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Mount comprehensive responses tailored to national realities.

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Summary: By Rounaq Jahan (Reproductive Health Matters, Vol. 11, No. 21, May 2003). Examines how advocates for gender equity succeeded in influencing health sector reform in Bangladesh in the mid-1990s, but failed to exert the same influence over the implementation of those reforms. The article discusses the major challenges advocates faced, the strategies they developed in response, and as a result, the gains they were able to achieve. These included ensuring that social and gender equity as well as reproductive health were central concerns of the health system, developing indicators to monitor program performance, improving community and stakeholder participation, and recognizing the importance of gender in all health interventions. Despite these successes, substantial ground was lost in the implementation process, indicating the need for civil society to play a more prominent role at each stage of the reform process (9 pages).

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Summary: By Rama Lakshminarayanan (Reproductive Health Matters, Vol. 11, No. 21, May 2003). An analysis of the difficulties associated with health sector reform in the Philippines, in particular the negative consequences for reproductive health services. The decentralization process, initiated in 1991, was intended to improve the efficiency, equity, and effectiveness of the health sector. Given existing weaknesses and inequities in the system, however, the process created a number of unanticipated problems, with particular consequences for women. In order to avoid such problems in the future, it is necessary to consider a number of health and non-health factors before undertaking such reforms, and to be willing to make adjustments during implementation (12 pages).

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December 1, 2002

By Adrienne Germain

On a recent trip to India and Bangladesh, I looked into the face of AIDS in Asia, which is increasingly adolescent and female.

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Summary: Essay by Pinar Ilkkaracan,written as part of the publication, "Of War, Siege, and Lebanon:Women’s voices from the Middle East and South Asia" (compiled by Womenfor Women’s Human Rights–New Ways, September 2006). Discusses war andmilitarism in the Middle East since 2001 and its impact on the healthand human rights of women and girls (5 pages).

The full report is available on WWHR's website .

>>Available from WWHR's website

Summary: WWHR Booklet (Published byWomen for Women's Human Rights-New Ways, February 2005). Includes thestories and results of two successful campaigns by the women's movementin Turkey: The Campaign on the Reform of the Penal Code from a GenderPerspective (2002-2004) and the civil code reform campaign (2000-2001).It also offers a concise description the legal status of women inTurkey, reflecting new laws in both private and public spheres. Thebooklet provides an excellent resource for advocacy and research onwomen's human rights (68 pages).