Linking 23 organizations from 15 different countries, ASTRA is the only network focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights in Central and Eastern Europe. In a region characterized by economic and political transition, widening social inequalities, a lack of political will to invest in sexual and reproductive health, and a growing anti-choice movement with strong ties to both the Roman Catholic Church and similar U.S.-based groups, ASTRA provides a collective voice to advocate for policies and programs that recognize women's and young people's health needs and human rights. The network is a critical tool for sharing information and strategies, building the capacity of women's organizations, and linking the Central and Eastern European women's movement to wider global processes on women's health and rights. The network has several current areas of focus:

• Monitoring international commitments. Central and Eastern European countries are party to several international commitments on women's health and rights, including those forged at the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), and the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995). ASTRA provides an essential mechanism for monitoring adherence to these agreements at the regional level, ensuring that countries are accountable to their international commitments.

• Maintaining European standards for women's health and rights. Accession into the European Union (EU) offers a critical opportunity to ensure that new member states strengthen their legal commitments to gender equality—including increased attention to women's reproductive health needs. European law is comparatively progressive on issues of sexual and reproductive health. The ASTRA network is taking full advantage of the opportunities offered by the EU transition, educating its members on EU legislation, coordinating women's efforts to influence policy across the region, and ensuring that the women in Central and Eastern Europe enjoy the same sexual and reproductive rights as their sisters elsewhere in Europe.

Portrait of a Young Activist

Justyna Wlodarczyk, 24, Poland

"It's not enough to be young to actually see the world from a youth perspective—just like it's not enough to be a woman to see the world from a gender perspective. It's something you need to realize, in a way, and something you need to find within yourself." Read more about Justyna...

• Giving young people a voice. Young people themselves are critical allies in the struggle to focus attention on the health needs and human rights of adolescents, who lack access to information on sexuality and reproduction and face disproportionate risks to their health. In June 2003, ASTRA sponsored a meeting of young advocates for sexual and reproductive rights from across the region, resulting in the creation of a youth wing of the ASTRA network, ASTRAyouth. Click here to read a report of their meeting.

• Partnering with the medical community. Beyond providing a forum for women's organizations across the region, ASTRA also seeks to strengthen linkages among women's issues, health issues, and rights issues. Alliances with the medical community—including physicians, medical professors, and medical students—are essential to improving regionwide reproductive health services, especially safe abortion.

• Advocating for policies and services that recognize women's and young people's health needs. Across the region, ASTRA uses diverse strategies to focus attention on the need for family planning services (including counseling on contraceptive options and access to emergency contraception); prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS; gender-sensitive sexuality education in schools; youth-friendly confidential health services through the health system; and health services for postmenopausal women.

• Improving the quality of safe abortion services. Although abortion is legal in most Central and Eastern European countries, the quality of care is often poor. Weak health systems, a lack of investment in counseling services, and health professionals who are ideologically or religiously biased against abortion all pose barriers for women. In Poland, abortion is legal in cases of rape or incest or when pregnancy endangers a woman's life or health, but in reality safe abortion—espeically for poor women—is almost completely unavailable through the public health system, forcing the procedure underground and into the hands of untrained professionals. In 2001, IWHC participated in a tribunal on abortion rights organized by the Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning, ASTRA's secretariat, that shed light on individual women's struggles to obtain safe services (click Safe Abortion: Technical and Policy Guidance for Health Systems," a set of norms for the establishment of safe abortion services, released by the World Health Organization. We are currently supporting the dissemination of this manual to key health providers and advocates in Poland.

IWHC has supported ASTRA since its inception, helping it to grow in size and influence (membership has doubled since 2000), broaden its strategy, and participate in global dialogues on women's and young people's health and human rights. We currently serve on the network's advisory board.

Links of interest

ASTRA's website

Report on Sexual and Reproductive Rights and Health in Central and Eastern Europe (prepared by ASTRA)

Tag it:

?