From DEBRA@OLN.comlink.apc.orgFri Sep 15 10:26:11 1995
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 1995 01:01:00 +0100
From: Debra Guzman <DEBRA@OLN.comlink.apc.org>
Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org
To: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org
Subject: WCW: Third World Network Papers: Health

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## Original in: /HRNET/WOMEN
## author     : ngonet@chasque.apc.org
## date       : 11.09.95

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Health For All Women
Maria Zuniga

THE Third World Network and the International People's
Health Council conceive of health as a fundamental human
right. Therefore access to health care should not be subject
to discrimination of any kind.  Nevertheless, the reality is
that women are considered to be second or third class
citizens and many governments and societies have denied them
this right.

Actually an elevated percentage of women of all ages in the
world do not have access to any type of health service. On
the other hand, the limited health services to which they
have access are not of high quality, nor do they respond to
women's needs and possibilities.  This has a direct and
dramatic incidence in the living conditions of women.

In the Platform of Action of the IV World Conference on
Women, in the chapter that refers to the inequalities in
access to health and related services, it is important to
emphasise the following points:

1. Guarantee access to integral health services and not
limit health services to a basic minimum.

2. Demonstrate that structural adjustment is having
devastating effects on public health systems and especially
on the health conditions of women.  As was discussed at the
Social Summit, the International Financial Institutions have
a fundamental responsibility for this worsening situation
and must take action to detain and remedy this situation.

3. Governments have the undeniable responsibility to
guarantee that women, independently of their age, ethnic
origin, religion, capacity or sexual preference, have access
to services and information on health, including sexual and
reproductive aspects.

4. Reiterate the language of the Platform of Action approved
at the International Conference on Population and
Development in Cairo, with reference to the sexual and
reproductive rights of people.

5. Emphasise the rights of all women to control their
fertility, as a fundamental step toward their emancipation.

6. The rights of adolescents to information and health care
according to their necessities that include sexual and
reproductive health and the prevention of sexually
transmitted diseases, principally HIV/AIDS. 7. The need to
define and implement health policies that take into account
the opinion and participation of women.

8. The urgency of designing and implementing accessible
health services that take into consideration the different
stages in the life cycle of women.

9. Point out that genome and genetic experimentation ought
to be monitored and respond to an internationally defined
code of ethics. 10.Guarantee the access of women to truthful
information and education about their health, including
sexual and reproductive aspects, as well as adequate and
safe treatments, eliminating attitudes and practices that
discriminate against women. In the document there is no
mention of the Transnational Pharmaceutical Companies and
their responsibility toward the health of women. Frequently
women have been used as experimental animals.  It is
fundamental that the document insist on the need to define a
code of ethics and system of vigilance with respect to the
investigations and practices that are being carried out by
the companies, as well as controlling the immense profits
being made by the companies at the expense of women.

In addition it is necessary to develop precise indicators
and detailed mechanisms for monitoring and follow up of the
health conditions of women and girls. If this is not done,
the risk exists of remaining in good intentions that have no
direct benefit on the lives of millions of women and girls
who are quite far from reaching the goal of Health for All
by the year 2000, as had been proposed at the Health
Conference in Alma Ata in 1978.

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Maria Zuniga is a health activist from Nicaragua. She works
for the Peoples' Health Council.