UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
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This newsletter is being made available by the Population Information
Network (POPIN) of the United Nations Population Division (DESIPA) and
Population Communication International. For further information please
contact Patrice_Newman@together.org
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INTERNATIONAL DATELINE
A Population and Development News and Information Service
OCTOBER WORLD POPULATION UPDATE:
5,807,464,000 (Population Reference Bureau)
OCTOBER 1996
THE RECENT GROWTH OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES AND THEIR IMPACT ON PLANET
EARTH is outlined in all its drama by the Washington-based Worldwatch
Institute in the 1996 edition of State of the World, sub-titled A
Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society.
Under the heading, "The Acceleration of History," Worldwatch notes
"the sheer magnitude of human population growth" in this century, the
huge expansion of the world economy since 1950, and the "spiraling
human demands" for resources that are outstripping the renewal
capacity of the earth's natural systems. Evidence of the damage
caused by these excessive demands, Worldwatch contends, "takes the
form of collapsing fisheries, falling water tables, shrinking
forests, eroding soils, dying lakes, crop-withering heat waves, and
disappearing species." And, Worldwatch says, just as the effects of
population growth threaten to overwhelm some governments, the stress
between the demands of the global economy and the natural limits of
resources are creating additional burdens.
WORLDWATCH ARGUES THAT MODELS AND CORNERSTONES FOR SUSTAINABLE
SOCIETIES EXIST TODAY, noting the stabilization of population levels
in 30 countries--most of those in Europe plus Japan; the
stabilization of the food/people balance in Europe; the reduction in
production levels of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs); the dramatic growth
in the world's wind power generating capacity, and the growth in
bicycle use. All these, Worldwatch says, are trends for the world
to build on. But they add that "avoiding catastrophe is going to
take a far greater effort than is now being contemplated by the
world's political leaders." People know what needs to be done,
Worldwatch asserts, but inertia and the investment of powerful
interests in the status quo get in the way. As an example, the
Worldwatch report says that securing food supplies for the next
generation "depends on an all-out effort to stabilize population and
climate." But they note that we resist changing our reproductive
behavior and refrain from converting our "climate-destabilizing,
fossil-fuel-based economy to a solar/hydrogen-based one."
STATE OF THE WORLD 1996 OUTLINES A BLUEPRINT FOR WEANING THE
WORLD FROM THROWAWAY ECONOMIES, recommending environmental taxes,
recycling programs, and an end to ecologically-destructive subsidies.
Currently, the study says, global economies are destroying the
environment on which they depend for growth, sustainability and even
survival. Worldwatch says that a key way to reverse the trend would
be to shift from income taxes to environmental taxes levied on such
destructive activities as mining, overfishing, and fossil-fuel
burning. With such a change, Worldwatch estimates, the present
global annual personal and corporate income taxes of US$7.5 trillion
could be slashed by at least US$1 trillion. Five European countries-
-Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom, the
study says--are already pioneering the switchover. In 1991,
trailblazing Sweden cut personal income taxes by 4 percent while
offsetting that amount with several environmental taxes, notably
levies on emissions of sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide. Worldwatch
points out that similar penalty taxes could be applied to the clear-
cutting of forests; the manufacture of throw-away products; the
generation of toxic wastes; the depletion of groundwater supplies,
and the conversion of cropland into non-farm uses.
MOST NATIONAL POLITICAL LEADERS DO NOT SEEM TO BE AWARE OF THE
FUNDAMENTAL SHIFTS OCCURRING IN THE WORLD FOOD ECONOMY, says
Worldwatch, largely because official food supply projections by the
World Bank and the United Nations "are essentially extrapolations of
past trends." Worldwatch says that understanding the future food
scenario requires assembling an interdisciplinary team of analysts
including agronomists, hydrologists, biologists, meteorologists, and
economists. Only then, Worldwatch says, could factors such as soil
erosion, aquifer depletion, and intense heat waves be incorporated
into projections. Worldwatch insists that the effort needed to
stabilize both population levels and climate change "will require
mobilization on a scale comparable to World War II." These two
elements, they assert, are key to the achievement of a wide array of
social goals including restoring a rise in food consumption per
person and protecting the diversity of plant and animal species. The
study notes that knowledge and technology have increased in this
century and given humankind valuable tools such as "a well-developed
global communications network, a growing body of scientific
knowledge, and the possibility of using fiscal policy" to build
sustainable communities. The 250-page report was compiled by 10
writers and covers some of the most daunting challenges facing the
world today. They range from climate change, and the crushing
demands on freshwater supplies and agricultural land to infectious
diseases and the link between environmental justice and human rights.
The text is accompanied by charts, graphs and tables and a nine-page
index. Also available is the 1996 Worldwatch Database Disk, covering
Worldwatch publications from mid-century onward and including State
of the World 1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, contact: Worldwatch Institute, 1776
Massachusetts Avenue N.W., Washington DC 20036, USA.
* * * * *
IN BRIEF . . .
. . . "IT TOOK 10,000 LIFETIMES for the world's population to
reach two billion people. In the course of a single lifetime today,
it is increasing to three times as many, and within another lifetime
could double again." Words from Dr. Frederick T. Sai, Ghanaian
family health physician, former President of the International
Planned Parenthood Federation, and key leader at the 1994 United
Nations International Conference on Population and Development in
Cairo.
(Putting People First, Dr. Frederick T. Sai, International
Lecture Series on Population Issues, MacArthur Foundation,
Chicago, Illinois, USA)
. . . AT LEAST 45 MILLION ABORTIONS are estimated to be
performed annually throughout the world, or nearly one for every
three live births, according to a report from the United Nations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that there are about 25
million legal abortions and 20 million illegal abortions, though they
note that due to the clandestine nature of such procedures, the
actual number is difficult to gauge. WHO estimates that more than
70,000 women die annually as a result of complications from unsafe
abortion. (Reuters, 15 February 1996, United Nations)
. . . CUBA'S POPULATION reached 11 million in January, despite
a low birth rate, says the country's Department of Demographics of
the National Office of Statistics. In 1950, according to the United
Nations, Cuba's population was just under six million. Its current
total fertility rate is 1.5 children per woman.
(Miami Herald, 14 February 1996, Miami; World Population
Prospects: The 1994 Revision, United Nations, New York; 1996
World Population Data Sheet, Population Reference Bureau)
. . . THE 'BUTTERFLY-IUD'--an experimental copper IUD made with
a flexible, closed-loop design and no removal thread--has a perfect
record so far in an ongoing study among 108 British women. In 150
woman-years of testing, no expulsions and no pregnancies have been
recorded among participants in the IUD study. Inserted through a
tube that protects it from contamination, the Butterfly-IUD is
removed with a plastic hook--thus avoiding the need for threads which
in other IUDs may be associated with uterine infection. Among women
with an ongoing need for contraception, the continuation rate for the
Butterfly-IUD was 83 percent.
(International Family Planning Perspectives, September 1996, The
Alan Guttmacher Institute, New York; from British Journal of
Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1996)
. . . THE SPERMICIDE NONOXYNOL-9, used with both diaphragms and
condoms, can cause urinary tract infections in women. According to
a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology, using condoms with
nonoxynol-9 more than once a week more than triples the likelihood
of a woman getting a urinary tract infection. The problem, according
to study leader Stephan Fihn of the University of Washington, is that
the spermicide is a "fairly non-specific killer" that fights harmful
germs such as herpes and HIV--the virus that causes AIDS, but also
wipes out the helpful bacteria that maintain a healthy environment.
For average women, the researchers say, the spermicide's disease-
prevention benefits outweigh the risks. For those with a history of
infection, Fihn recommends using a different contraceptive method,
such as uncoated condoms along with birth control pills.
(Science News, September 14, 1996, Washington, DC)
* * * * *
"THE PROCESS OF BRINGING NEW LIFE INTO THE WORLD IS A MAJOR
CAUSE OF DEATH AND DISABILITY AMONG YOUNG WOMEN in developing
countries," according to a report titled The Progress of Nations
1996. Statistically, every year pregnancy and childbirth take the
lives of nearly 600,000 women, leaving at last one million motherless
children. Furthermore, for every one of these women who dies, 30
more suffer serious pregnancy-related injuries. The grim data were
compiled by the World Health Organization, the John Hopkins
University and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for
UNICEF's 1996 edition of its annual Progress of Nations report. In
its first new estimates of maternal mortality and morbidity in a
decade, the 1996 Progress report shows a 20 percent increase over
previous figures. So far in the 1990s, the report says, 3 million
young women have been victims of one or more of the most common
causes of pregnancy-related deaths. On an annual basis, these
include hemorrhaging (140,000), pathogenic bacterial infection
(100,000), attempted self-abortion (75,000) and obstructed labor
(40,000). According to the new data, Canada has the lowest rate of
maternal deaths: 1 in 7,300. The rate in Western Europe and the
United States is nearly twice that high, or 1 in about 3,250. But
in the developing world, the records are infinitely worse: 1 in 35
women in South Asia and an appalling 1 in 13 in sub-Saharan Africa
die of maternal causes. To reduce the rate of deaths and injuries,
the UNICEF report recommends a multi-pronged strategy, including
improved education, nutrition and health care before, during and
after pregnancy.
"THE SILENCE AROUND THE ISSUES RELATED TO MATERNAL DEATH AND
INJURY NEEDS TO BE BROKEN," asserts UNICEF'S 1996 Progress of Nations
report, noting that family planning services should be widely
available, as well as good quality healthcare, education and
nutrition both before and after pregnancy. Most of all, the report
says, women in developing countries need access to the same skilled
obstetric care that made the difference in the industrialized world
earlier this century. The Progress report reminds us that in the
United Kingdom, for example, it was not until the 1930s, when
obstetric care began to address obstructed labor, hemorrhage and
infection, that death rates began their sharp fall to today's levels.
The UNICEF report contends that adequate obstetric services could be
provided at thousands of existing Third World hospitals with minimum
upgrades such as "repairing an anesthesia machine or installing
proper lighting."
ON CHILD MALNUTRITION, THE STUDY EXPOSES SOME SURPRISING DATA.
Contrary to popular belief, malnutrition rates among children under
age five are significantly higher in South Asia than in Africa. In
Bangladesh, India and Pakistan--which together contain half the
world's malnourished children, the malnutrition rate for children
under five is twice as high as in sub-Saharan Africa's poor
countries. UNICEF attributes the poor Asian record to high rates of
low-birth-weight babies, lower status of many Asian women, the high
population density, poor hygiene, and unsatisfactory patterns of
breastfeeding and weaning.
AMONG INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES, THE UNITED STATES HAS THE
LARGEST NUMBER OF BOTH RICH AND POOR CHILDREN--with one in five, or
20 percent, living below the poverty line, according to UNICEF's 1996
Progress of Nations report. Four other developed countries--
Australia, Canada, Ireland and Israel--have significantly better
records, with child poverty rates of 10 percent. And 11 of the 18
"most economically successful" countries surveyed by the UNICEF
report score below 10 percent in rates of child poverty because, the
report points out, of government safety nets provided for children.
France, for example, has reduced the number of its below-poverty
children to 6.5 percent. Other items highlighted by the study show
that Sweden is at the top in literacy, Japan has the lowest teen
birth rate, Finland has the most 15-year-old smokers, and Russia has
the highest child accident rate. Suicide rates among young people
in the 15-to-24 age bracket, UNICEF says, are highest in Finland,
Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Russia and Slovenia.
For information on obtaining copies of the 1996 Progress of
Nations report, contact: Emily Booker or Patrick McCormick, Division
of Information, UNICEF New York, 3 United Nations Plaza, New York,
Ny 10017 USA. Tel: 212-326-7259. Fax: 212-326-7768.
(Press Release, 11 June 1996, UNICEF, New York)
* * * * *
BOYS ARE FAR MORE LIKELY THAN GIRLS TO START THEIR SEXUAL LIVES
EARLIER, according to a survey in Latin America. The study of five
cities concluded that 8 or 9 out of every 10 boys--but only 4 or 5
out of 10 girls--say they had their first sexual intercourse before
the age of 20. Actually, the ages ran much lower. For example,
among adolescent boys, 1 in 6 in Mexico City, 3 in 10 in Guatemala
City and nearly 4 in 10 in Sao Paulo and Salvador, Brazil, had their
first sexual encounter before their 15th birthday. But for girls,
the mean age was 17 in Mexico City and 17.2 and 16.8 in Salvador and
Sao Paulo, respectively. In Quito, Ecuador, the ages were 15.1 for
boys and 17.4 for girls. The data, supplied by the New York-based
Alan Guttmacher Institute, also covered a sampling in the United
States among unmarried teenagers in the 15-19 age bracket. It showed
that 38 percent had their first sexual experience before age 15 and
79 percent by the age of 19.
(The Youth Round UP, December 1995, International Youth Press
Service, Copenhagen, Denmark)
* * * * *
IF THE THIRD WORLD'S SO-CALLED 'UNMET NEED' FOR FAMILY PLANNING
WERE SATISFIED, would it reduce fertility significantly? One
demographic school says Yes. The other says No. A study
encompassing 27 developing countries, 13 of them in sub-Saharan
Africa, concludes that "the truth lies somewhere between." Published
in International Family Planning Perspectives, the study estimates how
high levels of contraceptive use would be if unmet need were
satisfied and calculates the fertility rates implied by such levels.
In the final analysis, the authors assert that meeting "unmet need"
should be an essential goal for family planning policymakers. Their
central conclusion is that a "substantial reduction in fertility
rates could be realized by satisfying unmet need" for contraception.
TOTAL FERTILITY RATES (TFRs) COULD BE REDUCED BY 18 PERCENT JUST
BY SATISFYING UNMET NEED, say the study's authors, Charles F. Westoff
and Akinrinola Bankole, both of Princeton University. They note that
such a reduction would bring population growth rates 50 percent
closer to replacement levels in some countries and an average of 30
percent closer in sub-Saharan Africa. Proponents of the "unmet need"
theory hold that 120 million women want to postpone or avoid further
childbearing but are not practicing contraception. But challengers
contend that the 120 million figure does not accurately represent the
number of women whose needs are unmet, asserting that many of these
women say flatly that they do not intend to practice contraception,
with reasons ranging from health concerns to infrequency of sexual
activity. Insistence on the prevalence of unmet need, this school
counters, stems from "faulty measurements" and "some confusion"
between contraceptive supply and demand. Using three sets of
assumptions to compensate for different variables, Westoff and
Bankole's estimates project a range of possibilities--some admittedly
more realistic than others. In sub-Saharan Africa, the most likely
fertility reduction from meeting unmet need would be 17 percent, the
authors say. Outside the sub-Sahara, they found greater variation
in fertility levels when projected onto the models. In Pakistan,
they say, the average number of births during a woman's childbearing
years, or TFR, is likely to decline from 5.4 to 4.4--a drop of 18.6
percent. And in Turkey, where fertility already has declined
markedly, Westoff and Bankole assert that the current TFR of 2.5
children could drop to 2.1, a 16 percent reduction.
FOR FAMILY PLANNING POLICY MAKERS, THE AUTHORS CONCEDE THAT THE
PROGRAM RESPONSES REQUIRED ARE COMPLEX. For example, they note that
satisfying "unmet need" would still leave fertility rates very high,
especially but not exclusively in sub-Saharan Africa. There, they
say, the demand for fewer children remains low. But the study
concludes: "Judging from several decades of experience in Asia and
Latin America, this demand could develop rapidly."
(International Family Planning Perspectives, March 1996, Alan
Guttmacher Institute, New York)
* * * * *
ACROSS-BORDERS WORKER MIGRATION, AT AN ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH, now
accounts for a large proportion of population growth in
industrialized nations. For example, because of low birth rates,
foreigners form a majority of the workforce in much of the Middle
East. In the United States, migrant workers account for one-third
of population growth, and in Germany, for all of it. Of the world's
125 million migrant workers (about 2 percent of Earth's population),
half live in developing countries where they work in oil fields,
diamond mines or expanding industries. And the migrant workforce is
expanding by 2 million to 4 million a year. The statistics are
contained in a report entitled, International Migration: A Global
Challenge, newly released by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB),
a non-profit research organization. The study predicts that--spurred
by the economic pull of opportunities, the family unification factor,
and the push of instability in homelands--international migration is
here to stay. As for refugees, Africa and Western Asia contain over
half the world's 27 million of these peoples, displaced chiefly by
war and ethnic conflict.
THE `INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION' STUDY IS A 48-PAGE REPORT
CONTAINING TEXT, charts, tables and photographs on the subject.
Sections cover such topics as the reasons for migration, refugees and
asylum seekers, measures taken to reduce the inflow of migrants and
migration trends by region. The survey discusses the balance between
benefits and costs to the host country. It notes, for instance, that
governments often try to discourage immigration because of the
perception that foreign workers take jobs away from nationals.
However, the study says: "It is difficult to demonstrate that
immigrants are taking jobs from natives, and harder still to measure
the social and economic costs of integrating an ethnic or religious
minority." The study cites three main factors that promote
successful migrant-worker programs:
1. Programs work best when dealing with legal migrants, since
illegal aliens make control and monitoring of foreign guest workers
more difficult.
2. Strong labor unions and regulatory agencies help governments
determine whether and how many migrant workers are needed and to
monitor their effect on the native labor force.
3. Employer taxes or levies minimize wage or labor-market
distortion caused by foreign workers.
The study suggests that for governments, guest-worker programs
are only a second-best solution--that the preferred and perhaps more
humane approach is to rely on the native labor force or to permit
immigrants to enter permanently. The study says that policymakers
should remember the words of Swiss playwright Max Frisch on European
guestworkers in this century: "We asked for workers, and we got human
beings."
JOURNALISTS MAY REQUEST A FREE COPY of International Migration.
Others may purchase the booklet for US$8.50. Contact: Population
Reference Bureau, 1875 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 520, Washington,
DC 20009-5728, USA. Tel: 202-483-1100. Internet:
<http://www.prb.org/prb/>
(Population Bulletin, April 1996, Population Reference Bureau,
Washington)
* * * * *
FROM ITS PRIME MINISTER TO ITS DOMESTIC WORKERS, WOMEN IN NORWAY
ARE PROPELLING THEMSELVES toward across-the-board equality with men.
At the top is Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway's third-term incumbent
prime minister. And down the line, women are moving--sometimes
slowly--toward gender equality. The statistics come from studies by
the Gender Equality Council, an office within the Norwegian Ministry
of Children and Family Affairs. In public life, 39 percent of the
seats in the Storting (Parliament) are held by women, who also
represent 42 percent of government staff. Nevertheless, there are
areas in which women are still trailing--notably in pay. A woman's
pay check in Norwegian industry is still only 85 percent of a man's.
For routine office work, she earns 98 percent of a man's pay, while
for an office job requiring special education qualifications, her
income drops to 95 percent. The biggest financial gender gap is in
retail work, where women in senior positions in shops receive only
86 percent of men's salaries. More Norwegian women, however, are
seeking higher education and now represent 56 percent of college and
university students. But they still receive less formal education:
43 percent of graduate students are women, and only 22 percent get
doctoral degrees. (News of Norway, March 1996, Washington)
* * * * *
AN ANALYSIS OF THE "FACTORS INFLUENCING THE POLICY RESPONSES OF
HOST GOVERNMENTS TO MASS REFUGEE INFLUXES" has been published in the
Fall 1996 issue of The International Migration Review, a quarterly
publication featuring scholarly studies, conference reports and book
reviews. Author Karen Jacobsen focuses on less developed host
countries (LCDs) in Africa, Asia and Central America to examine the
complex interplay of variables that determine refugee policy. She
finds that pressures from refugees, the local community and the
"international refugee regime," which includes United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), all contribute a host country's
treatment of refugees. And, writes Jacobsen, "since many legal-
bureaucratic decisions affect subsequent refugee policy decisions,
legal-bureaucratic policy is itself an independent variable." The
first choice concerns the allocation of responsibility for refugees.
Jacobsen stresses that in countries where refugee policy is not part
of the national security or foreign policy agenda, a civilian state
agency--usually within the Ministry of the Interior or Social Welfare
Department--is important. Since the staff of such agencies have a
stake in the refugees in terms of bureaucratic survival and personal
career advancement, she says, they are more prone to set positive
refugee policies. In contrast, Jacobsen says, when responsibility
is left to the military, or to a department with other priorities,
negative policies are more likely to result, as refugees will be
considered an added burden and thus, especially in the case of the
army, a potential threat to security.
RELATIONS WITH THE SENDING COUNTRY ARE A VITAL FACTOR IN THE
TREATMENT OF REFUGEES, Jacobsen says. She cites the "Haitian-Cuban
syndrome": In the 1980s, the United States accorded asylum to
citizens fleeing Cuba; but Haitians escaping similar persecution were
not given refugee status, because their country was, unlike Cuba, not
communist. Sending and receiving countries are known to manipulate
refugee flows in order to embarrass or pressure each other. A
sending country may wish to destabilize the host, force the host to
recognize the sending country, or stop the host from interfering in
its affairs. For its part, the receiving country can decide whether
or not to grant refugee status to asylum seekers, knowing that doing
so implies that the sending country persecutes its people. Another
factor in determining refugee policy is the local absorption capacity
of the receiving country. Jacobsen defines this never-static state
as a combination of ability based on finances and international
assistance, and willingness based on the perception of ability.
Economic capacity, always a major factor of a host's policies, is
based on land availability and carrying capacity, employment patterns
and infrastructure. An influx of refugees strains the ecosystem of
a community, creating or aggravating resource shortages and thus
affecting both land availability and land quality. High economic
capacity eases the strain of refugees on a community, although,
according to Jacobsen, it is generally only the richer members of a
community who actually benefit from an influx of refugees.
JACOBSEN ARGUES AGAINST THE NOTION THAT ECONOMIC CONCERNS ARE
THE OVERRIDING FACTOR in refugee policy, and emphasizes instead the
interplay of a wide range of domestic and international
considerations. "Few other domestic policy issues are as
transnational in their subject matter as refugee policies," she
writes. "Refugees are manifestations of the problems of another
country which suddenly become the problems of one's own." If you
would like a copy of the entire article, Write to us at PCI.
(International Migration Review, Fall 1996, Center for Migration
Studies, New York)
* * * * *
NGO SUPPLEMENT OCTOBER 1996
For and About NGOs and their Work
AVSC--WHICH STANDS FOR ACCESS TO VOLUNTARY AND SAFE
CONTRACEPTION--is a New York-based non-governmental organization
(NGO) addressing gender issues and quality in reproductive health
care. Its infection prevention program works with governments and
other NGOs worldwide, developing strategies tailored to the needs and
constraints of each country or program. AVSC points out that though
infection prevention protects the health of clients, health care
providers and the community as a whole, "many service sites do not
have the training, administrative support, or supplies needed to
follow internationally accepted standards of infection prevention."
In Nepal, an AVSC pilot program employs two teams which visit family
planning centers throughout the country. The teams hold orientations
with administrative and clinical staff, review the site's infection
prevention practices, recommend improvements, conduct on-site
training that focuses on problem areas, and provide basic infection
prevention supplies. A similar project is underway in Egypt, where
AVSC visits university hospitals to survey current practices, conduct
workshops, and offer technical assistance, setting up its own team
of physicians and nurses. AVSC reports that the success of its
efforts in both Nepal and Egypt is largely due to the cooperation and
involvement of local administrators.
IN BANGLADESH, AVSC'S MEDICAL MONITORING SYSTEM FOR NGOs
PROVIDED A MODEL FOR A SIMILAR GOVERNMENT PROGRAM. AVSC now works
with the government of Bangladesh to maintain quality wherever family
planning services are offered. An AVSC system developed in the 1970s
established a network of regional supervisors who regularly visited
local clinics to assess the medical quality of services. In 1981,
the government formed similar mobile teams, but employed foreign
medical experts managed by donor agencies (most notably the World
Bank). Now these teams have evolved into Family Planning Clinical
Supervision Teams (FPCSTs), which are comprised of local medical
experts who, AVSC says, represent some of the most experienced
Bangladeshi clinical service providers. AVSC now assists FPCSTs
through training and monitoring and by providing updates in current
health care techniques.
AVSC HAS RECENTLY BECOME ACTIVE IN UKRAINE, where only 20 per
cent of sexually active women report using modern contraceptive
methods. Abortion is a common form of birth control in the Ukraine--
there are 150 abortions for every 100 live births. Moreover, an
estimated 23 per cent of maternal deaths in Ukraine are linked to
abortion or post-abortion complications. In July and August of 1995,
AVSC organized a three-week study tour of the United States for 15
Ukrainian obstetrician-gynecologists. The doctors were trained in
IUD insertion, studied breastfeeding and child spacing, and visited
local clinics and hospitals. They also met with members of the U.S.
Congress to discuss family planning policy issues.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON AVSC'S PROGRAMS, CONTACT: AVSC, 79
Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016, USA. Tel: 212-561-8000.
(AVSC News, Vol. 33, No. 4, AVSC, New York)
* * * * *
THE APELO WOMEN'S HEALTH ASSOCIATION (AWHA) is a health
cooperative that was set up in 1991 in an effort to empower women in
the depressed community of Apelo Cruz in the Philippines' Pasay City.
AWHA focuses on helping women gain control of their lives,
particularly their health and fertility. AWHA was conceived as a
replacement for a health institution that provided free medicines and
services. Run by a women's commission called GABRIELA, the free
services, though popular, were encountering patterns of dependency
and abuse among clients. Dr. Junice Melgar, Commission Coordinator
of AWHA, believes that the free services became "a drawback in making
women responsible for their own health." She recalls that women who
were not in need of care would come to the clinics for the free
medicine, which they would then sell for cash.
THE HEALTH COOPERATIVE CHARGES ITS MEMBERS A LOW FEE THAT COVERS
THE COST OF MEDICINE and contributes to a fund from which women can
obtain modest loans. These loans are available for emergencies,
including hospital care or basic necessities such as rice, but also
enable women to start their own businesses. AWHA educates women on
their rights within marriage and with abusive men. According to Emma
Fabela, who heads a team of four health volunteers and represents
AWHA on the GABRIELA Commission, "women in the community are slowly
beginning to realize they have rights." She adds that while members
were initially reluctant to open up, "AWHA has now become the only
organization in the neighborhood where everybody gets to speak their
minds." The collective also teaches members to be observant of their
own and their families health, including how to administer drugs and
recognize signs of cancer. AWHA reports an increase in contraceptive
use in Apelo Cruz, where abortion is illegal, as it is in the rest
of the Philippines. Fabela says that before many members started
using contraceptives, they would resort to abortion when facing an
unwanted pregnancy, despite the fact that it is illegal. Over the
years, GABRIELA has gradually withdrawn from AWHA, allowing it to
function independently. AWHA members are confident in the survival
of their cooperative. According to AWHA member Remedios de la Tonga,
"we can be self-reliant as long as people are united." (People & The
Planet, Vol. 4, Number 3, Planet 21, London)
* * * * *
A `YOUTH SERVICE TEAM PROJECT' FORMED TO GUIDE CHILDREN ON
VISITS TO THEIR PARENTS IN LONDON PRISONS was recently put together
by two large NGOs, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl
Scouts (WAGGGS) and Save the Children. The principal goal, according
to WAGGS, was to enable children to spend quality time with their
imprisoned parents. Chosen for their experience and interest in both
criminal justice and child development, the Guides hailed from
Australia, Canada, the United States, Switzerland and the
Netherlands. The international nature of the team allowed members
to learn about the criminal justice and prison systems of all
participating countries. Following a week of training and
orientation, the Guides assisted in running all-day visits to
London's HMP Holloway, a women's prison, and HMP Pentonville, a
prison for men. The Service Team worked within existing family
programs and made an effort to focus on the needs of the children
regardless of the parents' crimes. The WAGGS coordinator for the
project said that while the children's visits could be physically and
emotionally exhausting, seeing the children happily reunited with
their parents for even a brief period was rewarding. In both
prisons, the Guides ran childcare facilities, and Holloway
incorporated activities such as crafts, games and swimming. In
Pentonville, the team also staffed the visitors' center, providing
practical and emotional support to prison visitors who, WAGGS points
out, may have travelled many hours to visit their partner, parent or
friend in prison. Both organizations hope that current negotiations
with Guides in the United Kingdom will lead to their continuing the
efforts of the Youth Service Team.
(Our World News, March 1996, World Association of Girl Guides
and Girl Scouts, London)
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