>>Available from IWHC

Summary: By Adrienne Germain and AnibalFaundes (Challenges in Reproductive Health Research: Biennial Report1992-1993, edited by J. Khanna, P.F.A. Van Look and P.D. Griffin,Geneva: World Health Organization, 1994). Invited chapter in report ofUNDP/UNFPA/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Developmentand Research Training in Human Reproduction describing the need for andbenefits of including women as decision makers in the development anddelivery of reproductive health technology (7 pages).

>>Available from IWHC

Summary: By Ruth Dixon-Mueller (Studies in Family Planning, Vol. 24, No. 5, 1993, New York: Population Council). Literature review commissioned by IWHC and the Working Group on Sexuality and Gender (IWHC and the Population Council). Explores the importance of sexuality and gender-based power relations to reproductive health policies and programs (13 pages).

Universal access to reproductive health is vital to the effective implementation of population, health and development policies and to the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This IWHC brief describes in practical terms the justification for and components of the essential policy and program package. 

Every year, more than half a million women die and untold numbers suffer temporary or long-term disabilities from preventable pregnancy-related causes. Five complications account for the majority of maternal deaths worldwide. Read more in English, Spanish, French, or Portuguese.

>>Available in PDF

>>Also available in French, Portuguese, and Spanish

Safe abortion—the termination of a pregnancy by trained health care providers using correct, sanitary technique and proper equipment—is a simple, lifesaving health service. Nonetheless, of the 42 million induced abortions each year, an estimated 20 million are unsafe and 97% of those occur in developing countries.  Every year, nearly 70,000 women die unnecessarily from the complications of unsafe abortions, and countless more suffer infections, infertility, and debilitating injuries.