pending in Congress for months, is headed for defeat after a high-profile campaign by bishops.

The country’s population now stands at around 90 million, with an annual growth rate of 2.04 percent, one of the highest in Asia and above the government’s target of 1.9 percent, officials have warned.

The Pulse Asia survey also found eight in 10 Filipinos or 82 percent think government should not only educate couples regarding modern methods of family planning but also provide them with services and materials on these methods.

The same survey showed 68 percent of Filipinos are aware of the measure and only 32 percent do not know about the bill.

The non-commissioned survey, conducted from Oct. 14 to 27, used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults 18 years old and above.

“Across all geographic areas and socio-economic groupings, majorities (60 percent to 89 percent) know about the proposed legislation with the highest level of public awareness being recorded in the best-off socio-economic Class ABC,” Pulse Asia said.

In contrast, lack of awareness is most pronounced in Mindanao and Class E (38 percent and 40 percent, respectively) , it said.

Pulse Asia said majorities ranging from 56 percent in the Visayas to 79 percent in Class ABC are in favor of the bill.

Eight percent are not in favor of the bill, while 29 percent are unable to say whether or not they support the bill.

Public ambivalence on the matter is more notable in the Visayas, Mindanao, and Class E (32 percent to 35 percent) than in Class ABC and Metro Manila (13 percent to 21percent), Pulse Asia said.

Among the eight percent of Filipinos who do not favor the proposed legislation, additional survey findings showed that 47 percent of them agree with the need to promote information and access to natural and modern family planning methods.

Nearly seven in 10 Filipinos or 69 percent agree with the provision of the bill recognizing the rights of women and couples to choose the family planning method they want. About the same percentages either agree or disagree (36 percent versus 35 percent) with the inclusion of sex education in school curricula.

Funding for modern family planning

Forty-four percent believe government funds should be used to support modern family planning methods. Indecision on these issues is expressed by 20 percent to 33 percent of Filipinos, while disagreement is articulated by 10 percent to 35 percent.

Public disagreement is most manifest in relation to the proposal to include sex education in the school curricula (35 percent).

Pulse Asia said most Filipinos (82 percent) think government should teach couples about modern methods of family planning (both natural and artificial methods) – a view articulated by big to overwhelming majorities (76 percent to 91 percent) in all geographic areas and socio-economic classes.

Pulse Asia said exactly the same percentage says that it is the government’s duty to provide the people with knowledge, services, and materials on modern methods of family planning. This sentiment is expressed by 78 percent to 87 percent across all geographic areas and socio-economic groupings.

Less than one in 10 Filipinos (six percent to eight percent) disagree with either view, while indecision on these matters is expressed by 10 percent to 13 percent of Filipinos, Pulse Asia said.

The survey also revealed that about four in 10 Filipinos (44 percent) say the government should pass a law specifying the number of children couples may have.

“Thirty-six percent are not inclined to do the same,” Pulse Asia said. “Almost two in 10 (19 percent) are undecided on the matter.”

Across geographic areas and socio-economic classes, big pluralities to small majorities (45 percent to 58 percent) in Metro Manila, the Visayas, Mindanao, and Classes D and E favor the idea of government passing a law on the number of children couples may have, Pulse Asia said.

In contrast, a near majority (47 percent) of those in the rest of Luzon do not think government should pass such a law while in the poorest Class E, almost the same percentages express either agreement or disagreement (42 percent versus 40 percent) with this proposal.

Religious influence

While 49 percent of Filipinos say couples should follow what their religion tells them about family planning, 44 percent are ambivalent as regards the possibility of their church or religion influencing their vote for a candidate advocating modern family planning methods.

“Big pluralities to sizeable majorities (41 percent to 68 percent) across all geographic areas and socio-economic groupings are of the view that couples should follow the dictates of their religion when it comes to the issue of family planning,” Pulse Asia said. “This sentiment is most manifest in the Visayas and least pronounced in the rest of Luzon.”

On the other hand, around the same percentages of Filipinos are either ambivalent on the matter or do not agree that couples are obliged to abide by the teachings of their religion on family planning (27 percent against 23 percent).

When it comes to the impact of their church or religion on their decision as to whether or not to vote for a candidate supporting modern family planning methods, indecision is the predominant public sentiment at the national level (44 percent) and particularly in the rest of Luzon, the Visayas, and Classes D and E (42 percent to 52 percent), Pulse Asia said.

In contrast, 34 percent of Filipinos say there is a big possibility their vote would be influenced by their church or religion while 21 percent express a contrary opinion.

Pulse Asia’s survey has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percent at the 95 confidence level.

Bill advocates rejoice

A pro-reproductive health bill advocate said yesterday that the latest results of the Pulse Asia survey had only reinforced their stand that a majority of Filipinos support the bill.

“The survey had only reiterated what other surveys have said – that most of the Filipino people want the bill passed. I hope that those opposing this will listen this time,” said Beth Angsioco, secretary-general of the Reproductive Health Alliance Network (RHAN).

Angsioco also urged the Catholic hierarchy to keep an open mind on the bill.

Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros, one of the main authors of House Bill 5043, or the “Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development Act of 2008,” said this only proves even more the need to pass such an important law.

“It’s another win for the RH bill. Majority of the respondents, and we presume many of them are Catholics, want the government to spend for this. Majority of them says that this is a political issue,” she told the media in a briefing

Hontiveros, along with the other RH bill authors, are likewise hopeful that Catholic bishops would finally hold a dialogue with them on the issue, and that the “heart” of the measure – providing a free and responsible choice for couples – would not be sacrificed.

Another RH bill main author, Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay, highlighted the “persistent negative reports that 11 Filipino women die daily” due to pregnancy and childbirth as one of the reasons for the immediate passage of the bill.

Such a statistic, according to him, makes the Philippines among the worst performing countries in improving maternal health care.

The House leadership decided December last year to defer deliberations on the reproductive health bill until they resumed their sessions yesterday, owing to fierce debates that sometimes got too personal.

GMA firm on stand, but…

Malacañang reiterated that the position of President Arroyo remains the same on the issue of birth control but said she would take into consideration the different sentiments of all sectors.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said the opinion of the people, including that of respondents in the surveys, would be taken into consideration by the President if and when the reproductive health bill is passed by Congress and reaches her office for her signature.

Mrs. Arroyo has always supported natural family planning as a means of birth control and has advocated this through the various government agencies. – With Sheila Crisostomo, Delon Porcalla, Marvin Sy

Source: Phil. Star 20 January 2009

UK official backs Reproductive Health Bill

2008-12-15T00:46:00.000-08:00

Because the global financial crisis is making it hard for governments to improve standards of living, the importance of the Reproductive Health bill that is pending before the Philippine Congress should not be ignored, a United Kingdom official said.

According to Mark Pritchard, the chairman of the Philippine Committee in the UK Parliament, he recognizes the stand of the local Catholic Church that having a small family is not the key to fighting poverty, but that the Philippines’ rapid population growth has made it more difficult for the government to improve or even maintain the living standards of Filipinos.

The Philippines is the 12th most populous nation in the world with an estimated 88.7 million people. Its fertility rate is 3.05 percent, placing it at the upper bracket of 206 countries. There are approximately four babies born every minute and the country’s population is expected to hit an alarming 160 million by 2038.

The Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008, which Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay and five lawmakers authored, seeks “to promote respect for life, informed choice, birth spacing and responsible parenthood in accordance with internationally recognized human rights standards thru guaranteeing universal access to medically-safe, legal and quality reproductive health-care services and relevant information.”

“The bill just encourages a responsible family life through improved sex education in schools and universities and provide universal access to contraceptives,” Pritchard said.

He added hat while the church condemns abortion, the main issue here is providing free will and choice to couples.

Various Catholic Church groups, including the influential Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), view the Reproductive Health bill as pro-abortion and a measure that would entice unmarried couples to have sex, because of the bill’s provision that classifies hormonal contraceptives, intrauterine devices, injectables and other allied reproductive health products as essential medicines. The bill would make available all these contraceptives to all national and local hospitals and other government health units.

The country’s population growth, according to Pritchard, has reduced standards of living that would make the country more reliant on food imports.

“Progress cannot be based solely on a country’s export or gross domestic product, or even decreased budget deficits. Authorities should have social and economic reforms that will empower the people with the right skill set that will eliminate them from poverty,” he pointed out.

Pritchard said that better access to quality education would put the debate on the population control bill to rest.

During an international conference on population, President Gloria Arroyo had cited pillars of population and development: parenthood, informed choice and birth spacing. But Mrs. Arroyo has yet to issue an official position on the controversial bill.

Author: Llanesca T. Panti
Source: Manila Times (Philippines)
Friday, December 05, 2008

Safe, satisfying

2008-12-15T00:43:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I had to deliver a lecture on an assigned topic, “gender sensitivity, sexuality and sexual rights.” I was feeling uncomfortable about the title, which seemed boring and staid, so I did a quick change. I had a good feeling seeing the new title, projected on the billboard-sized screen of the Philippine International Convention Center: “What’s wrong with safe and satisfying sex?”

The title takes off from sexual rights that have been proposed. These include “choice of partner,” “consensual sex,” “respect for bodily integrity” and others which I brought out in the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS) lecture. The last of the 10 sexual rights was “safe, satisfying and pleasurable sexual life.”

These sexual rights are controversial. The mere concept of sexual rights itself is rejected by many, especially those who feel sex should be only for reproduction. The idea that it might be pleasurable is seen almost as dirty and repulsive.

Yet, even from a biomedical point of view, sexual rights, especially this right to “safe, satisfying and pleasurable sexual life,” makes a lot of sense. A few years ago, a multinational team of researchers conducted a “Global Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Behavior” in 27 countries, including the Philippines. The survey looked as well into people’s evaluation of their own subjective sexual wellbeing. Some results of the study were published in 2006 in the Archives of Sexual Behavior in an article that had Edward Laumann as lead author. The article was featured in many newspapers throughout the world, but more often sensationalized, with headlines like “Austrians most sexually satisfied.”

I’ve read the scientific report and there are more important findings than Austria being able to produce good music (Mozart) and good sex. Foremost is the finding that the better the subjective sexual wellbeing of an individual, the better too is his or her general wellbeing and health. To put it more succinctly: Sexual wellbeing also means better health. The medical studies conducted in this area are unequivocal: Good sex has many dividends, all the way up to longer life expectancy. It’s almost as if nature provides a long and healthy life as an incentive: Go forth and have sex (and if you multiply in the process, that’s fine).

‘Kulang’
The concept then of “sexual health” and “sexual rights” shouldn’t be limited to ob/gyn conventions; every medical specialty should consider it, too. Let’s face it, outside of the academic conventions and journals, people have always used common sense to link sexual health and general wellbeing. If you’re particularly difficult or irritable today, close friends will joke, “Had a bad night?” And if you’re habitually grouchy, especially if you’re a woman, people will talk behind your back and say, “Kulang sa dilig,” comparing you to a parched plant.

How did the Philippines fare with subjective sexual wellbeing? Not too well, I’m afraid. That finding wasn’t surprising to the researchers because as they looked at the sexual wellbeing scores, they were able to cluster the countries. The ones that did very well were countries where there was more gender equality. Countries that were “male-centered” (and they included the Philippines) trailed behind the “gender-equal” countries.

Oh, but wait, some readers might go, especially if you read my column last Wednesday, which mentioned another international survey, by the World Economic Forum, on gender equality. That survey put the Philippines at the top among developing countries with regard to gender equality. But if you go back to my article, and to the survey itself, you’ll find that what that study did was to look at access to resources, with measures like gender ratio in schools, corporations and government. It did not consider male-female relations at more personal levels, including sex. Which is why I find the Global Sexual Attitudes and Behavior study useful in getting a better picture of gender relations in the Philippines.

I’m going to share with you some figures to make the study more concrete. Asked about physical sexual pleasure, 47 percent of Filipino men and 40 percent of Filipinas responded positively (I’ve rounded off figures). That doesn’t look too bad, but note that our women are less satisfied here than our men. Not only that, people in gender-equal countries did much, much better. Among Canadians for example, the figures were 71 percent of men and 68 percent of women. Not only were more Canadians physically satisfied, but the gap between men and women was smaller.

Another dimension to subjective sexual wellbeing was “importance of sex.” Among Filipino men, 57 percent responded that sex was very important or important, compared to only 30 percent among women. With Canadians, only 45 percent of men and 35 percent of women considered sex important. They’re revealing statistics: sex is more important to Filipino men than Canadian men, but there’s a large gap between Filipino men and women as well as in Canada, although with a smaller spread.

Fears
It’s clear that women in the Philippines, for various reasons, are not enjoying sex as much as men do. And if you’re thinking, “Ah, but that’s natural, women shouldn’t enjoy sex as much as men do” or even “Women shouldn’t enjoy sex,” then it shows what I mean by a gender gap.

There are many reasons why our women may not enjoy sex. There can be a fear of acquiring sexually transmitted infections, and this happens to many wives whose husbands are away from home often, overseas or domestically, and who know their husbands are philandering. The situation is worse with women who can’t protect themselves, unable to ask their husbands to “behave,” or to use a condom. (Ironically, our machismo allows wives to ask their husbands to use condoms with sex workers, but not with themselves.)

There can be a fear of getting pregnant. It’s a real fear especially when there are several young children sleeping in the same room with the parents, constantly reminding the mother what another child would mean.

There can be a fear of sex itself, partly because our culture is harsher on women when it comes to messages about sex being a task, a responsibility to procreate and anything else would be dirty.

Ob/gyns can help women to overcome some of these fears, if the women bring up sexual pleasure in the first place. Otherwise, they’re left on their own (as are the men). Incidentally, our men suffer too, from machismo, which imposes unrealistic expectations about male sexual performance.

A safe, satisfying and pleasurable sexual life is not about size and techniques, but about rights: to say no as well as to say yes—and even for the wife to say, “I want it.” It’s about being sensitive to the many concerns one’s partner might have, not just about having sex itself but what happens afterwards.

If sexual rights are controversial, it’s because they imply an obligation on the part of the state, of communities, schools and families, to satisfy people’s needs for information and services. That includes sexuality education that tackles relationships, rights, and respect.

By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
11/21/2008

Culture and Health

2008-11-23T21:03:00.000-08:00

We hear a lot these days about cultural bariers to good health, with a strong tendency to blame victims themselves for their illnesses. "There, it's because of their culture," the term culture almost meant to be synonymous to ignorance.

The UNFPA's latest yearbook, State of World Population 2008, was launched Wednesday with the theme "Reaching Common Ground: Culture, Gender and Human Rights," discussing how important culture is for the whole range of reproductive health, from the care of pregnant women to family planning, the prevention of domestic violence and tackling HIV and sexually-transmitted diseases.

For several years now, a team of faculty from the UP Diliman anthropology department, myself included, has been assisting UP and Ateneo's medical schools, as well as Ateneo's MBA (master's of business administration) program for doctors and health professionals, to link culture and health. As I read through the UNFPA yearbook, I made a note to make the yearbook recommended reading for the medical students and required reading for the doctors taking MBA.

There is so much in the report that is useful, not just for health professionals but for policymakers, legislators and development NGOs. For today's column, I want to focus on two issues--cultural fluency and cultural politics--to encourage readers to get the report themselves, which they can download for free from unfpa.org/swp.

Engaging culture
UNFPA says it is important to start with what people already know, and with their existing norms and values. The UNFPA also uses the term "cultural sensitivity" but I feel sensitivity can sometimes take on a token quality, meaning we look at other people and say we respect their culture, but we do so in a detached way, remaining distant.

At UP and Ateneo's medical schools, our team of anthropologists uses the term "cultural competence," a somewhat more modest term than "cultural fluency." Competence and fluency can come only from a more engaged immersion--doctors taking time, for example, to understand where a patient is coming from because of sex, ethnicity, religion, class or other social circumstances.

Cultural competence and fluency go beyond the "what" of culture, which often results in a list of quaint beliefs and practices. Instead, we probe and ask why people have these perceptions and concepts.

There are many examples from family planning. All it takes is one negative experience of a couple with a particular method--"natural" or "artificial"--to convince the entire barangay to avoid using it.

Power
The other important concept to pick up from UNFPA's yearbook is cultural politics, which recognizes that cultures are not static givens. Cultural meanings and norms are often formulated and imposed by people with power.

I particularly appreciate the way UNFPA identifies different types of power, including the most insidious one, which is hidden and non-coercive, so much so that the oppressed themselves become the most ardent defenders of the status quo.

For some time now, I have been asked why the Philippines can seem so progressive in terms of gender equality, even ranking sixth globally and first among developing countries, in the World Economic Forum's annual survey on gender equality. The latest survey was released on Wednesday, and the press releases note that this was the third year in a row where the Philippines has held that ranking.

The indicators are clear, showing we rank high in terms of women's education, women's access to high positions in the academe, private corporations, and government with two women presidents. Yet when it comes to reproductive health, one where women's empowerment is so crucial, we fare poorly, with continuing high maternal death rates and low family planning usage.

Why this paradoxical situation? The answer may come from cultural politics: the way women and men have internalized repressive cultural traditions. In the Philippine context, cultural conditioning has made us fear the freedom that comes with gender equality. It's not surprising that the word "liberated," which should be very positive, has very negative connotations, mainly sexual promiscuity, when used to describe a woman in the Philippines. Women know that, too, and so they "embody" this fear of liberation, becoming careful about every body movement, every word said about sex.

This embodied oppression finds its way to other aspects of our lives: the way we raise our children, the way we talk (or don't talk) about sex, even the way we respond to injustices. The UNFPA report refers to a little known fact in the Philippines: rapes in Basilan escalated between 2000 and 2003 because of armed conflict. Rather than sympathizing with the raped women, the communities discriminated against them, labeling them as "dirty." Even worse, some of the women were forced to marry the soldiers.

The cultural politics here is blatant: If women are made "dirty" by the men through rape, it is only these rapists who can make them "clean" again by marrying them. Repulsive? Our laws actually absolve rapists of criminal liability if they marry the woman they raped.

UNFPA reminds us that people are not always passive victims. Cultural politics means that dominant meanings and practices are constantly being contested and challenged by people who work on a rights framework. Put simply, a woman gets to the point where she's had enough and decides she has rights, and will fight for those rights.

An excellent example of cultural politics in the Philippine setting is the recent statement of 14 Ateneo professors (joined later by 55 more), expressing their support for the Reproductive Health Bill, even as they assert that this is not in contradiction with their Catholic faith. A particular passage highlights the negotiations around culture:

"We respect the consciences of our bishops when they promote natural family planning as the only moral means of contraception. . . In turn, we ask our bishops to respect the one in three (35.6%) married Filipino women who, in their ‘most secret core and sanctuary' or conscience, have decided that their and their family's interests would best be served by using a modern artificial means of contraception. Is it not possible that these women and their spouses were obeying their well-informed and well-formed consciences when they opted to use an artificial contraceptive?"

Sensitivity, dialogue, negotiations. UNFPA synthesizes its discussions around culture quite elegantly when it points out how culture presents us with infinite choices: "From within the same cultural matrix we can extract arguments and strategies for the degradation or ennoblement of our species, for its enslavement or liberation, for the suppression of its productive potential or its enhancement."

More than a simple declaration, that passage should be taken as a challenge to Filipinos and people throughout the world to take culture and health seriously.

By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
11/14/2008

The struggle lives on…

2008-11-16T21:12:00.000-08:00

“ We live our lives, we tell our stories. The dead continue to live by way
of the resurrection we give them, in telling their stories. The past becomes part of our present and thereby part of our future. We act individually and collectively in a process over time which builds the human enterprise and tries to give it meaning.
Being human means thinking and feeling; it means reflecting on the past and visioning into the future. We experience, we give voice to that experience;
others reflect on it and give it new form. That new form in turn, influences and shapes the way next generations experience their lives. That is why history matters.” -- (Lerner in Taguiwalo)

Intramuros symbolizes our past; a heritage site with a unique and important history.
No other site in the country holds as much national historical interest as Intramuros. Even its very ground is unique as it holds artifacts that recount the ages of trade even prior to Spanish conquest.

Intramuros continues to remind me of our struggles as one people. During the Spanish colonization, I imagined the resistance of Filipinos specially the babaylans who usually were seldom or not mentioned at all in our history books and articles.
During the tour in Intramuros, particularly in the oldest stone church in the country – The San Agustin Church, I was fascinated to do a profiling / gender analysis – to account how many males and females in the cemetery. Just to appease myself with a burning issue of women’s invisibility in history.

I learned from feminists that Spanish historians were shocked looking at babaylan dance in ritual. For them it was unthinkable for women to lead such rites, sounded trumphets, dancing, reciting prayer, drinking wine and even killing the pig and marking the foreheads of their husband with the pig’s blood.

Babaylans never touched the forehead of the Spaniards with blood. It was significant for them. For Babaylan only those with the same practice and beliefs will be touched and the gesture of not touching marked off the space between them and the newcomer, foreshadowing the great conflict ahead of them.

Spanish treated babaylan as woman possessed by the demons – has the power to heal the sick, foretell the future and save the dead from hell. The friars call them brujas (witches), maldita (evil) mala mujer (bad woman) and diabolica (satanic).

A Babaylan lament chanted as she danced telling them that this land will be changed and that other people will possess with another culture and other practices so the town will be utterly destroyed and to be subjugated.

This is the reason why babaylan led many resistances to Spanish colonization and Christianization.

Modern-day babaylan experience similar struggles with the raging issue on the reproductive health care law. Our representatives are like the friars who act very powerful, and to the point of sacrificing lives of many people suffering in abuses and burden. Despite the clamor of the people, our lawmakers are not responsive.

The voice of the people echoes – “To all our legislators, WE NEED a comprehensive reproductive health care law NOW.”

by: Lorna Mandin, is the Gendewr focal person for the local government in Davao City. The article is her output for the blog writing workshop during the RH Media Training.

I'm glad i'm not a Catholic

2008-11-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

One of the many things i love about how i was raised by my family is the fact that religion was never imposed on me, or on my siblings. We practically grew up in a family wherein we can attend to any church we want to. We weren't scolded too when we didn't want to attend mass at all which happened more as most of my sundays since time immemorial are devoted to music and movies [i can remember my classmates complaining about their parents and grandparents who forever pester them to go to church]

Perhaps,it also helped that my parents' families belong to different religious groups.

But hey,why am i talking about this? after days of being absent here, i come back and write about religion? well,i promise, this is good.

I'm currently attending the "News for a Change: RH advocates' Training-Workshop on Writing for Media," organized by the Health Action Information Network, one of the groups my organization, the VPHCS is working with in the reproductive health advocacy.

Religion.Reproductive Health. Got it?
If you've been following the news, you wont find it hard to connect these two. right! the Catholic church has been there steadily and in full-blast, attacking reproductive health and the people (me,included)who are advocating for it.

Yes, you are right again, the delay of the passage of Reproductive Health Bill in congress can be greatly attributed to the church' influence on the legislators and that woman in the palace who is sitting there by virtue of a phone call.

Worse, the church has been calling us names such as cooperators of murder, without reading the bill at all. well, i never had that great respect to those priests who are so cool about lecturing people about morality without checking reality.

Not to mention their own "immorality," right? dude,who can act cavalier on this? (use Juno's Minnesotan accent here)

But no, that's not the whole point of this training. It just happened that while writing this, the morning news mentioned legislators and the CBCP clash anew (which I did not really catch)and that the training started on a tour in Intramuros,Manila wherein we enjoyed a witty,analytical and altogether beautiful re-telling of Philippine history by Carlos Celdran and yes, history shows how deeply rooted our faith in Catholicism is (me,excluded).

But more than the reinforcement of my non-belief in the catholic dogma, this training helped a lot in enriching my knowledge and capacity as an information desk staff in VPHCS as respected journalists Luz Rimban and Yvonne Chua facilitated the workshop on writing for the media, with very effective guidelines and tools.

But i have to stop right here. It's 7:30, breakfast is getting cold and our next session will be starting soon.

I'd be writing more about this, as soon as I could.

by: Terence Laurence Lopez is a volunteer at the Visayas Primary Health Care Services. Terence joined the RH Media Training conducted by HAIN in October 28-30.

A Reflection: Theocracy, Rights, and the Fight for RH

2008-11-11T00:53:00.000-08:00

I am racing against time. Time is winning right now.

It is now 7:49AM on Thursday, October 30th. I am still in my pajamas, writing (my first ever) blog entry on some topic related to reproductive health…or related to anything really. This is the assignment we have been given. We, participants of a 2.5-day media workshop entitled “News for a Change: RH Advocates’ Training Workshop on Writing for Media”. We, who have traveled from near and far to Quezon City in the Philippines. We, united advocates for this issue we fondly call RH. It stands for reproductive health, but it is really so much more; meaning, it would be difficult (and frustrating) to try to answer a beat reporter who asks us “so what is RH?”

Earlier this week, as I took in the gems of Carlos Celdran’s walking tour of Intramros (which I highly recommend: http://www.celdrantours.blogspot.com/), I agreed with his central driving theme. It was two-fold:

• The City of Manila has the look of being soul-less. The answer lies in the walls of Intramuros, where its soul once was.
• Theocracy, or a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, can be a very, very dangerous thing. You can see its remnants in the history of Manila.

In my mind, the raging debate around passage of a national Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill) is the next step in Manila’s unsettling history of theocracy. The issues are far more complex than separation of Church and State, however.

To a person who finds comfort in belonging to both Church and State, this is no easy issue.

When I worked on a similar RH Bill in the State of New York last year, the battle was not so different from its Filipino counterpart. What we on the RH side call “mis-information” from the conservative Catholic side ruled the law of the land. In New York, where the perceived social norm is quite liberal, it is the Catholics who have a united front. They are the ones flooding the congressional halls with letters, phone calls, educational materials…at the rate of hundreds every week. More importantly, they are the ones who have the money to fund such efforts.

In my mind though, their most important advantage is their “united front.” If you view this as raging a battle, you will see that on the Catholic side everyone’s weapon is pointed in the same direction. That army is well-prepared, well-armed, and well-convinced of their core message: “killing unborn babies (not early fetuses) is evil, and all practices associated with it must go.” Of course there are subtleties and slight differences of opinion, but the message is clear. The victim is the unborn baby, a creation of God, and therefore the battle is one in the name of God.

On the other side, you will see that there isn’t much of an organized army. The ones fighting are extremely committed to their cause of defending reproductive health as a fundamental human right. This side of the battle is scattered. The unifying message is far more vague. Some believe in all forms of contraceptives for all. Some draw the line at abortion. Some only believe in availability when rape or incest has happened. Some also consider themselves Catholic, and some are of other religions or of no religion at all. Some are part of the army because their fight is for larger issues of gender equality, not just women’s reproductive health.
Meanwhile, women continue to suffer.

I ask myself, “What is sacred?”

Is the fight to defend the health and rights of women (and by extension, help curb poverty and overpopulation) so immoral in the Catholic eye? Why did the history of the fight switch from a fight for RR, or reproductive rights, to RH, or reproductive health? Does the Bible have anything to say about rights? And what of separation of church and state? Must the fight for RH be a fight against the Church?

But alas…it is 8:25am and I still need to shower, so the answers to these and other questions must wait until my next entry.
I will just close with this because I found that in fact, the Bible does have something to say about rights.

Proverbs 31:8 says “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”

Now of course, this can be used to defend either side, but that’s a discussion for another time…

The author, Aita Amaize, is a volunteer at the Save the Children office in Manila. She joined the Media Training conducted by HAIN last October 28-30.

Inay at a Young Age

2008-11-11T00:37:00.000-08:00

Young Adulthood, as written by Josefina N. Natividad and Maria Paz N. Marquez, is a time normally associated with the onset of sexual activity, both within and outside the context of a committed relationship Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study 3.

According to the 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey, one out of five Metro Manila women aged 15 to 24 are already mothers.

Early Pregnancy

Early pregnancy heightens the health problems it associates. Sexual and Reproductive Health of Adolescents and Youth in the Philippines reports that Filipino teenage mothers account for 20 % of all maternal deaths in the country and 17 percent of fetal deaths. This may be because an adolescent reproductive system is not fully developed and able to withstand birthing which can result in ruptures. Another is having a breech pregnancy which is twice as frequent among teenagers as among general population. Also, four months of postpartum, half of all 15 to 24 year old mothers resume menstruation, making them at risk of becoming pregnant again (http://www.wpro.who.int/NR/rdonlyres/C39735C6-2817-4BC0-B527-3F22FBA7F2B9/0/ASRHphilippines.pdf, November 2008).

In its October 2007 issue, Policy Brief provided the following statistical facts:
♀ Children born to teenage mothers are more likely to die before their first birthday than are the infants of older mothers. They are also more likely to have low birth weights, which increase the risks for serious illness and death.
♀ Over 20 percent of teen mothers drop out of school when they become pregnant. Teen women with children are less likely to return to school and are more likely to face limited career and economic opportunities compared to women whose first children are born after age 20.
♀ Two out of five births by teenage mothers were unwanted at the time of conception. Faced with an unintended pregnancy, an adolescent will often resort to self-induced abortion or the services of an untrained birth attendant.
♀ It is estimated that one in five pregnant adolescents experiences physical abuse.
♀ Teens from poorer families are more likely to initiate sexual intercourse at a younger age and less likely to use contraceptives or to use contraception successfully.
♀ Young women are more likely to die in childbirth.
♀ Adolescents age 15 through 19 are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or child birth as those over 20; girls under 15 are five times more likely to die.
♀ More than 60 percent of young mothers below 20 years old delivered their babies at home; two of five (40 percent) deliveries by adolescent mothers were assisted by hilots or traditional birth attendants rather than medical professionals.

Early Marriage as raison d'être
Because it is a cultural practice, early marriage is not usually recognized as a reason that has helped elevated the number of early pregnancies.

Since the country practices diversity, the legal female age for marriage varies as a result.

Let us take Philippine Constitution 1987 and Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines (CMLP) for instance. Philippine Family Code considers 18 as the appropriate age while CMPLP states that “. . . the solemnization of the marriage of a female who though less than fifteen but not below twelve years of age . . .” (Chapter II, Article 16).

-Amanah Busran Lao
HAIN Research Associate

Citations:
• Natividad, Josefina N., Marquez, Maria Paz N. Sexual Risk Behavior. Youth Sex and Risk Behaviors in the Philippines. Demographic Research and Development Foundation, Inc. University of the Philippines Population Institute Diliman, Quezon City
• “Did You Know”. Philippine Daily Inquirer: August 26, 2008
• http://www.wpro.who.int/NR/rdonlyres/C39735C6-2817-4BC0-B527-3F22FBA7F2B9/0/ASRHphilippines.pdf
• Policy Brief. October 2007.
• Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines. Chapter II, Article 16.

Setting RH Advocacy to the Media

2008-11-11T00:18:00.000-08:00

Health Action Information Network (HAIN) has recently conducted the “News for a Change: RH Advocates’ Training-Workshop on Writing for Media” in collaboration with IIE-LDM and with support from IFPLP-Packard Foundation.

Twenty RH advocates from Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao joined the training. This trained aimed at the following objectives:

 To increase the knowledge and understanding of the interplay and complexities between religious history, theology, arguments, policies, issues and practices surrounding reproductive rights and health,
 To sharpen advocacy messages on RH,
 To strengthen RH advocates skills on writing for media, and
 To consolidate and build solidarity among information officers creating a network of writers’ pool and public speakers.

The workshop started with a “Walking Tour” in Intramuros headed by Carlos Celdran where he offered a historical perspective on the country’s colonial past which continues to influence the social, moral, and religious mores.
Connecting the past to present, Ms. Dulce Natividad (Women’s Health Care Foundation) discussed how the country’s past policies and programs influence the present RH situation and advocacy.

Afterwards, the participants Vigie Benosa (PLCPD) and Rikki Trinidad (HAIN) gave an overview of the present situation of RH, the issues it faced, and how these issues were covered by mass media. Atty. Carolina “Carol” Ruiz-Austria shared tips on blogging sexual rights and reproductive health.

Writing for media was the focus of the second day’s training-workshop. There were two resource speakers: Luz Rimban and Yvonne “Bon” Chua, both acclaimed journalists from VERA Files.

Rimban dug into the different forms and the reality of media: print, television, radio, and Internet; the people working behind news reporting; what makes news newsworthy; and the audience. She introduced what press release is, how it differs from press statement and media advisory, and most importantly, its usefulness in promoting the advocacy.

Chua recalled her experience of attending press conferences conducted by NGOs and used them as samples in her discussion on Media Tools: How to Start your Information System. She tackled the proper ways of putting up one fruitful press conference while giving so much emphasis on the importance of understanding the schedule of invited journalists. She also presented the “standard format” for writing press releases starting from punctuation marks to delivery via e-mail.

The room was divided into two groups wherein each participant was asked to present her/his output for critiquing. This workshop helped the participants have the chance to spot and correct the committed errors.

At the end of the day, the participants shared the lessons they obtained and how they could use and integrate them in their chosen professions.

On the third last day Frank Cimatu (Philippine Daily Inquirer-Baguio) helped the participants critiqued the presented blog articles which were homework from Day 1 of the workshop.

At the end of the workshop, the group decided to create a group blogsite where they would post RH articles and updates from their work.

The succeeding articles in this site are outputs by this workshop’s participants.

Training-Workshop on Research Methods for RH

2008-11-03T00:41:00.000-08:00

HAIN conducted the 14th short course on Research Methods on October 6-17 at teh Supreme Hotel in Baguio City.

Twenty-three participants from NCR, Baguio, Bohol, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro joined the two-week training workshop.

The training-workshop aimed to build research capabilities of the participants to enable them to strengthen their programs on sexual and reproductive health.

Key Features of RH BILLS IN THE SENATE – SBN 40, 43 & 87

2008-11-02T21:02:00.000-08:00

The 3 Senate RH bills and the House bill differ in the specific provisions, but they share the same objectives as follows:

to provide couples and individuals accurate information & education, and safe & affordable RH services at the national and local level, including maternal, infant and child health care; family planning; prevention of abortion and management of post-abortion complications; adolescent and youth health care services; prevention and management of reproductive tract infections, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmittable infections (STIs); elimination of violence against women; education and counseling on sexuality and sexual health; treatment of breast & reproductive tract cancers and other gynecological conditions; male involvement in reproductive health; and prevention and treatment of infertility and sexual dysfunction.

Key Provisions of the RH Bills in the Senate - SBN 40, 43 & 87

1. Senate Bill No. 40
(Sen. Rodolfo Biazon)
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE STRUCTURES AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR

SHORT TITLE:
“Reproductive Health Act”
Declaration of Principles.

The State recognizes and guarantees the human rights of all persons :
· equality and equity
· development,
· to choose and make decisions for themselves in accordance with their religious convictions, cultural beliefs, and the demands of responsible parenthood,
· the promotion of gender equality, equity and women’s empowerment as a health and human rights concern,
· access to information and education, and universal access to safe, affordable, and quality reproductive health care services.

The Reproductive Health Management Council (RHMC)). - A Reproductive
Health Management Council (RHMC) shall be established in the Department of Health. The
RHMC shall be the central advisory, planning and policy-making body for the comprehensive
and integrated implementation of all reproductive health care programs and services in the
country.

Members:
a) Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development;
b) Secretary, Department of Interior and Local Government;
c) Secretary, Department of Labor and Employment;
d) Secretary, Department of Education;
e) Lead convener, National Anti-Poverty Commission;
f) Chairperson, Commission on Population;
g) Chairperson, National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women;
h) Chairperson, National Youth Council;
i) Chairperson, Commission on Higher Education;
j) Two representatives of local government units to be nominated in a process determined by all the leagues of local government units, and to be appointed by the President for a term of three (3) years; and
k) Three (3) representatives from NGOS, who shall be composed of one (1) representative each from among the sectors representing women, youth and health, with a proven track record of involvement in the promotion of reproductive health.

2. Senate Bill No. 43
(Sen. Panfilo Lacson)
AN ACT CREATING A REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND POPULATION MANAGEMENT COUNCIL FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INTEGRATED POLICY ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RELATIVE TO SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND POPULATION MANAGEMENT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

SHORT TITLE:
“Reproductive Health Act”
Declaration of Policy. - The State shall:

· adopt an integrated and comprehensive policy on reproductive health in connection with sustainable human development and effective population management
· value the dignity of every human person and affords full protection to people’s rights
· uphold the right of the people and their organizations to effective and reasonable participation in the formulation and implementation of the declared policy
Reproductive Health and Population Management Council:

- the Secretary of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority
(NEDA) as Co-Chairpersons
Members:
a. Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
b. Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd)
c. Secretary of the Department of Labor (DOLE)
d. Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)
e. Executive Director of the Commission on Population (Popcorn)
f. Chairperson of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW)
g. Chairperson of the National Youth Council (NYC)
h. Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
i. Chairperson of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council
j. Lead Convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC)
k. Three (3) representatives from the local government units nominated by the leagues of local government units and to be appointed by the President
l. Three (3) representatives from nongovernment organizations: one (1) representative each from the women, youth and health sectors who have distinguished themselves in the promotion of reproductive health, human development and/or population management who shall be appointed by the President from a list of nominees independently selected by the concerned NGOs.

3. Senate Bill No. 187
(Sen. Rodolfo Biazon)
AN ACT ESTABLISHING AN INTEGRATED POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY, STRENGTHENING ITS IMPLEMENTING MECHANISM AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

SHORT TITLE:
Integrated Population and Development Act.

Declaration of Policies. - The State shall

provide adequate social services,
promote full employment, a rising standard of living and improved quality of life for all.
protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology.
ensure sustainable development and guarantee human rights
recognize the dynamic interrelationships of population, development and environment integrate into national and local policies, programs, strategies the appropriation, allocation and mobilization of resources at all levels.

Implementing Mechanism

- national, regional, local and government agencies are tasked to integrate population, development and environment variables into the planning, implementation, allocation, mobilization of resources and evaluation of their respective programs.

The Commission on Population (POPCOM) shall serve as the central coordinating body for the implementation of this Act. It shall be an attached agency of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

The following agencies, in addition to their primary mandates and functions, are hereby tasked to effectively carry out the provisions of this Act:

NEDA, DOH, DILG, DENR, DSWD, DOLE, POEA, HUDCC, NAPC, NCRFW, NYC, TESDA, The UP Population Institute (UPPI), PIA, The Leagues, private sector: e.g. corporations, companies, enterprises, civil society shall be represented in the crafting of policies, and development of programs.

Prepared by Abeth Tiongco-Cruda, Senate Committee on Health

Our Mothers Aren't Quite Okay

2008-09-29T01:08:00.000-07:00

The Unicef released this month its "Progress for Children, A Report Card on Maternal Mortality," and there's a lot to rejoice about.

Maternal mortality rates (MMR) are going down, even in East Asia and the Pacific, where the Philippines belong.

Get updates and join Dabawenyos Kadayawan 2008 celebration

An estimated 45,000 women died due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth in this region in 2005, down from 80,000 in 1990.

"Data suggest that the maternal mortality ratio has been reduced by 30 percent, to its current estimated level of 150 deaths per 100,000 live births. By current estimates, East Asia/Pacific has made faster progress on reducing its MMR than any other region, but improvements must still accelerate if the MDG target is to be achieved," the report said.

There are telling signs, however, that the Philippines will have a lot of accelerating to do.

In one of the indicators featured, that recognized the fact that women in wealthiest households are more likely to have a skilled attendant at delivery, it showed that in terms of percentage of births attended by health personnel between 2000-2006, 92 percent of the richest gave birth with the presence of these attendants. However, only 25 percent of women from the poorest households had that skilled attendant on hand.

The numbers look worse in comparison with other East Asian countries.

One hundred percent of women from the richest 20 percent households gave birth attended by health personnel, compared to 97 percent of the poorest 20 percent in Mongolia. Thailand is also up there with 100 percent of the richest and 93 percent of the poorest, followed by Vietnam with 99 percent of the riches and 58 percent of the poorest. Clearly, Vietnam has made more significant strides in maternal health.

While the Philippines can only claim better state against Cambodian with 90 percent of the richest and 21 percent of the poorest, Timor leads with 48 percent of the riches and 7 percent of the poorest, and Lao People's Democratic Republic has 24 percent of the richest 20 percent and 7 percent of the poorest 20 percent giving birth with the help of skilled attendants. The disparity between the richest and the poorest in terms of access is devastating.

The Philippines too is listed among high-fertility countries and though it has a starting data of 3.8 percent total fertility rate in 1996, it had the smallest decline by 2006 with just 5 percentage points to 3.3 percent.

The other high-fertility countries that are in the list bear names we only hear about during Miss Universe pageants.

Samoa had a 4.7 percent fertility rate in 1996 that went down to 4.1 by 2006; Papua New Guinea, from 4.7 percent to 4.0 percent; Vanuatu from 4.7 percent to 3.9; Cambodia, 4.8 percent to 3.3 percent; Solomon Islands, 5.1 percent to 4.0 percent, and Lao PDR from 5.1 to 3.3.

Indeed, there's a lot to be done, especially because maternal health is a major measure of development and poverty. The way things are going; we're up there with the poor nations even though our country has had a longer history of progress and development.

Access to maternal care is still denied to a substantial number of our population, and yet our birth rate continues to grow much faster than a lot of poor countries.

If this is not seen as a sign of more bad things to come, then government must have not yet realized that all babies come from mothers and that poor mothers beget poor babies, most of the time more than quintuple-fold faster than rich mothers begetting rich babies.

Source: The SunStar (Phillipines), September 22, 2008

POPULATION BILL MOVES TO HOUSE PLENARY DEBATE

2008-09-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

The battle over the controversial population control bill has officially shifted to the plenary.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, principal author of the Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development Act of 2008, yesterday announced that the measure had been endorsed for plenary debates by the committee on rules.

This means that members of the House of Representatives, whether they are for or against House Bill 5043, will have to come out in the open and defend their positions.

Lagman stressed that the measure was not about condoms and pills and neither is it about religion... It is primarily about health and rights.

He said the committee on rules endorsement was a victory for reproductive health advocates, who have been waiting for the enactment of this bill for almost a decade.

Lagman said 96 lawmakers signed as coauthors of the bill as of yesterday and expects four more signatories today.

The Roman Catholic hierarchy has opposed the measure, mainly because it is against idea of the state intruding into the divine gift of procreation by promoting the use of artificial contraceptives.

The Churchs position is the backbone of the campaign at the lower house of the Pro-Life Caucus, a group of congressmen opposed to Lagmans bill.

Paranaque Rep. Eduardo Zialcita, a leading voice of the group, yesterday sought clarification from Health Secretary Francisco Duque on the governments family planning method of choice.

Duque, who was at the House to defend his departments budget, assured Zialcita that government policy was centered on natural family planning, the only method acceptable to the teachings of the Church.

In a statement, the Pro-Life Caucus said the proponents and promoters of reproductive health were silent on the adverse effects of contraceptives.

Couples should be informed not only of the alleged benefits but also of the ill side effects of these drugs and devices to the mother and to the unborn babies, it said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Author: Christian V. Esguerra

Sign the Petition for the Passage of RH Bill

2008-08-31T19:33:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

Greetings! The struggle for the passage of the Reproductive Bill (RH) in Congress rages on. The Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) through our org, the Democratic Socialist Women of the Phils. (DSWP) initiated an online petition that we request you to support by attaching your signature. Please go to http://www.PetitionOnline.com/rhan2008/petition.html to do this.

We hope to gather ONE MILLION SIGNATURES to show our legislators that there is a wide support base for the bill's passage despite what the opposition says. We will present the signatures both to the House of Representatives (HOR) and Senate within September as we are waiting for the schedule of plenary deliberations in the HOR and the release of the Senate Committee on Health's report.

Please support the petition. It will not take more than 5 minutes of your time. More than 10 women die daily due to pregnancy and childbirth-related causes. The big bulk of those who die are poor women at the prime of their lives. This is simply unacceptable and must be stopped. Congress has the power to do this.

Kindly forward this mail to all your friends.

Thank you very much.

Typhoon RH

2008-07-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

Every year, the august halls of the Batasang Pambansa [National Legislature] are marked by prolonged turbulence similar to a supertyphoon, lasting for weeks. There are moments of relative calm, but more often it is a raging cacophony, acrimonious and threatening.

I'm referring to the annual debates over a bill to promote reproductive health in the Philippines, to include family planning. Every year, a group of bold legislators led by Albay province's Rep. Edcel Lagman proposes the bill and each year it fails to pass because of fierce lobbying from conservative Catholics.

The full name of the bill is An Act Providing for a National Policy on Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development, and as Congress prepares to resume sessions on July 28, the conservatives have moved into their battle positions. Expect more fireworks this year, considering that July 25 marks the 40th anniversary of the papal encyclical "Humanae Vitae," which actually supports family planning but bans "artificial" contraception.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, in their latest meeting, had the bill way up on the agenda, overtaking the current economic crisis. At least two bishops have threatened to withhold Communion from the "anti-life politicians," which is tantamount to excommunication.

The furor is really over "RH," which conservatives claim is just a code word for abortion. They work on what is called a slippery slope theory, the idea that allowing something today could lead to big problems in the future. An example would be a young person starting with smoking now, and then ending up with marijuana and illegal drugs. In the case of the "RH" debate, conservatives have even opposed family planning, which they claim cultivates an "anti-life" mentality that will eventually lead to an acceptance, even legalization, of abortion. Some conservatives even go further, saying that there is a "DEATH" agenda behind RH, which spells out divorce, euthanasia, abortion, total population control and homosexuality.

RH "typhoons" are raging in different fronts. Besides the national legislature, RH bills have been proposed by several local governments, and several have passed, starting with pioneers like Aurora province and, most recently, Quezon City. That last bill was a particularly tumultuous, with both pro and anti camps aware that Quezon City is the country's largest city and a trend-setter.

In all the battles, the anti-RH activists have called the legislators "abortionists" because that "A" word works up people's emotions. Sadly, this focus on abortion—one that's picked up as well by the mass media because it helps sell newspapers—obscures the other important RH issues.

Typhoon RH in the US

Lagman and his RH team may need to talk more about what RH represents, using very concrete examples. I thought I'd start by giving examples from the ongoing US presidential race, where RH is among the most contentious of issues. The term itself is rarely used, but many of the debates actually relate to RH. While abortion is the hottest issue, there are other RH issues that have cropped up in the campaign. Last week, both candidates got into trouble with these issues.

For Republican candidate John McCain, it was about pills. Earlier, Carla Fiorna, one of his campaign managers, had observed: "I've been hearing a lot about from women: There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth control medication. Those women would like a choice." Later, at a press conference, McCain was asked about the statement, but even before the reporter could finish her question, McCain said he did not want to discuss that issue. The reporter persisted, and revealed that McCain had in fact voted against a law that would have allowed health insurance coverage for contraceptives. She asked if that was still his position.

It was almost agonizing watching McCain groping for words and stuttering, first claiming he couldn't recall how he had voted in the past, and finally admitting, "I don't know enough about it to give you an informed answer," and then promising to get back to the reporter on that issue. His aides did get back to the press with this strange answer: "The senator supports competition in the health care industry."

We see similar examples played out in many parts of the world. In Japan, women's groups battled for almost 30 years to get birth control pills approved. Their victory came shortly after Viagra was introduced. If I remember right, it took the Japanese government six months to approve the drug, and the women's groups rightly complained that if men could get their little blue pill, then they should also get their birth control pills. "Gender" and "choice" are terms you will hear often in relation to RH, and those words also alarm conservatives as much as "RH" itself.

Barack Obama also found himself in trouble over a gender/RH issue when, in a Father's Day speech, he appealed to African-American men to recognize their responsibilities "do not end with conception." Too many fathers, he said, were behaving like "boys, rather than men" and many were "MIAs" (missing in action). The remarks drew criticism from within the African-American community, with one of their leaders, Jesse Jackson, caught whispering (he thought the microphone was off) that Obama was "talking down" to people and that his "nuts" should be cut off, i.e., he should be castrated.

I was surprised with Jackson's remarks because many years ago, he too had appealed as well for more male responsibility. I don't remember his exact words but more or less it was something like this: "It takes a boy to father, but it takes a man to parent."

Fathering and parenting are gender issues, and the gender issues are at the very heart of RH. Obama's remarks also stimulated discussions about why there are so many absconding fathers, and this was where issues of unemployment and poverty emerged.

The problem of absconding fathers in the Philippines is serious as well, demanding solutions that go beyond family planning. Considering the high dropout rates, something that's going to worsen with the crisis, we need to get to both young males and females with early sexuality education, which includes responsibilities around parenting. I would use Jesse Jackson's remark from many years ago.

I can envision sexuality education discussions in a college class going further, to talk about the responsibilities of both faith-based institutions (religious groups) and the state in helping to create an environment where men and women share responsibilities for parenting, whether by providing family planning services, or more stable jobs.

That's what RH is all about. Watching the American candidates handle Viagra and fathering, I thought too about how RH is all about fairness, between women and men, between faith-based institutions (churches) and the state, between the state and its citizens.

By Michael Tan, Pinoy Kasi, Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 16, 2008

Thousands stage rally vs reproductive health bill

2008-07-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

In a move against what they brand as anti-family bills, thousands from different religious groups and schools yesterday staged a prayer rally at the Santo Niño Parish Pilgrim Center.

The protesters expressed opposition to the Reproductive Health Act of 2007, which allows the legalization of abortion and the teaching of sex education from Grade 5 pupils and above.

They also protested the divorce and gay marriage law, which allows same sex marriage, believing that it is immoral and against the law of God.

The protesters also called for the “preservation of rights and sanctity of the natural family, and the sacredness of life and divine laws.”

Rene Bullecer, director of Human Life International Pilipinas, explained that the rally was held to tell the government that the Church will not allow the approval of these bills.

He said these bills contest the teachings and the principles of the Church.

The protesters also called on the 34 representatives to stop supporting the Reproductive Health Act, which creates a reproductive health and population management council for the implementation of an integrated policy on reproductive health relative to sustainable human development and population management and for other purposes.

The Church believes that the act will provide a venue for abortion to be resorted to by desperate people.

In his message, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal tackled the Humanae Vitae issued by Pope Paul VI 40 years ago that discourages the use of all forms of traditional contraception.

Vidal said people failed to see the gist of Humanae Vitae which teaches a lesson on conjugal love because most of them merely see it as prohibiting contraception.

The situations described in Humanae Vitae about broken relationships and immorality are what happening today, according to the cardinal.

Vidal said the people might have recognized the consequences but rejected the prescription that caused the sufferings today.

“Contraception devalues conjugal love, even endangers it, thus it cannot be a licit means to responsible parenthood,” Vidal said. — Jessica Ann Pareja/LPM

Source: Philippine Star, July 13, 2008

Pro-RH Legislators: The People’s Champions

2008-07-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

The Filipino people need champions.

Champions in Congress to craft policies that respond to the needs of their constituents. We need them to address pressing issues through laws so that pro-people and pro-poor programs are implemented, rights are respected and, therefore, lives become better.

A national policy on reproductive health (RH) is one of our needs. At a time when prices of basic commodities and services are soaring amidst widespread poverty, ordinary people urgently need all the help they can get.

Wage increases, tax breaks, food and electricity-consumption subsidies are good but not enough. These initiatives are not sustainable. With the ever-increasing scarcity of resources, government will eventually not be able to adequately address the needs of the people.

Legislators have to deal with the need of our families, especially the poor to plan their lives. RH information and services are needed to enable people to make informed and intelligent decisions that will: save women’s lives, facilitate having children that parents can provide for, prepare the youth to handle responsibilities that go with having relationships, and empower men to realize and use the various options available to them in planning their families.

The existence of such urgent needs cannot be denied. In the City of Manila alone where RH services have been virtually absent for the past eight years, throngs of residents flocked to the Tondo Sports Complex last Friday to avail of free family planning information and services offered by NGOs and the City Health Department. Manila residents in poor communities acted on their need at the first opportunity offered them.

An increasing number of local government units (LGUs) are also stepping up to address this need as evidenced by the passage of RH ordinances in Aurora province, Sulu, Olongapo, and Quezon City to name a few. Moreover, there are LGUs that are presently processing their own RH ordinances.

In Congress, we have RH champions. These legislators have taken action based on the facts that:

• 10 Filipino women die daily due to pregnancy and childbirth complications;
• 3 out of 4 of these women who die are aged 15-19 years old; and
• Internationally, 99% of all women who die from such causes come from developing countries.

We, RH advocates laud the courage, determination and foresight of these legislators to work for measures that offer strategic solutions to current crises.

Like many of our people, we are one with our legislators who stand with ordinary Filipinos; with women on the issue of RH. As shown by the 2004 Pulse Asia survey:

• 86% of respondents support candidates with programs for women’s health;
• 82% supports candidates who are in favor of couples’ free choice of family planning methods;
• 82% considers candidates supportive of a law on population as worthy of their votes; and
• 83% favors candidates who support allocating funds for family planning.

We ask our legislators not to give up on our needs--not to give up on our rights.

We ask our legislators to continue being our champions until that day when all Filipinos, rich and poor, shall have the opportunities to pursue a life of quality.

Press statement of the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN), July 15, 2008.

World Population to Hit 7 billion in 2012

2008-06-23T01:59:00.000-07:00

The world's population will reach 7 billion in 2012, even as the global community struggles to satisfy its appetite for natural resources, according to a new government projection.

There are 6.7 billion people in the world today. The United States ranks third, with 304 million, behind China and India, according to projections released Thursday by the Census Bureau.

The world's population surpassed 6 billion in 1999, meaning it will take only 13 years to add a billion people.

By comparison, the number of people didn't reach 1 billion until 1800, said Carl Haub, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau. It didn't reach 2 billion until 130 years later.

"You can easily see the effect of rapid population growth in developing countries," Haub said.

Haub said that medical and nutritional advances in developing countries led to a population explosion following World War II. Cultural changes are slowly catching up, with more women in developing countries going to school and joining the work force.

That is slowing the growth rate, though it is still high in many countries.
The global population is growing by about 1.2 percent per year. The Census Bureau projects the growth rate will decline to 0.5 percent by 2050.

By then, India will have surpassed China as the most populous country.

The Census Bureau updates projections each year on a variety of global demographic trends, including fertility and mortality rates and life expectancy. U.S. life expectancy has surpassed 78 years for the first time, the National Center for Health Statistics announced last week.

The new Census report comes amid record high oil and gasoline prices, fueled in part by growing demand from expanding economies in China and India.

There is no consensus on how many people the Earth can sustain, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. He said it depends on how well people manage the Earth's resources.

Today, industrialized nations use a disproportionate share of oil and other resources, while developing countries are fueling population growth.

There are countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East where the average woman has more than six children in her lifetime. In Mali and Niger, two African nations, women average more than seven children.

"There's still a long way to go in the developing world," Frey said. "A lot of it does have to do with the education of women and the movement of women into the labor force."

In the U.S., women have an average of about two children, which essentially replaces the population. Much of the U.S. population growth comes from immigration.

Author: STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Source: The Associated Press, June 19, 2008

TEEN PREGNANCIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

2008-06-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

The sexual revolution has ushered in a period in which the average adolescent experiences tremendous pressures to have sexual experiences of all kinds. Filipino teens get a higher exposure to sex from the Internet, magazines, TV shows, movies and other media than decades ago, yet without any corresponding increase in information on how to handle the input. So kids are pretty much left to other kids for opinions and value information when it comes to sex.

Sexual misinformation is therefore equally shared in the group. Parents at home and teachers in school feel equally inadequate or uneasy to discuss the topic of sex with youngsters. The problem mounts because the barkada (gang) has a more profound influence than parents do and they exert pressure and expect the adolescent to conform to the rest of them.

In fact, female adolescents whose friends engage in sexual behavior were found to be more likely to do the same compared to those who do not associate with such peers. If the teen perceives her peers to look negatively at premarital sex, she was more likely to start sex at a later age.

Numbers
Statistics in the United States show that each year, almost 1 million teenage women10 percent of all women aged 15-19 and 19 percent of those who have had sexual intercourse become pregnant and one-fourth of teenage mothers have a second child within two years of their first.

In the Philippines, according to the 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study by the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) and the Demographic Research and Development Foundation, 26 percent of our Filipino youth nationwide from ages 15 to 25 admitted to having a premarital sex experience. What’s worse is that 38 percent of our youth are already in a live-in arrangement.

The 1998 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) reveals that 3.6 million of our teenagers (that’s a whopping 5.2 percent of our population!) got pregnant. In 92 percent of these teens, the pregnancy was unplanned, and the majority, 78 percent, did not even use contraceptives the first time they had sex. Many of the youth are clueless that even on a single intercourse, they could wind up pregnant.

Risk for malnutrition
Teenage mothers tend to have poor eating habits and are less likely to take recommended daily multivitamins to maintain adequate nutrition during pregnancy. They are also more likely to smoke, drink or take drugs during pregnancy, which can cause health problems for the baby.

Risk for inadequate prenatal care
Teenage mothers are less likely to seek regular prenatal care which is essential for monitoring the growth of the fetus; keeping the mothers weight in check; and advising the mother on nutrition and how she should take care of herself to ensure a healthy pregnancy. According to the American Medical Association, babies born to women who do not have regular prenatal care are 4 times more likely to die before the age of 1 year.

Risk for abortion
Unplanned pregnancies lead to a higher rate of abortions. In the United States, nearly 4 in 10 teen pregnancies (excluding those ending in miscarriages) are terminated by abortion. There were about 274,000 abortions among teens in 1996.

In the Philippines, although abortion is illegal, it would shock you to know that we even have a higher abortion rate (25/1,000 women) compared to the United States where abortion is legal (23/1,000 women). For sure, there are more abortions that happen in our country that are not even reported. Backdoor abortions are resorted to with untrained hilots with questionable sterility procedures, increasing the possibility for tetanus poisoning and other complications.

Risk for fetal deaths
Statistics of the Department of Health show that fetal deaths are more likely to happen to young mothers, and that babies born by them are likely to have low birth weight.

Risk for acquiring cervical cancer
The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually-transmitted, wart-forming virus that has been implicated in causing cancer of the cervix. This is the most common cancer in women secondary to breast cancer. Women who are at increased risk for acquiring this are those who engage in sex before 18, have a pregnancy at or younger than 18, or have had at least 5 sexual partners, or have had a partner with at least 5 sexual partners.

If you start sex at an early age, you have a higher likelihood of going through several sexual partners before you settle down, thus increasing your exposure to acquiring the virus and acquiring cervical cancer. The men can get genital warts from this virus and can certainly pass it on to their partners, thus increasing her risk for cervical cancer. Is that something you would want to gift to your wife with on your honeymoon? There is a way to test women (HPV Digene test) but no test for the man so you cannot know if you have it. Using the condom does not confer protection against acquiring this virus since the condom cannot cover the testes where the warts can grow and proliferate.

By: Rebecca B. Singson, MD, FPOGS, FACS, FPSCPC, Contributor
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, Saturday, June 14, 2008

World Environment Day Calls for End to Carbon Addiction

2008-06-04T23:04:00.000-07:00

The United Nations urged the world on Thursday to kick an all-consuming addiction to carbon dioxide and said everyone must take steps to fight climate change.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said global warming was becoming the defining issue of the era and will hurt rich and poor alike.

"Our world is in the grip of a dangerous carbon habit," Ban said in a statement to mark World Environment Day, which is being marked by events around the globe and hosted by the New Zealand city of Wellington.

"Addiction is a terrible thing. It consumes and controls us, makes us deny important truths and blinds us to the consequences of our actions," he said in the speech to reinforce this year's World Environment Day theme of "CO2 Kick the Habit."

"Whether you are an individual, an organization, a business or a government, there are many steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint. It is a message we all must take to heart," he said.

World Environment Day, conceived in 1972, is the United Nations' principal day to mark global green issues and aims to give a human face to environmental problems and solutions.

New Zealand, which boasts snow-capped mountains, pristine fjords and isolated beaches used as the backdrop for the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, has pledged to become carbon-neutral.

"We take pride in our clean, green identity as a nation and we are determined to take action to protect it. We appreciate that protecting the climate means behavior change by each and every one of us," said New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.

New Zealand, like many countries, staged art and street festivals to spread the message on how people can reduce carbon usage. New Zealand Post has asked staff to bring a magazine or book to work and swap it to reduce their carbon footprint.

In Australia, Adelaide Zoo staged a wild breakfast for corporate leaders to focus on how carbon emissions threaten animal habitats.

Read more from source...

Women's groups express alarm over rising maternal mortality rate

2008-06-01T23:12:00.000-07:00

Scores of mothers and children gathered at the Quezon City Hall on Wednesday to raise the alarm on the rising cases of maternal mortality, fetal deaths and teenage pregnancy.

The activity was in observance of the May 28 International Day of Action for Women's Health.

The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) and Womenhealth, two non-government organizations, raised the alarm as the government figures in 2006 showed seven mothers die each day due to preventable pregnancy and childbirth complications and 70 infants deaths daily.

"Decline of maternal mortality ratio has been very slow. It was 209 for every 100,000 in 1990, and it is now 162 for every 100,000 in 2006. This is still unacceptably high," Mercedes Fabros of Womanhealth Philippines said.

"The Millennium Development Goal target is 52 maternal deaths per 100,000. But the main point probably here is no woman deserves to die while giving birth," said Joel Saracho, GCAP national coordinator.

GCAP and WomanHealth gathered mothers from several barangays in Quezon City to draw from them a tapestry of tales on the dangers poor women face in giving birth.

Their sad tales range from hospitals rejecting them due to lack of space and equipment, negligence and lack of care from personnel who for whatever reason do not see child birth as an emergency case, hospitals demanding deposits, down payments, medicines before looking into the patient and absence of free pre-natal check-ups.

One of such tales is Freda Atienza, 37, gave birth to Quezon City General Hospital on September 22, 2007 but only after getting rejected by two other hospitals earlier that nearly killed her due to severe complications.

Equally alarming are cases of teenage pregnancy and the dangers they undergo while carrying a child and giving birth.

"Imagine a child giving birth to a child. It is dangerous. Their bodies have not yet fully developed for giving birth. With teenage pregnancy and maternal deaths comes the risk of infants also dying. On the average, at least 28 newborns/fetuses die every day. That is government statistics," Fabros said.

"Government should take a serious look at the situation. These children are potential productive members of our society. They too don't deserve to be robbed of their future," Saracho added.

Source: Philippines News Agency (PNA),May 29, 2008

Demand for Family Planning Is Rising

2008-03-31T01:11:00.000-07:00

The worldwide demand for family planning services is growing because of two trends: the burgeoning numbers of young people entering childbearing age and the increasing adoption of contraceptive use. "Either trend would lead to greater demand," said Toshiko Kaneda, co-author of the Population Reference Bureau's new data sheet, Family Planning Worldwide 2008, "but the two acting together mean there are likely to be huge increases in the future." This PRB data sheet presents information about women, fertility rates, and contraceptive methods used in more than 150 countries. It was prepared by Donna Clifton, Toshiko Kaneda, and Lori Ashford.

The growth will be especially strong in some countries. The new data sheet shows that the number of women ages 15 to 49, the primary audience for family planning services, will jump 30 percent, from 8.9 million to 11.6 million, between 2005 and 2015 in Tanzania, for example. However, the number women using modern contraception will grow more, by 90 percent. In Peru, where use is already high and not projected to increase as much, the number of modern contraceptive users will grow from 3.7 million to 4.5 million, primarily because of population growth.

How sure can we be that these increases will occur? The number of women of reproductive age is easy to project to 2015: They are already born. It is trickier to project the percentage of women using contraception, because that assumes we know what choices women and couples will make in the future. At least two signs suggest contraceptive use will increase. First, many women who do not now use family planning say they would like to control the number and timing of their children. In sub-Saharan Africa, about one-quarter of the married women of reproductive age fall into this category. They could constitute a large population of users if modern contraceptive methods become more easily accessible.

Second, contraceptive use has increased in nearly every country in recent decades, whether they started at a very low level (as with Senegal) or a relatively high level (as with Colombia) (see figure). The magnitude and path of the increase are harder to forecast. The change can be rapid (as in Bolivia), slow (as in Senegal), or rise rapidly and then level off (as in Kenya). While the amount of the increase may not be certain, the number of women who need contraceptive services and supplies is sure to rise because of the concurrent increases in population and contraceptive use rates.

by Mary Mederios Kent

Source: Population Reference Bureau (website http://www.prb. org/Publications /Datasheets/ 2008/familyplann ingworldwide. aspx)

Sulu Reproductive Health Code of 2008

2008-03-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

Sulu marks today the launching of its Provincial Ordinance Number 01-2008, otherwise known as “An Ordinance Providing for the Sulu Reproductive Health Code of 2008.”

Ms. Florence Tayzon, UNFPA Assistant Country Representative, who was its guest of honor said “we are happy that finally Sulu had embraced Reproductive Health and the RH code is the living testimony to this.”
The gathering celebrates the first provincial RH ordinance to be passed not only in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), but also in the entire Mindanao region said Tayson.

While there are already a good number of municipal and city governments in Mindanao that have successfully passed RH ordinances, it remains a challenge among provincial governments.

“It is UNFPA’s hope that more provincial governments in Mindanao will follow the example of Sulu Province ,” Tayson said.

UNFPA has three major projects in the country Reproductive Health, Population Development Strategies and Gender which all the programs were embodied in the Sulu RH Code.

The UN project is currently working in on ten (10) provinces in the country, namely; Ifugao, Mountain Province , Bohol, Eastern Samar, Masbate , Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, Lanao Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

This is UNFPA’s first visit to Sulu since the program has started in 2005, but because Sulu has always been tainted with conflict, UN security assessment prevented UN workers to visit Sulu.

Ms Tayson said “that our coming here today is an indication that peace is changing and improving”.

Sulu Vice Gov Nurana Sahidulla said “the ordinance aimed at addressing the various reproductive health concerns of the province of Sulu, including but not limited to, high population growth rate (3.15%), high maternal deaths (102 deaths recorded in 2006 due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth), high infant mortality rate (64 infants below 12 months died out of 11,824 live births), high unmeet need for family planning, unavailability of FP commodities, rising STI cases, and rising violence against women and children (VAWC) cases (89 reported cases in 2006).

The briefing made by Vice Gov Sahidulla to the UN representative aim to make clear the certain need for improved access to contraceptives and other reproductive health supplies in order to help break the cycle of poverty and early deaths of mothers and children.

Services to be offered included in the Code are, adolescent reproductive health (51% of Sulu population are 19 years old and below), PAP Smear for women, digital rectum examination for men, RH Counseling Service, STI and HIV/AIDS screening, women and children protection unit in the Provincial Hospital, family planning programs, comprehensive communication plan for intensified information drive, and establishment of birthing homes and basic emergency maternity and obstetric care health facilities.

Funds for these services shall be earmarked annually from the Provincial GAD Fund (5% of the total GAD fund).

Sulu is one of the ten poorest provinces in the country. In 2000, more than two-thirds of its population is below the poverty threshold (67.7%). Aside from chronic poverty, the province is also wracked by violent conflicts, more recent of which were the series of kidnappings and hostage-taking activities by the Abu Sayaf group. It has been the hotbed of the secessionist movements since the 1970s.
The effect of armed conflict in the province manifests in its mortality pattern. The top 10 causes of mortality in Sulu include legal intervention by firearms, hypertension, diarrhea disease, pneumonia, myocardial infarction, pulmonary tuberculosis, malnutrition, accidents/injury, cancer, and malaria.

IPHO Chief Dra. Farah Tan Omar said Legal intervention by firearms is the top cause of mortality in males while hypertension is the leading cause of mortality in females. On the other hand, the top 10 causes of morbidity include upper respiratory tract infection, skin disease (infection), diarrheal disease, malaria, influenza, pneumonia, parasitism, hypertensive disease, bronchitis/bronchiolitis, and mucus-related disease.

R WE READY FOR THE RH LAW?

2008-03-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

Why do the country needs to pass the Reproductive Health Bill?
1. To prevent maternal deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth
About half of all pregnancies in the Philippines (approximately 1.43 million a year)[1] are unintended. The Health Department has noted that Filipino women on average have one child more than they want. According to the UNFPA State of the World Population 2007 report on the Philippines, at least 200 Filipino mothers die for every 100,000 live births, compared to only 17 deaths in the US, six in Canada, four in Spain, five in Italy, 41 in Malaysia, 30 in Singapore, and 44 in Thailand. These preventable deaths could have been avoided if more Filipino women have had access to reproductive health information and health care.

2. To help couples choose freely and responsibly when to have children Knowing which medically safe and effective methods of contraception to use will help couples determine freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children. This in turn should ensure that all children are wanted and loved and will be properly provided for by their parents.

3. To prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce abortion rates
Increased access to, and adequate information on, contraceptive methods both natural and modern will reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, eliminate the need for abortion and prevent maternal deaths.

4. To give rape victims a better chance to heal from their ordeal
Giving rape victims access to emergency contraception (EC) like levonorgestrel can help them prevent unwanted pregnancies. So far, the Arroyo administration has deliberately failed to act upon a request to register levonorgestrel since it was made in December 2006. The denial of access to EC has no basis in medical science. The World Health Organization defines EC as a method of preventing pregnancy. It does not interrupt pregnancy, and is therefore not considered a method of abortion, according to this respected health institution.

5. To prevent early pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases especially among adolescents
The Comprehensive Reproductive Health Care Law recommends that the government provide sex education targeted at girls and boys, with special attention to the prevention of early pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. According to our obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which the Philippines ratified more than 25 years ago, adolescent pregnancies present a significant obstacle to girls (when incomes to) educational opportunities and economic empowerment. [2]

6. To free women’s bodies from being held hostage by politics
For the longest time, foreign donors have provided for the contraceptive needs of Filipino women, until the phase-down of condoms in March 2003, pills in 2007, injectables in 2008, and IUDs on a later date, with projections that stocks will run out six months after the last shipment. It is now up to the government to take up the slack. But rather than antagonize the Catholic Church, our politicians toe its line of prescribing only natural family planning methods, no matter how inadequate, unsuitable or ineffective they are to most women.

The administrations policy of refusing to give women access to contraceptive methods that suit them has seeped down to local politics and ordinances, as in Exec. Order No. 003 Series of 2000, which has the city of Manila refusing todispense modern contraceptives in government clinics.

Such policies reflect religious fundamentalism in our laws, where the beliefs of the majority are imposed on others. But shouldn’t government respect plurality in our society and respect the rights of its citizens, no matter what their faith? Why are politicians allowed to sacrifice women’s health to forward their careers? The passage of a Comprehensive Reproductive Health Care Law in the 14th Congress should address these anomalies. Hopefully, our senators and representatives will do their part to help change women’s lives. Or you can write them and make it happen.

Notes:
[1] Singh S et al., Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in the Philippines: Causes and Consequences, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2006.

[2] August 25, 2006 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Concluding Comments on the Philippines

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, March 23, 2008

Article by: Clara Rita A. Padilla, Executive Director of EnGendeRights, Inc.
For more information on reproductive rights, check out www.engenderights. org andhttp://clararita padilla.blogspot .com.

Atienza spoils population-health-environment confab with pro-life bombast

2008-03-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

Environment Secretary Jose Atienza Jr stuck out like a sore thumb during last weekend's 3rd Population Health and Environment Conference here when he insisted that the unabated population growth is not the root of the poverty problem of the country.

Atienza in his keynote speech said that the high poverty rate in the country was caused by mismanagement and not by the high population.

Although he agreed that the population, health and environment should be integrated, Atienza insisted that the "sacredness of the human life" should be the main priority.

"You talk about environment, how about the environment of the human body? All life is sacred especially human life," he said to the more than 300 social scientists, policy makers, NGO representatives and scientists who attended the three day seminar at Taal Vista Lodge.

Atienza, who heads the Catholic-backed organization, Couples for Christ, said that other countries are now paying the price for violating the "sacredness of life" because their population is now declining and becoming older.

"We are now the source of manpower for these countries," said Atienza to the very quiet audience. A fourth of the audience instead went outside to smoke or drink coffee.

"It is rare to have your keynote speaker invoking contrary views to what we are advocating," said Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD), one of the organizers of the conference.

"Life is sacred not only when a child is about to be born but when they are born. Sacredness of life also means planning well your family," said San Pascual.

"There is a huge evidence that poverty remains a huge problem because we have failed to come out with a consistent population policy," he added.

"We look into his (Atienza's) view and I look into mine and see what's best," said Cebu Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, who followed Atienza's speech.

"PHE are scorching issues and I believe that population is the most pressing of these issues," she said.

"Poor Filipinos have big families not because they want to but because they have no access to population services," she said.

She said that the Millennium Development Goals committee, which she chairs in the House is looking into 57 legislative measures, which seek passage.

Richard Skolnick, a director of the US-based Population Resources Bureau, said that 20 percent of deaths in the country are environmental in nature and surely preventable.

He said that he agreed with Atienza that poor governance is partly at fault for the problems in the country but he said that the Arroyo administration should look into the "proper reduction" of the population rate and improve the environmental state of the country.

Skolnick said that he was a high school exchange program in Laoag in 1966 and saw worsening population and environment problems whenever he visited the area.

"There were 33 million Filipinos in 1966. Now we have three times as much," he said.

Source: GMANews.TV

'Filipinos could number 150M if you don't act now'

2008-03-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

Even if a two-child policy is enforced by 2010, the Philippine population is expected to reach 150 million because the poor lack information and access to family planning services, according to a nonprofit organization based in Berkeley, California.

"Even if the country reached replacement level fertility (prescribed number of children per family) by 2010, the ultimate population of the Philippines would be 150 million people," said Martha Madison Campbell, founder president of Venture Strategies for Health Development.

According to its website, Venture Strategies is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of low-income people in developing countries by using business mechanisms and building on the power of local market forces.

"There is no time to waste to ensure that the country has enough land for growing food for today's families and also to have remaining forests for tomorrow's children," Campbell said Monday at a press conference at Sulo Hotel to announce the Third National Conference on Population, Health and the Environment to be held in Tagaytay City on March 5-7.

She warned that unless the country gave greater emphasis to family planning, there was a danger of increasing poverty. "Poor people have big families [not] because they want to but because the poor have no access to contraceptives and health education."

She said United Nations demographers in 2002 projected that the Philippine population would reach between 75 and 85 million. But the population overshot the high projection and now stands at 89 million.

Faster than expected
What the figures show, Campbell stressed, "is population growth is faster that anyone expected."

"If there is another delay... if the Philippines waits another 40 years before reaching an average of two children per family, that will mean 100 million more people living in these beautiful islands [compared to] if every family [would] have only two children two years from now," said the political scientist and health specialist from the University of California.

She said that in the 1960s, Thailand and the Philippines each had a population of some 20 million people. Today Thailand has 66 million people compared to the Philippines' 89 million.

"In Thailand, where there is access to contraception, uneducated women use family planning methods just like women with a college education. In the Philippines, where there is no clear national government support for a family planning program, contraceptive use is less -- especially among poor and uneducated women, leading to more unintended pregnancies and larger families," Campbell said.

Risks
International Programs Director Richard Skolnik of the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau said there were many environmental risks to health due to increasing pressure that population growth and migration to cities put on the environment.

"These problems are best seen in the large number of Filipinos who still lack access to safe water and sanitation and who are subjected to indoor and outdoor air pollution," Skolnik said, adding that diarrhea and respiratory infections, especially among poor children, made up 20 percent of the causes of death in the country.

Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development executive director Ramon San Pascual said the impact of population growth on the environment cannot be ignored. "A law on population management and reproductive health is urgently needed."
For his part, Conservation International-Philippines country executive director Romeo Trono said: "The question is not what needs to be done, but whether or not government units and agencies, the business sector, support agencies and communities will actually do it with a serious sense of urgency as high priority is required."

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, March 4, 2008 page 2.

Children Having Children

2008-01-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

In the Philippines, one of out ten young women aged 15 to 19 is already a mother, and almost half of young women aged 20 to 24 will have begun bearing children. In 2000 alone, Filipino young women aged 15 to 24 accounted for 818,000 births; births among this group will likely exceed one million annually by 2020.

To get more information on this issue, please see the policy brief "Children Having Children" now available from the Save the Children website.

200 Babies Born per Hour in Philippines

2008-01-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

The population in the Philippines will be increasing at the rate of 200 babies for every hour this year, making the archipelago the most populated in Southeast Asia, local media said on Tuesday.

Filipinos now number around 84 million, the Manila Time reported, citing the Philippine National Statistical Coordination Board.

The population growth rate of the Philippines is above the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) average of 1.5 percent and is higher than that of Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, said Romulo Virola, the board's secretary-general.

The Philippines is lower than that of the six other ASEAN countries, including Singapore, which is promoting childbirth among couples. Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar are the other members of the regional association.

Virola cited at least three reasons for the country's rising population, including the poor's lack of access to modern family- planning methods, their need for more children to do household chores or help in economic activities of the family, and their reliance on guidance from the Catholic Church on such methods, which the Vatican forbids.

In the latest population survey conducted in 2000, the population growth was 193 persons for every hour or three persons a minute.

Available data from the 1990, 1995 and 2000 censuses show that the Philippine population grew annually by 2.32 percent between 1990 and 1995, 2.36 percent between 1995 and 2000, and 2.34 percent between 1990 and 2000.

Based on the 2000 census, population projections put the country's growth rate at 1.97 percent between 2006 and 2007, and at 1.95 percent between 2007 and 2008.

The mid-year 2008 population growth is projected at 90.45 million, or equivalent to a population density of 266 per square kilometer and an average population size of 2,154 for every barangay or village.

Source: Xinhua General News Service, January 15, 2008

The Global Gender Gap Report 2007

2007-12-17T19:41:00.000-08:00

This report is aimed at capturing the magnitude of the gap between women and
men in four critical areas: economic participation and opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment and health and survival.

It aims to be a tool for benchmarking and tracking global gender-based inequalities on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria. The country rankings are meant to serve a dual purpose. They are designed to create greater awareness among a global audience of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them. It is also hoped that the rankings, together with the detailed country profiles, will serve as a catalyst for change by providing policy-makers with a snapshot of their country’s relative strengths and weaknesses of their country’s performance compared to that of other nations.

The top ranking countries are Norway, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand and Philippines.

The Global Gender Gap Report 2007 is published by the World Economic Forum.

The document can be downloaded from http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Gender%20Gap/index.htm

POPULATION-ASIA: Gendercide at Apocalyptic Levels - Experts

2007-11-05T16:55:00.000-08:00

Experts at the 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights are painting an apocalyptical vision of the Asian region where 163 million women are ‘missing’ and the sex ratio continues to decline as a result of easy access to modern gender selection techniques.

China tops the list of countries with a skewed sex ratio at birth (SRB) with just 100 females for every 120 males. India follows going by the country’s 2001 census, which revealed that the SRB had fallen to 108 males per 100 females.

Experts worry that unless action is taken, Nepal and Vietnam may soon have skewed SRBs. Countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh are already beginning to follow Asia’s largest countries with people resorting to medical technology to do away with the girl child at the foetal stage.

"We place it (skewed SRB) in the context of discrimination against women," said Purnima Mane, deputy executive director UNFPA, while addressing the press. "Women are not valued.’’ She predicted that a continuing unhealthy SRB trend could lead to increased violence, migration and trafficking as well as greater pressures on women.

"When there is no economic recognition to women’s work and no social value attached to this particular gender, when resource sharing remains inequitable, when women are paid less then it becomes easier to do away with this gender,’’ said Renuka Chowdhry, India’s junior minister for women and child development, at the inaugural of the Oct 29-31 conference.

She called for increased women’s political participation and a push for laws and legislations that empower them as remedy to the adverse sex ratio. ‘’Don’t mess with nature, otherwise it will lead to a mutation of society,’’ she warned.

But where have all the girls gone? The sobering answer to the unbalanced SRB, according to the latest series of studies commissioned by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), lies in modern gender determination and selective abortions.

French demographer Christophe Guilmoto, author of the UNFPA’s regional report ‘Sex ratio Imbalance in Asia,’ based on studies conducted in China, India, Nepal and Vietnam and presented at the conference, referred to it as ‘gendercide’ in which millions of parents resort to a variety of techniques to ensure male offspring. Choosing gender had become easy with the arrival of amniocentesis in the lae 1970s and later with ultrasound imaging technologies.

In 2005, the estimated overall sex ratio was 107.5 males per 100 females in India, as against 106.8 in China, 106.0 in Pakistan and 104.9 in Bangladesh -- four countries that accounted for 43 percent of the world’s population in 2005.

The underlying reasons for the abnormal sex ratio in China, explained Baige Zhao, vice minister of that country’s National Population and Family Planning Commission, included the age-old bias for sons, a poor social security system in rural areas and a trend for smaller-sized families.

The draconian one-child policy imposed by China’s government at that time and the high cost of child rearing provided just the climate for abusing modern technology.
In India, discrimination against girls is more intense among urbanites and well-to-do families, while similar data from China indicate that sex selection appears more pronounced among peasants than among urban residents. In both India and China, education tends to be positively associated with discrimination against the girl child.

Perhaps that is why Gillian Greer, director-general at International Planned Parenthood Foundation, laid particular emphasis on "real investment in girls’ education" as a critical driver of development if they are to be saved from becoming "invisible and forgotten’’.

Interestingly Pakistan -- where abortion is illegal and unsafe abortions rampant -- does not yet have a sex selection problem. "The fewer studies that have been carried out all point to the fact that sex selective abortion is very rare. This could be because we have not been deluged by technology as in other countries in the region," explained Dr Yasmeen Sabeeh Qazi, country representative, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, Pakistan.

Pakistan also benefits from positive religious beliefs. ‘’One cannot ignore that such deeds (selective abortions) are considered sinful with great misfortune befalling those who commit such deeds. One of the commonest teachings of Prophet Mohammad, with which all Pakistanis are familiar, relates to not burying daughters alive (a practice in Arabia before the advent of Islam)."

The social ramifications of these private decisions will end up affecting everyone and a ‘masculinisation’ of Asia, predict specialists. There will be a vast army of surplus males causing a ‘marriage squeeze’ with the most underprivileged the worst off. With fewer women of marriageable age, men will have to delay marriage; it may also lead to a backlog of older unmarried men.

However, say experts, it is still not late to turn around the numbers. South Korea, after a period of 25-30 years, has brought back its SRB to normal levels through self-regulatory mechanisms and economic change. The South Korean government also contributed significantly to this.

The UNFPA study recommends keeping an eye on the private health sector which has played a major role in spreading gender selection technology, and a strict regulation of sex-determination procedures.

Many countries already have tight regulations. India started as early as 1983, followed by South Korea in 1987 and China in 1989. Nepal banned sex-selective abortions in 2002 when it liberalised its own law on abortions. But these laws have proved extremely difficult to enforce. India’s Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technology Act of 1994 prohibited both the use and advertising of gender determination techniques, but remains largely ignored. Reducing sex-ratio imbalances is better achieved through advocacy, sensitisation and awareness-raising programmes says the UNFPA report. "By targeting special groups, such as health personnel, young women and students," people’s mindsets and attitudes towards girls can be changed.’’

"The role of girls and women (in society) needs to be applauded," suggested Guilmoto.

"Supporting girls or those families that only have girls can take many forms -- direct subsidies at the time of birth, various scholarship programmes, gender-based quotas or financial incentives aimed at improving their economic situation," UNFPA recommends in its report.

Source: Inter Press Service

Men should participate in empowering women: Chowdhury

2007-11-05T16:54:00.000-08:00

Men should be involved in the process of improving the imbalanced sex ratio in the Asia Pacific region and help empower women, said Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury.

Addressing the 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights (APCRSH) here, Chowdhury said: "We must start looking at the issue of imbalanced sex ratio holistically and get the men, especially the younger lot, involved in improving the condition.

"It is important to make the men realise that empowering women doesn't mean dis-empowering them. I think that it's time we listen to the men's point of view and use that to improve the situation," Chowdhury said.

India's population, according to the last census in 2001, was 1.03 billion, becoming the second country in the world after China to cross the one billion mark.
However, the sex ratio continues to be dismal. Between 1991-2001, 70 districts in 16 states and union territories in India recorded more than a 50-point decline in the child sex ratio.

In places like Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, the sex ratio is less than 900 girls to every 1,000 boys.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with an increase in pre-natal son selection, which is rampant in most of the Asian countries, there is bound to be dire consequences.

"To begin with, this will lead to enormous pressure on the female population which will be heavily outnumbered by males.

"A growing number of men will be unable to find wives, which in turn will lead to rise in sexual violence and trafficking in women," Purnima Mane, deputy executive director of UNFPA, told IANS.

If the sex ratio remains the same by 2040-50, there will be a 28 million surplus male population in India.

Although it is believed that the preference for a male child in India and in many other Asian countries is because of cultural and economic reasons, Chowdhury said that she doesn't believe that this is the case.

"Look at China. It attracts the world's largest amount of foreign direct investments (FDI), yet its sex ratio is not ideal. Many prosperous families in India still prefer a son to a daughter.

"And as far as culture as concerned, I think it is simply a convenient excuse for people to oppress a gender," she said.

"At the end I think that in treating the imbalanced sex ratio, men should be made equal participants. Only then can the problem be solved," Chowdhury added.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

Call to check high mortality rate in Asia Pacific

2007-11-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

The high maternal mortality rate and the rising number of deaths due to unsafe abortions in several Asian countries including India were a cause of concern, participants said at the fourth Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights. The conference was held in Hyderabad, India last October 29-31.
Several countries were lagging behind in achieving the target of universal sexual and reproductive health services by 2015, said participants.

Despite several countries making progress in increasing access to sexual and reproductive health, too many gaps still remain, felt Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in her key note address.

'Today far too many women, men and young people continue to be denied their sexual and reproductive health and this is witnessed by the high rate of unintended pregnancies persistent and wide spread violence against women and girls,' she said in her address which was read out by Purnima Mane, deputy executive director, UNFPA in Thoraya's absence.

The conference was attended by about 1,500 representatives from 52 countries to discuss the issues related to the reproductive and sexual health and rights.
Describing maternal mortality and morbidity as one of the major challenges before the Asia Pacific region, she said that South Asia had the highest rate of maternal mortality outside Africa and almost half of the world's maternal deaths occur in South Asia.

She said several countries in the region would fall short of meeting the target of millennium development goals of providing the reproductive and sexual health services to at least 80 percent of the population by 2015.

'In South Asia only 38 percent of women enjoy the skilled attendants at delivery. At the current rate of progress countries in Asia will provide skilled coverage for only about 60 percent of deliveries,' she said adding that greater action was needed to train, deploy and retain midwives in communities and villages.

Thoraya also expressed deep concern over the alarming rise in the pre natal sex selection, which was persisting despite progressive legislation and efforts by the governments and civil society leading to a long term socio cultural and demographic and economic consequences.

Various institutions in India, China, Nepal and Vietnam with the help of UNFPA have conducted a research on declining sex ratio in these countries and their root causes. In India sex ratio has fallen to 933 women for 1,000 men.

'In socially and economically advanced society sex ratios are favourable to the females. However this is not the case in India, China and some other south and east Asian countries,' she said.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

Web of crimes against women exposed

2007-09-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

For only 5$ each, some 10 million Filipino women have been lost to mail-order-bride syndicates for the past 20 years, according to Senate President Manny Villar. Most of them are forced into prostitution, Villar said yesterday after he filed Senate Resolution 101 seeking to expose the “web of crimes” of these syndicates.

“Where are our women? Why are they being desecrated?” Villar wanted to find them. “They are being marketed abroad for $5 each. That’s a direct affront to every Filipina’s dignity and well-being.”

An advocate of women’s rights, Villar urged the Senate committee on youth, women and family relations to inquire into the plight of these women and the brazen violation of women’s laws.

“The practice of marketing Filipino women as mail-order brides is openly pushed via several Internet sites such as www.2bwed.com, www.afilipina. com and www.1mail-orderbrid es.com.”

Each site advertises Filipino women just like any other commodity being sold online, Villar said.

For instance, he said, www2bwed.com says: “World-class service for a 10th of a century has been in business to introduce girls from the Philippines who would like to correspond, meet and marry Western men through which Filipino women can be instantly ordered subject to a $5 processing fee.”

On the other hand, he said, www.afilipina. com advertises: “Mail-order brides, pen pal girls exclusively from the Philippines, lovely Filipina ladies wishing to correspond and meet foreign gentlemen for romance and possible marriage.”
While www,1mailorderbride s.com says: “Philippine women from Luzon have master degrees.”

Villar said the syndicates have been very successful in preying on these “hapless women” that some 300,000 to 500,000 women are being smuggled out of the Philippines yearly as mail-order brides.

Villar was even more outraged after he learned that the existing laws have not been strictly enforced that resulted in the flourishing of the “white slavery ring” for the past 20 years.

He said Republic Act 6955 was enacted on June 13, 1990 and seeks to declare as unlawful the practice of matching Filipino women for marriage to foreign nationals on a mail-order basis and other similar practices, including the advertisement, publication, printing or distribution of brochures, fliers and other propaganda materials in furtherance thereof and providing penalty.

“The government must implement the law prohibiting the violation of Filipino women, and should look after distressed Filipinas who have suffered abuses in the hands of foreign spouses,” he stressed.

Villar directed the Senate committee to conduct an inquiry into the growing number of Filipino mail-order brides and on the non-implementation of relevant laws, resulting in the “violation and desecration of Filipino women, with the end in view of charting remedial measures to protect the dignity of Filipinas.”

Christine F. Herrera / Manila Standard Today / 31 August 2007

More anti-HIV Efforts Urged for Migrant Workers

2007-05-31T00:40:00.000-07:00

The spread of AIDS is threatening millions of migrant workers in Asia who lack sufficient access to health services, regional health workers and advocates for migrant laborers said.

"For a comprehensive approach to contain HIV/AIDS, the health of not only local populations but also migrant communities needs to be addressed," Caram Asia, a Malaysian-based coalition of groups from 15 countries that focus on migrant health issues, said in an open letter to Asian governments that was released late Monday.

There are now 53 million migrant workers in Asia who are vulnerable to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, because of their relative lack of access to HIV-prevention programs, health counseling and medical tests, Caram Asia said.

In many cases, migrants found to be HIV-positive are deported without any help or immediate treatment, it added. It did not estimate how many migrant workers in Asia were HIV-positive.

Many migrant workers come from poor parts of Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. They often find employment in more affluent Asian countries as maids and laborers.

According to recent UN statistics, about 8.6 million people in Asia are infected with HIV. About 500,000 people in the region die each year from AIDS, and financial losses from the disease are estimated at $10 billion annually.

However, investment in HIV prevention and care in Asia remains extremely low, officials have said. The number of people in Asia infected with HIV could more than double to 20 million in the next five years without a better government response and more funding, they said.

The Associated PressPublished: May 22, 2007\
http://www.iht. com/articles/ 2007/05/22/ africa/migrants. php

Photo courtesy of Z.Mosende, shot during the celebration of the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial in Manila on May 25, 2007.

Women's Rights NGO calls on Candidates to Uphold Women's Rights

2007-05-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

"Congressional and local electoral candidates when elected into government posts must uphold women's rights as protected by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Women's Convention)," says Atty. Clara Rita A. Padilla, Executive Director of EnGendeRights. She adds, "They must take their stand to protect women's access to the full range of contraceptive methods including emergency contraception, access to safe and legal abortion, sexuality education for adolescents, skills and education for women in prostitution, legalization of divorce, repeal of discriminatory Muslim Code provisions and lesbian rights."

These concerns except for lesbian rights were included in the United Nations Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Concluding Comments during its 36th Session in August 2006. CEDAW monitors the implementation of the Women's Convention by the Philippine government.

"When elected into office they must provide access to the full range of contraceptive methods in an effort to prevent unintended pregnancy, abortion and maternal mortality and morbidity. They must take a stand in opposing bills restricting access to medically safe methods of contraception such as emergency contraceptive pills, Depo Provera, and IUDs," Atty. Padilla added.

"Congressional representatives should file bills that uphold women's rights including bills on Reproductive Health Care, Anti-Discrimination against Sexual Orientation; repeal of the penalty imposed on women who induce abortion and those assisting them as means to decrease maternal mortality and morbidity related to
complications from unsafe abortion; improvement of the implementation of the Policy on Prevention and Management of Abortion Complications; implementation of sexuality education in schools for adolescents; and legalization of divorce," says Atty.
Padilla.

In the House of Representatives, staunch supporters of reproductive health and rights in the past were Nereus Acosta (whose sister Malou Acosta is now running), Benjamin Agarao, Jr., Mayong Aguja (Akbayan), Darlene Antonino-Custodio, Agapito Aquino, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel (Akbayan), Liza Largoza-Maza (Gabriela Women's Party), Renato Magtubo (Partido ng Manggagawa), Satur Ocampo (Bayan Muna), Gilbert Remulla, Loretta Ann Rosales (Akbayan), Rolex T. Suplico, Lorenzo R. Tañada III, and Ronaldo B. Zamora.

Atty. Padilla said, "Government officials should follow the lead of local government officials such as Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo of Aurora and Governor Glenn Prudenciano of Ifugao who have spearheaded the enactment of ordinances such as "The Aurora Reproductive Health Care Code of 2005" (Provincial Ordinance No. 125 (2005)) supporting increased reproductive health care services, including mandatory sexuality education, responsible parenthood counseling and "Reproductive Health and Responsible Parenthood Ordinance of Ifugao" (Ordinance 2006-33), respectively."

"We cannot have government officials who use their religious beliefs in governance. Clearly, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has wielded her influence in the Department of Health and the Population Commission in vigorously campaigning for the so-called "natural family planning" (NFP) method as a means of courting the religious right," said Atty. Padilla.

Atty. Padilla cautioned against several local officials who used their administrative powers to completely prohibit the delivery of modern methods of contraceptives and to promote natural family planning. She says, "In recent years, policies banning all "artificial" birth control methods, including condoms, pills, intra-uterine devices and sterilization, were introduced in Laguna, Manila City, and Puerto Princesa in 1995, 2000 and 2001 respectively. The policies introduced in Laguna and Puerto Princesa have since been overturned by subsequent local administrations, but the Manila City Policy still prevails."

In Makati, pregnant adolescents are denied access to free medical services through an erroneous assumption of Mayor Jejomar Binay that such policy will "discourage the incidence of teenage pregnancies." Atty. Padilla says, "This policy clearly discriminates against adolescents' right to access reproductive services and unnecessarily puts them at risk."

"Another glaring example is the continued conduct of congressional hearings in the 13th Congress on bills filed by blatantly religious party-list groups such as Buhay party-list that aim to prohibit safe and effective methods of contraception including IUDS and emergency contraceptive pills and even increase the penalty for women who induce abortion all stemming from their religious beliefs," Atty. Padilla continued.

Atty. Padilla says, "We also have the problem of continued arrests by police of abortion service providers and sellers of the medical abortion pill Cytotec. Television crews, who do not understand the issues of women relating to abortion and who are mainly concerned with raising their viewership for purposes of sensationalism, instigated these arrests."

"Such religious stances have no place in governance. These stances disregard women's realities where half of all pregnancies of Filipino women are unintended and about 200 Filipino women die from maternal-related causes out of every 100,000 live births," says Atty. Padilla citing the UNFPA 2006 State of the World Population report. Nine in 10 women who induce abortion are married or in a consensual union, more than half have at least 3 children, roughly two-thirds are poor and nearly 90% are Catholic; about 800 women die every year (or two women die every day) due to complications resulting from unsafe abortion; approximately 473,000 women had abortions and an estimated 79,000 women were hospitalized for complications due to unsafe abortion in 2000 (Singh S et al., Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in the Philippines: Causes and Consequences, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2006, at 4). Such stances endanger women's lives and health violating women's basic right to life and health.

The constitutional provision protecting the life of woman and the unborn from conception allows access to information and services to contraception and even abortion. Chile and Peru have the same constitutional protection of the life of the woman and the unborn from conception and they allow access to emergency contraceptive pills. In Argentina and Belgium, emergency contraceptive pills are
available without prescription. Spain, upon whose old Penal Code the Philippine Revised Penal Code penalty imposed on the woman who induced abortion was adopted, allows abortion on grounds of rape and fetal impairment leaving the Philippines to contend with its colonial laws. Belgium, France and Italy allow abortion on demand. Colombia allows abortion on grounds of danger to life and health, rape and fetal malformation incompatible with life outside the uterus. Last April 24, Mexico City legalized abortion in the first trimester without restriction.

All the above-mentioned predominantly Catholic countries belie the claim that restricting access to contraception and even safe and legal abortion in the Philippines is a matter of practice of the Catholic religion. It is simply ignorance of medicine, science and law and clinging to our colonial past.

Catholic women around the world--including more than 60 percent of Catholic women in Trinidad, Tobago and Botswana, and 28 percent in the Philippines--have used contraceptive methods, showing that Catholic women exercise freedom of conscience.

It is the obligation of the Philippine government as cited in the recent CEDAW Concluding Comments on the Philippines to "strengthen measures aimed at the prevention of unwanted pregnancies, including by making a comprehensive range of contraceptives more widely available and without any restriction"; "give priority attention to the situation of adolescents and that it provide sex education,
targeted at girls and boys, with special attention to the prevention of early pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases."

CEDAW urged the Philippines "to consider the problem of unsafe abortion as a matter of high priority. The Committee recommends that the State party consider reviewing the laws relating to abortion with a view to removing punitive provisions imposed on women who undergo abortion and provide them with access to quality services for the management of complications arising from unsafe abortions and to reduce women's maternal mortality rates."

"Elected officials must realize that our very own Constitution states that, `Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.' Elected officials must be reminded that they are mere representatives of the Filipino people and that their obligation is to the Filipino people and not to themselves," said Atty. Padilla.

"Elected officials must respect plurality in our society. They should allow access to information and health care services and give primary importance to a person's right to reproductive self-determination. Fundamentalist public officials who restrict access to information and health care services do not deserve any place in
governance," Atty. Padilla added.

TRIPS and HIV/AIDS

2007-05-08T19:54:00.000-07:00

The battle between profits and saving human lives is a central issue in the global campaign against HIV infection and AIDS. Millions of people living with HIV/AIDS still have no access to anti-retroviral drugs (ARV), but pharmaceutical companies still look at ARVs as one of their cash cows.

The only silver lining in the debate is the fact that more and more governments are taking advantage of the TRIPS’ provision on compulsary licensing. Malaysia, facing a growing case of HIV/AIDS, became the first Asian nation to utilize this small window of opportunity in 2002. The move has significantly dropped the prices of ARV in the market. The monthly cost of branded ARVs per patient (d4T, ddI and nevirapine) dropped from $261 in 2001 to $197 in 2004. The imported generic ARV, on the other hand, costs $45. For generic combivir and efavirenz, the cost of the generic drug is $115, compared to branded drugs that cost $136. Currently, Malaysia is studying the possibility of granting a compulsary license to a local producer to manufacture
generic three-in-one combination ARV.

Patient support groups and other health advocates are also speaking louder against any effort to block the production of generic ARVs. In India, a litmus test to its revised Patents Act is the pending application for tenofovir filed by the US company Gilead Sciences.

The Delhi Network of Positive People and the Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS filed its opposition against the application. They are supported by other organizations such as the Medecins Sans Frontiers. Cipla, a leading Indian generic company, is also set to formally file its opposition.

Tenofovir costs $5,718 per patient per year. Cipla, on the other hand, manufactures and sells the generic tenvir for $700.

Source: Health Alert Asia Pacific (www.hain.org)
References: international herald tribune, twnside.org

A ‘choice platform’ on AIDS

2007-03-19T02:06:00.000-07:00

Choices, not just condoms, are what women at risk of HIV need to protect themselves.

Erica Gollub, a professor of epidemiology who has worked as a consultant to the Female Health Company, wonders why the global AIDS prevention community has yet to get behind the policy, adopted by the New York State AIDS Institute in 1992, of a "hierarchical counseling approach." Gollub describes "quality hierarchical counseling" as urging women to use condoms whenever possible, with discussion of possible strategies (to get their male partners to use them). Information is then given, in order, about the other options, which include female condoms, microbicides, coitus interruptus (or withdrawal), fewer sexual partners, and even abstinence.

In the article "Choice is Empowering: Getting Strategic about Preventing HIV Infection in Women," published in the December 2006 issue of International Family Planning Perspectives, Gollub stresses that "a key ingredient is information in plain language about how HIV infects womeni.e., why condoms are the best protection. The beauty of such an approach is that it expedites information-sharing with the women who need it, and that new evidence can change the list itself, the order (of importance or efficacy) of methods and the counseling scripts."

Disturbing to Gollub is how much of the resistance to "hierarchical counseling," or to the less than 100-percent support for male condom use, is rooted in distrust of women -- or at least in their ability to make clear-headed decisions.

Critics of giving women a whole menu of prevention options believe that "providing women with information on a menu of prevention methods assumes that they will not use male condoms. For example, a common argument against the promotion of the highly effective female condom is that it is appropriate for, or acceptable to, a very small percentage of the world's population and thus a far cry from ideal."

Read more...
By Rina Jimenez-David's column, At Large. Philippine Daily Inquirer March 16, 2007

Condoms and Choices

2007-03-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

HIV/AIDS has already been recognized as a woman’s issue. More women than men are getting infected with HIV, and this is mainly because women, due to biology as well as culture and social status that influence their sexual behavior and decision-making power, are more vulnerable to sexually-transmitted infections.

But why is it that, despite more than 20 years’ research into and development of prevention strategies against HIV/AIDS, the number of new infections among women -- and deaths, as well -- continues to rise? An article in the December 2006 issue of International Family Planning Perspectives argues that part of the reason may be that strategies have not been attuned enough to the realities of women’s lives and situation, and that, ironically enough, too much emphasis has been placed on the use of the male condom as the “most effective” means of protecting oneself from HIV/AIDS infection.

Erica Gollub, a professor of epidemiology, asserts that “successful HIV prevention work among women means the adoption of a woman-centered paradigm, one that is grounded in women’s realities and acknowledges gender roles and gender-based power differentials as critical factors in women’s ability to make and effect decisions regarding their health and welfare.”

Years of research have also shown that “most women around the world cannot control male condom use,” says Gollub, “and we have begun to understand that women’s attitudes toward and use of protective methods are based on personal, relational, sociocultural and structural factors, with a different mix for each woman.”

Read more... Condoms and choices By Rina Jimenez-David (At Large). Philippine Daily Inquirer. March 13, 2007

Women’s Paradise?

2007-03-06T18:58:00.000-08:00

Last year, newspapers all over the world noted that among the top 10 countries with the smallest “gender gap,” the only developing country was the Philippines, which came in sixth.

In case you missed the news items last year, the top 10, out of a total of 115 countries, were: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Germany, the Philippines, New Zealand, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The Gender Gap Index, compiled by the World Economic Forum, was mainly based on a review of female-to-male ratios in four areas: (a) economic participation and opportunity, (b) educational attainment, (c) health and survival and (d) political empowerment. Besides these four areas, the index considered data on maternity and childbearing, education and training, employment and earnings, and basic rights and social institutions.

Given our high ranking, are we now to believe the Philippines is a paradise for women? I visited the World Economic Forum site and downloaded several of the country reports, but never got around to writing about it. Today being International Women’s Day, I thought it’d be a good time to revisit this index.

Read full text from Pinoy Kasi by Michael Tan, Philippine Daily Inquirer, March 7, 2007.

WHO Core Health Indicators

2007-02-26T22:42:00.000-08:00

The World Health Organization (WHO) online database provides the latest Core Health Indicators from WHO. With this system, you can find the most recent indicator information (for example, contraceptive prevalence rate, antenatal care coverage, deaths due to HIV/AIDS) in most countries around the world. Additionally, the system also allows you easily construct a table for any combination of countries, indicators and years.

You can access this excellent resource at: http://www3.who.int/whosis/core/core_select.cfm

Puso, Puson, at Pananampalataya

2007-02-06T18:15:00.000-08:00

A forum on religion, reproductive health, sexuality and spirituality entitled, “Puso, Puson, at Pananampalataya will be held on February 19, 2007, (a Monday), from 1:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Balay Kalinaw (Seminar Room B), UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Dr. Margarita Holmes and Mr. Danton Remoto will be present at the forum to discuss and share with us their insights on the topic.

This forum is a collaborative project of the Leadership Development Program for Mobilizing Reproductive Health (LDM), Health Action Information Network (HAIN), PLCPD, WomenLead and HASIK with funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Should you be interested to attend, please confirm your attendance to Ms. Bicbic Chua (LDM) at 3764432 or 09217772927 or Ms. Tere Godito (HAIN) at 952-6312, 9526409.

Severe pandemics’ a challenge for Asean leaders, says UNAIDS

2007-01-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) yesterday agreed to intensify the campaign against HIV-AIDS during a special session at the Shangri-la's Mactan Resort and Spa.

Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS executive director and United Nations undersecretary general, reported before the leaders that in Asia, "the most severe epidemics are in the Asean region" with over 1.5 million people living with HIV.

"The most worrying fact for Asean countries is that Aids affects the most productive sections of your population - the workforce which is the powerhouse of economic development of the region," Piot said. Based on the 2005 yearend figures from Global Report, Thailand has the most number of people, at 580,000, living with HIV among the Asean nations.

Myanmar follows, with 360,000. Third is Vietnam with 260,000.

Aids is among the leading cause of premature deaths among people 25 years old and younger. "At this time of great opportunity, with over 99 percent of Asean's people still uninfected, you can set an example of hope for the world by putting in place a response that halts the epidemic not just for the short term, but for the long term future as well, so that there is no resurgence in the epidemic," Piot said.

The Asean countries must increase their collaboration efforts to prevent the spread of the disease through increased awareness and education.

The leaders also agreed more funds are needed for a full-scale campaign and treatment. The Asean is increasingly vulnerable to Aids because of its growing attraction as a worldwide travel destination.

The leaders emphasized the need for people in the region to share experience and knowledge about the disease and its prevention.

Yesterday was the second Asean special session on HIV-AIDS. The first was held in Brunei in 2001.
Today, leaders of 16 nations from South Korea to Singapore are expected to agree to boost Asia's energy efficiency and combat climate change by seeking new fuel sources, particularly biofuels.

The Cebu Goals on East Asian Energy Security is to be signed tomorrow by the heads of government at the East Asia Summit, which brings together the 10-member Asean and their six dialogue partners - Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

he plan aims to help countries reduce their dependence on conventional fuels through intensified energy efficiency programs, expansion of renewable energy systems and biofuel production and utilization, according to a draft copy of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press. The accord does not say what types of biofuels might be emphasized and does not give specific details of the kinds of energy efficiency programs being considered.

But some ASEAN countries such as Malaysia have started working to commercially produce alternative fuels such as biodiesel, comprising mainly palm oil, and ethanol made from the sap of nipah trees. The blueprint provides no timeframe for these goals, which underscore increasing efforts by Asean in recent years to enhanceenergy cooperation and alleviate the impact of high oil prices.

The energy security agreement also encourages countries to explore possible modes of fuel stockpiling through regional arrangements, and urges oil-rich nations to channel petroleum profits toward equity investments and low-interest loan facilities for other developing countries.

Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (MBG/With AP)

Palipat-lipat, Pasalin-salin - A Musical on AIDS

2006-12-12T04:23:00.000-08:00

Kilalanin natin si Nerissa, OFW at HIV Positive

Kinayang iwan ang pang-aabuso ng asawa, ngunit hindi kinayang mag-
ungkat sa nakaraan ng kanyang karelasyong seaman. Nagbabala ang
bestfriend na si Demetrio na mang-ingat sa sakit at gumamit ng
proteksyon. Ngunit mas nangibabaw ang mga pangako ng seaman ng
maalwang bukas.

Nahulog ang loob ni Nerissa.
Naging HIV-Positive sya.

Inilahad ang kanyang kalagayan sa kanyang anak at mga kaibigan, at
muling nabigyan ng pag-asa.

Nagpapahiwatig ang Paglipat-Lipat Pasalin-Salin na huwag mag-
atubiling i-prioridad ang pagpapahalaga sa dignidad at sa sariling
kalusugan at kapakanan.

Sundan natin ang paglalakbay ni Nerissa
At sabay-sabay tayong
Matuwa't malungkot,
Masaktan at maghilom.

"Isang pamilya tayo, sa pakikipaglabang ito!
Kung sugat mo ay sugat ko, sa tuwa rin magsasalo!"
=================================================

Ang Palipat-lipat, Pasalin-salin ay isang Musical na lilibot sa
pitong syudad na pinondohan ng UNICEF at Panibagong Paraan/WorldBank.
Ito ay mapapanood sa Dec. 16, 3:00 ng hapon sa UP Film Center.

Ito ay isa lamang sa mga proyekto ng CREATIVE COLLECTIVE CENTER, INC.
Tumawag sa CCCI: Tel . 925 8066/ 0919- 647 7777 para sa iba pang
impormasyon.

Light a candle and get a dollar for AIDS!

2006-12-01T18:04:00.000-08:00

In remembrance of World AIDS Day on December 1st, Bristol-Myers Squibb is donating a dollar to AIDS research every time someone goes to their website and moves the match to the candle and lights it. Please forward this to your friends to spread the word.

Visit: https://www.lighttounite.org

Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise

2006-11-29T20:03:00.000-08:00

Efforts to halt AIDS are falling far short of their targets. Over 25 million people have been lost to AIDS so far, and 4.3 million people were infected with HIV this year. The spread of HIV is quickening – with more people infected in 2006 than in any previous year. This is despite the number of promises by world leaders to provide services to curb the rates of infection and to bring down deaths.

At the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in June 2001, heads of state and government committed themselves to meeting a number of key goals to fight AIDS.

By 2005, 90 percent of young people were supposed to know how to prevent AIDS. In reality only 20 percent of young women and 30 percent of young men had this knowledge.

By 2005, 80 percent of pregnant women living with HIV were supposed to be receiving the simple treatment that can prevent their children from contracting the virus. This treatment costs just a few dollars, yet only 9 percent received it.

Source: UNAIDS... Read more...

Preventing AIDS Among Women, Children in Asia-Pacific

2006-11-20T18:36:00.000-08:00

The United Nations on Monday called for greater efforts to prevent and treat AIDS among pregnant women and newborns in the Asia-Pacific region, where some 930,000 more people became infected last year.

The call for better integration of HIV treatment and maternal health services was made at the opening of the first Asia-Pacific Joint Forum, a five-day conference of officials, health professionals, NGOs and HIV patients from 22 countries.

The challenge is to prevent the disease and improve nutrition "to provide a holistic package of services for mothers and their children," said Richard Bridle, UNICEF deputy regional director for Asia and the Pacific.

Delegates at the conference are expected to agree on a framework for stronger links between maternal and child health, family planning, sexual health and counseling and testing for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, as well as other sexually transmitted infections.

According to U.N. figures, the estimated number of HIV-positive women in the Asia-Pacific region increased by 16 percent to over 2 million between 2001 and 2004. Globally, the increase was 8 percent. The number of new infections among children and young people is also growing.

In 2005, an estimated 8.3 million people, including 411,000 children, were living with HIV in Asia-Pacific, with 82,000 infected that year alone. About 90 percent of these children were infected as a result of mother to child transmission.

During the conference, the delegates will promote a strategy for the prevention of primary HIV infection in mothers and young children. "Linking HIV prevention efforts with reproductive health care can strengthen and improve access to both," said Dr. Chaiyos Kunanusont, an adviser to the United Nations Population Fund.
"Millions of women who don't know their HIV status have an unmet need for effective contraception.

Integrated services would enable them to protect themselves and also reduce HIV transmission to their
children," Kunanusont said. A U.N. statement pointed out that globally, as part of the Millennium Development Goals, governments have agreed to reduce maternal mortality, tackle infant and child mortality, and to prevent the further spread of HIV and AIDS."Yet in many countries, public health budgets remain low, access to health services, especially in rural areas, remains inadequate," it said.

http://www.iht. com/articles/ ap/2006/11/ 06/asia/AS_ GEN_Asia_ AIDS.php

Posted by: "AIDS ASIA" AIDS_ASIA@yahoogroups.com Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:10 pm (PST)

Making HIV Prevention Work -- TAC magazine 'Equal Treatment'

2006-10-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

In recent years many treatment activists and organizations have been speaking up about the need to accelerate and scale up HIV prevention efforts alongside treatment scale up. Attached is a link to the November newsletter of the Treatment Action Campaign "Equal Treatment" which focuses on HIV prevention. This newsletter is a good example of an advocacy tool that can be produced at relatively low cost, is context - specific, and simple, clear and direct in its messaging.

http://www.tac.org.za/documents/et21.pdf

This newsletter is very well produced and forcefully presents the arguments for scaling up HIV prevention programmes and what needs to be done within the South African context. It presents the key issues in a simple but engaging manner. The newsletter has put forward a human face to HIV prevention efforts with clear evidence and data.

Please feel free to use this publication as appropriate in your advocacy efforts. We would also welcome your suggestions on how we can produce similar publications and encourage country level efforts of this nature.

With best wishes

Purnima Mane
Director, Policy Evidence and Partnerships
UNAIDS

Light a candle!

2006-09-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

The innocent victims of Internet child abuse cannot speak for themselves.

But you can.

With your help, we can eradicate this evil trade.
We do not need your money.
We need you to light a candle of support.

We're aiming to light at least One Million Candles by December 31, 2006. This petition will be used to encourage governments, politicians, financial institutions, payment organisations, Internet service providers, technology companies and law enforcement agencies to eradicate the commercial viability of online child abuse. They have the power to work together. You have the
power to get them to take action.

Please light your candle at:
www.lightamillioncandles.com

Together, we can destroy the commercial viability of Internet child abuse sites that are destroying the lives of innocent children.

Kindly share this to your friends, relatives and work colleagues so that they can light a candle too.

PILLOW TALK on 28Sep06

2006-09-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

The Reproductive Health Advocacy Network - Youth (RHAN Youth), Philippine NGO Council on Population, Health & Welfare Inc. (PNGOC) together with the Women’s Health Care Foundation (WHCF) tied up with the Alpha Phi Omega Sorority (APO) UP Diliman Chapter with assistance from the United Nations Population Fund 6th Country Programme (UNFPA) to conduct a forum on Empowering Women for Reproductive Health entitled "PILLOW TALK".

This forum will take place on September 28, 2006 at Claro M. Recto UP Diliman Quezon City at 1PM to 5PM.

We hope that you can come and be a part of the said forum. Registration is FREE.

Thank you and we are looking forward in seeing you there.

Paolo Antonio Fernando
Philippine NGO Council on Population Health & Welfare Inc.
Email: pagf4@pngoc.com
Website: www.geocities.com/pagf4lyf

Women make up most of Filipino workers deployed abroad: study

2006-09-09T19:31:00.000-07:00

SWPR 2006 Launch Coverage
Friday, September 08, 2006 / Sunstar Manila

NEARLY 2,000 or 65 percent of the 3,000 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) deployed to other countries daily are females employed in domestic jobs or as entertainers, according to the 2006 State of the World Population report.

Suneeta Mukherjee, UN Population Fund (UNFPA) country representative, said in 2005 alone, 205,206 Filipino female workers were deployed abroad with 83,524 of them hired as domestic workers or caretakers while 37,891 were hired as overseas performing artists (OPAs).

Of the figure, only five percent were employed under the professional category such as medical-related work and in construction companies.

Citing the 2006 report, Mukherjee said the reason why many Filipino women opt to work overseas in order to meet the basic needs of their family and to provide better education for their children.

Compared to their female counterparts in other labor-sending countries, the 2006 state of population report noted that in Sri Lanka, the ratio of women leaving for work abroad as against males is 2:1.

"While it (domestic jobs) has provided millions of migrant women with an opportunity to improve both their lives and those of their children, the private nature of their work can put them in gross jeopardy," Mukherjee said during the launching of the 2006 State of World Population held at the University of the
Philippines (UP).

Read more here.

WHO guidelines for the use of ART in children

2006-09-06T02:55:00.000-07:00

Source: WHO

Antiretroviral therapy of HIV infection in infants and children in resource-limited settings: towards universal access: Recommendations for a public health approach

The most efficient and cost-effective way to tackle paediatric HIV globally is to reduce mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). However, every day there are nearly 1500 new infections in children under 15 years of age, more than 90% of them occurring in the developing world and most being associated with MTCT (1). HIV-infected infants frequently present with clinical symptoms in the first year of life, and by one year of age an estimated one-third of infected infants will have died, and about half by 2 years of age (2, 3). There is thus a critical need to provide antiretroviral therapy (ART) for infants and children who become infected despite the efforts being made to prevent such infections.

In countries where it has been successfully introduced, ART has substantially changed the face of HIV infection. HIV-infected infants and children now survive to adolescence and adulthood. The challenges of providing HIV care have therefore evolved to become those of chronic as well as acute care. In resource-limited settings, many of which are countries hardest hit by the epidemic, unprecedented efforts made since the introduction of the `3 by 5' targets and global commitments to rapidly scale up access to ART have led to remarkable progress. However, this urgency and intensity of effort have met with less success in extending the provision of ART to HIV-infected children. Significant obstacles to scaling up paediatric care remain, including limited screening for HIV, a lack of affordable simple diagnostic testing technologies, a lack of
human capacity, insufficient advocacy and understanding that ART is efficacious in children, limited experience with simplified standardized treatment guidelines, and a lack of affordable
practicable paediatric antiretroviral (ARV) formulations. Consequently, far too few children have been started on ART in resource-limited settings. Moreover, the need to treat an increasing number of HIV-infected children highlights the primary importance of preventing the transmission of the virus from mother to child in the first place.

WHO guidelines for the use of ART in children were considered within the guidelines for adults published in 2004 (4). Revised, stand-alone comprehensive guidelines based on a public health approach have been developed in order to support and facilitate the management and scale-up of ART in infants and children.

The present guidelines are part of WHO's commitment to achieve universal access to ART by 2010. Related publications include the revised treatment guidelines for adults (i.e. the 2006 revision), revised guidelines on ARV drugs for treating pregnant women and preventing HIV infection in infants, guidelines on the use of cotrimoxazole preventive therapy (CPT),(i) and revised WHO clinical staging for adults and children (5). (i) These three documents are currently in preparation and are expected to be published by WHO in 2006.

Download file in English [pdf 1.54Mb]
http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/guidelines/WHOpaediatric.pdf

Advances in Birth Control

2006-09-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

A repost from Los Angeles Times (US) on Monday, July 10, 2006
Author: Shari Roan

This is turning out to be a pivotal year in birth control.

In the last six months, the Food and Drug Administration has approved an oral contraceptive that eliminates a monthly menstrual period, and can prevent mood swings and other side effects. It also has approved two others that feature shorter periods. And soon it's expected to sign off on a yearlong oral contraceptive and a simpler version of a contraceptive implant.

Of course, there's no long-term data on the new methods -- and they aren't for everyone -- but doctors consider this new generation of birth control to be less risky and more sophisticated than the decades-old predecessors. And still in development are even safer, more advanced options -- with natural hormones and smoother delivery methods.

"Anytime there is a new method, there will be some women who say, 'Oh, thank goodness, there is something for me,' " says Dr. Carolyn L. Westhoff, medical director of the family planning clinics at N! ew York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in New York. "It's not that different than trying to find the best pair of jeans to fit your body."

That's not an easy thing to do. But what seems to fit many women is curtailing or eliminating menstruation altogether.

Two brands of birth control pills, both approved earlier this year and now available, feature shorter periods than the usual five to seven days. The products -- Loestrin 24 Fe and Yaz -- provide 24 days of active pills, forms of the hormones estrogen and progestin, followed by four days of placebo pills.

And in May, the FDA approved Seasonique, a slightly different version of Seasonale, which was approved in 2003 as the first continuous-use oral contraceptive. With Seasonale, which will become available in September, women take the active pills for 84 days followed by seven days of inactive pills to allow for a period. Seasonique, however, substitutes low-dose estrogen in place of the placeb! o pills so that a woman's hormone levels don't crash during the off we ek.

Finally, the FDA is considering an application to approve the first year-long oral contraceptive. Lybrel contains only active pills without any break for a period. "For the last 40 years of the pill, one thing we've done is we've lowered the dose for improved safety," Westhoff says. "But all along we were sticking to this original recipe of 21 days of hormones and seven days of placebo."

The shift to continuous-use oral contraceptives acknowledges a little known fact: Women don't need to have periods.

Although early pills were associated with high levels of hormones and a related risk of blood clots, the level of hormones in birth control pills has dropped dramatically in the last two decades. Now, even taking an active pill 365 days a year is not thought to be harmful, says Dr. David Portman, director of the Columbus Center for Women's Health Research in Columbus,Ohio.

Nor does the extended-use regimen appear to interfere with fertility. In a study of 1! 87 women presented in May at a meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, researchers reported that almost 99% of the women had a period or became pregnant within 90 days of stopping the medication.

"There is no lingering effect of the medication in the body because it is metabolized very quickly," says Dr. Anne R. Davis, an assistant professor at Columbia University and lead investigator of the study. When oral contraceptives were first introduced decades ago, the placebo week "was put in there to mimic the natural cycle," she says. "It was done with the idea that the pill would be more acceptable to women. It wasn't done because of safety or effectiveness."

That's not to say the pills are right for everyone. For those with a shaky memory, the downside of a year-round pill is remembering it every day. In addition, women who miss pills may have more trouble determining if they are pregnant without a break from the pill for menstruation.

! "You would have to go on other symptoms to know if you're pregnant," Davis says. Oral contraceptive use during early pregnancy is not thought to be linked to birth defects, she says.

However, the effects of taking Lybrel during several months of pregnancy have not been specifically studied. And some health experts caution that there is a lack of data on continuous-use birth control pill regimens.

Long-term protection
For women who find daily methods difficult, the first contraceptive implant to emerge since Norplant was removed from the market in 2002 is expected to be approved by the FDA later this year.

That earlier implant consisted of six matchstick-size rods that were placed under the skin of the forearm to release fertility-controlling hormones. But the product was plagued with problems, including the difficulty of inserting and removing the rods.

The new implant, Implanon, consists of a single rod that can prevent pregnancy for three years and is now under FDA review.

Other long-term contraceptives approved! in recent years include NuvaRing, which became available in 2001. A small, flexible vaginal ring that releases hormones, it's worn for three weeks then removed for one week. And Mirena, a hormone-releasing intrauterine device, was approved in 2001 and provides five years of protection.

Another long-term contraceptive, the injectable Depo-Provera, was reformulated in 2004 with lower doses of hormones. The newer formulation is injected four times a year under the skin instead of into the muscle, Westhoff says. A weekly method has also found a niche. Ortho Evra, the first transdermal contraceptive patch, was approved in 2001. Each hormone-releasing patch is worn for one week; after three weeks, no patch is worn to allow for a menstrual cycle.

Some of the newer products do carry some specific risks. In November, the FDA changed the labeling for the Ortho Evra patch to warn that the product exposes women to higher levels of estrogen than most birth control pills, which ! may increase the risk of blood clots. And Depo-Provera has been found to reduce bone density, although the newer formulation is thought to
cause less bone loss.

Enhancing methods
Simply having more options isn't enough for scientists, doctors -- or patients.

Researchers are working to refine existing contraceptives and create new ones. Although hormonal methods are now considered extremely safe, they do carry some risks. Women with a history of blood clots, heart attack, stroke, liver disease or cancer of the breast or sex organs are generally not advised to use hormonal contraceptives.

So as scientists continue to study how to reduce the risks of birth control, they're exploring the use of the natural hormone estradiol to replace ethinyl estradiol, the synthetic version of estradiol found in the majority of hormonal contraceptives that can increase the risk of blood clots and cardiovascular events in susceptible women.

The Population Council, a nonprofit organization that conducts health research, is studying a hormo! nal contraceptive that uses natural estradiol combined with nesterone, a synthetic progestin that closely resembles the natural hormone progesterone. Although nesterone can't be absorbed orally, the combination could be used in a spray or gel applied to the skin.

"The combination will be much more natural than all of these synthetic combinations that are available at the moment," says Regine Sitruk-Ware, executive director of research and development. "We could expect to avoid the metabolic and cardiovascular side effects."

Prisons Called 'HIV FACTORIES' in Asia

2006-09-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

by: Michael Casey, The Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Unprotected sex and rampant drug use in Asia's overcrowded and run-down prisons is fueling the AIDS epidemic in the region, and governments have been slow to recognize the threat, activists say.

Prisons "are HIV factories," said Elizabeth Pisani of Family Health International, an AIDS prevention group in Jakarta. "We are introducing a population that we know to be infected with the virus into an environment where people shoot up drugs and have anal sex."

When HIV-positive prisoners are released, there is a high likelihood they will spread the infection, she said.

Rights activists have long called for better conditions in Asian jails, where they allege inmates are routinely beaten, and deadly diseases like tuberculosis and typhoid go unchecked. Medical care in many prisons is substandard or nonexistent and widespread corruption means just about anything -- from drugs to sex -- can be bought.

Few governments in Asia's developing economies keep officials figures on HIV infections among inmates. But private groups say they are rising at an alarming rate.

In Indonesia, prisons that had reported almost no HIV cases among inmates in 1999 had almost 25 percent of their populations infected in 2003, the National AIDS Commission said.

In Thailand, one quarter of inmates at Klong Prem Central Prison on the outskirts of Bangkok have tested positive for HIV, activists say. AIDS disease has also become a leading killer in Cambodian jails.

Rising HIV rates in Asian prisons reflect a global trend that has also hit Africa, South America and Russia, the United Nations says. South African prisons have seen death rates surge 500 percent in recent years largely because of AIDS.

"It probably is much worse than what we expect because prisons represent the lowest common denominator of society," said Anindya Chatterjee, a senior adviser with UNAIDS in Geneva. "These inmates are the underclass and most vulnerable to HIV. We've seen this in Russia. We've seen this in China and we'll definitely see it in
Indonesia."

Some prisons in Indonesia have started distributing information to new inmates on the dangers of unprotected sex and intravenous drug use and plan to introduce methadone -- a heroin substitute prescribed to addicts -- in Jakarta and Bali prisons starting this month.

But prison officials say they have no money to test inmates for HIV or pay for treatments.

"We know this is a big problem but we've got no money," said Wahid Hussein, an official at the Cipinang Narcotics Prison. "When we see an inmate sick with AIDS, we can't do anything for them."

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has refused to follow the lead of European countries and offer free condoms or clean needles for injecting drug users. Officials say doing so would promote gay sex and drug taking.

Thailand has begun to offer condoms in some prisons, but it is not providing inmates with clean needles.

"OK, so they can't hand out needles -- it's too extreme for them to accept,' said Somchai Krachangsaeng of advocacy group the AIDS Access Foundation. "But maybe they can tell the prisoners the dangers of using drugs."

http://www.outinamerica.com/home/news.asp?articleid=7512

This article was originally posted from AIDS ASIA eFORUM] AIDS Analysis Asia-Pacific eNewsletter.

An eFORUM for peer-to-peer cross-cultural discourse on HIV and AIDS related issues and concerns of people from Asia-Pacific region. Views are of the authors. Privacy policy, ref; the file section.

For further details, please contact the FORUM moderator.
Dr. Joe Thomas by e-mail: joe_thomas123(at)yahoo.com.au or by skype: joethomas123

Where Women Has No Doctor

2006-09-02T18:12:00.000-07:00

Hesperian's new 2006 edition of Where Women Have No Doctor online!
To access the complete edition, visit the website here.

Where Women Have No Doctor combines self-help medical information with an understanding of how poverty, discrimination and culture can limit women's health and access to care. Developed with community-based groups and medical experts from over 30 countries, Where Women Have No Doctor is essential for any woman who wants to improve her health, and for health workers who want more information about the problems that affect only women or that affect women differently from men.

This 2006 edition features new and updated information on HIV/AIDS,including the use of antiretrovirals and preventing mother-to-child transmission, treatment of sexually transmitted infections, family planning, TB, care for women who have had after abortions, and medicines. Major topics covered include: Pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding, health concerns of women with disabilities, girls, older women and refugees, sexual health, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, the use of medicines in women's health, mental health, the politics of women's health, and rape and violence against women.

The book is also available in over 20 languages worldwide, extending its impact to an even wider global audience. Visit our website to see a full ist of translations:
http://www.hesperian.org/publications_translation.php>http://www.hesperian.org/publications_translation.php

Where Women Have No Doctor can also be purchased for $22 plus shipping by calling 1-888-729-1796 (within the USA) or via the website: www.hesperian.org

Note this book is also available as part of Reproductive Health Box Set. Please contact Hesperian directly for inquiries regarding bulk discounts.

‘Butterfly Brigade’ takes flight to promote HIV prevention in the Philippines

2006-09-02T04:54:00.001-07:00

Aklan, Philippines -- In an unusual partnership with provincial authorities, a group of gay activists calling themselves the ‘Butterfly Brigade’ are leading an innovative community awareness campaign on sexual health and HIV prevention in the Philippines. Their work combines wide-reaching public education with social marketing of condoms and care for people living with HIV.

The Brigade was founded five years ago by a small group seeking to share knowledge within their own community. Since this time their efforts have blossomed into a network of 164 volunteers, mostly gay men, who run classes in 17 municipalities throughout Aklan province—in high schools and colleges, and within health programmes for women and men involved in sex work.

Read more here.

Source: UNAIDS

Welcome to the PinoyRH Blog

2006-09-01T00:13:00.000-07:00

Pinoy RH is an electronic forum on sexual and reproductive health in the Philippines.

Pinoy RH aims to address issues relating to reproductive health, such as family planning, maternal mortality, unsafe abortion, STDs, HIV and AIDS. It would also allow members to share ideas and experiences with other members and discuss issues that are important to the members' programs. The exchange of information and experiences could help reduce duplication of efforts, and would benefit the larger community.

Pinoy RH is for the Filipino community, and so messages may be either in English or Filipino, or both.

Pinoy RH was initially envisioned by a core group of organizations involved in information technology initiatives. The core group members are the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC), Remedios AIDS Foundation, Health Action Information Network (HAIN), UNAIDS, and Ford Foundation.

Join the Pinoy RH egroup here.

Pinoy RH Member's Profile Form

2006-09-01T00:02:00.000-07:00

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