myMADRE

Celebrate International Midwives Day!

Happy International Midwives Day!

In communities around the world, midwives provide crucial care to women and help to ensure that all mothers are guaranteed the right to a safe birth. At MADRE, we have been proud to partner with Midwives for Peace, a grassroots group of Palestinian and Israeli midwives who have joined together to promote peace and women's health.

In honor of this day, MADRE also received the statement below from the organization Circle of Health International (COHI). COHI works around the globe to provide quality reproductive, maternal and infant care to women in crisis settings. After the earthquake in Haiti, MADRE supported COHI's work to provide urgent care to pregnant displaced Haitian women. In their statement, they tell the story of two Haitian midwives:

COHI would like to take this moment to thank ALL of the midwives we've worked with over the years. We have worked with some of the strongest, most compassionate, most dedicated, and most talented midwives in these past seven years, and we wish each and every one of you the greatest success with your calling. On this special day, COHI wants to highlight our two midwives working in Fond Parisien, Haiti.

I am constantly amazed at the dedication and determination of our two Haitian midwives - Ms. Lapaix and Ms. Michele. These two ladies work tirelessly to ensure the women living in and around Fond Parisien have 24/7 access to quality reproductive, maternal, and newborn care. During my last trip, I watched as they joyfully handed a healthy newborn to its mother, while at the same time comforting and mourning with a mother who had just lost her child. While this situation is not the norm, it does highlight the need for continued community outreach and education, as this labor complication could have been identified and possibly prevented if the mother had come to the clinic earlier. It is the dedication of these two women that has made COHI's Haiti program as successful as it is - both in providing direct patient care and also in community education and outreach. I am honored to work with both of these amazing women, and each time I return home I realize I've left a piece of my heart with them in Haiti. Mesi anpil!!!

Rachel Bedenbaugh, Haiti Program Manager

For more information on COHI and their inspirational work, visit their website here.

Violence against Women and HIV/AIDS

I was able to attend a panel organized by the Women WON’T Wait campaign at the 55^th Committee on the Status of Women last Wednesday.  Representatives from Action Aid International, UNAIDS, and UNDP discussed the campaign's initiative to integrate and address issues of HIV, violence, and sexual reproductive health.

Women account for slightly more than half of the people living with HIV in the world. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, women constitute 60% of people contracting HIV. By adopting a human rights approach to ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the campaign addresses stigma and discrimination against women, and also confronts violence against women. 

There is a lack of sufficient acknowledgement of the relationship between HIV and violence, namely that violence as a consequence of actual or perceived HIV status.  Women who discover they are HIV-positive are often blamed for bringing the disease into the household.  They might be sent away, abandoned or subject to violence, while carrying the burden of being HIV infected.

The newly launched UNAIDS “Getting to Zero” campaign fights for zero discrimination with a goal of zero tolerance for gender-based violence (GBV) to advance human rights and gender equality.  They are working to develop strategies that engage men and boys in transforming social norms and to expand action for GBV and HIV awareness.

A few women in the audience introduced themselves as HIV-positive women and urged the campaign panel to include the voices and perspectives of positive women in their advocacy campaign; “otherwise you are excluding us and discriminating against those you are trying to save,” one woman said.  Another positive Bolivian woman advocated “we must hear their voices. We must unite the HIV positive with the feminist movement.”

Let's Talk About Sex and Gender

I was able to attend a panel organized by International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) at the 55th Commision on the Status of Women this past Wednesday.  The women of the panel called for more targeted interventions, specifically amongst young girls, to prevent them from feeling socially excluded and powerless.

The IPPF panel highlighted the significance of providing Gender and Youth Programs not only to in-school girls and boys, but to the most vulnerable populations. Although most countries have declared the minimum legal age of marriage to be 18, some 10 million teenage girls marry every year, a majority of them without completing secondary school education.  At least 2.5 million adolescent pregnancies each year lead to unsafe abortion and at least 111 million new cases of curable STIs occur among young people. 

The IPPF framework for Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE) is formed around the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child and declares that all persons have the right to education.  "Decisions need to be made with free, educated, and full consent and this information must be offered before young people become sexually active, not afterwards," stated Flora Hunt, a member of the Advocacy team at IPPF.

As many of you already know, Planned Parenthood is under attack in the United States. If you are concerned and live in the New York Area, please come out and show your support tomorrow: Rally For Women's Health

KOFAVIV Fights the Cholera Outbreak in Haiti

The road from the Port-au-Prince airport to the women’s center established by our sister organization, KOFAVIV, is lined by a sea of blue and gray tents, tarps, and cloth that provide the only shelter thousands of displaced families have. In recent weeks, a deadly cholera outbreak has reached the displacement camps, further threatening residents’ health and security.

Our sister organization, KOFAVIV, immediately mobilized to fight the epidemic. As human rights defenders working in displacement camps, their members are uniquely positioned to assess and respond to the needs of women and families living in dozens of camps.

When I recently visited Haiti with Natalia Caruso, MADRE Program Director, we saw KOFAVIV draw on its members’ disaster management expertise to distribute life-saving cholera prevention and treatment kits. Within hours of receiving financial support from MADRE, KOFAVIV leaders had transformed it into small towers of salt, Clorox bleach, water jugs, and dark yellow soap that filled the office patio. Late into the night, they ran a makeshift assembly line, taking inventory and dividing the materials into small plastic grocery bags for distribution.

Two days later, over one hundred women crowded into the sprawling courtyard outside KOFAVIV’s center. Babies dozed in the early afternoon heat. Between trainings on cholera prevention and treatment, KOFAVIV members led the women in song. At the end of the meeting, KOFAVIV leaders distributed the cholera kits, making sure they were given to women from each of the camps represented.

KOFAVIV’s ability to turn a small donation into an event that educated women, welcomed new participants, and provided life-saving materials to displaced families is a testament to the organization’s expertise in both human rights advocacy and disaster management. MADRE is committed to continuing support for their courageous and tireless efforts to ensure that every Haitian woman and girl may life in security and free from violence.

[Ed. Note: This blog entry is the first by Nora Smiley, our new staff member who has come on board to help manage our work with our partners in Haiti.  Welcome, Nora!]

Today Is World AIDS Day

Every December 1, World’s AIDS Day recognizes the devastating impact HIV/AIDS wreaks on communities around the world.  We remember that groups that have long been marginalized—including women, the LGBTQ community, sex workers and youth—have borne the brunt of this global pandemic.  And we re-commit ourselves to confront the global inequalities that deny people the right to health.

HIV/AIDS remains one of the world’s most pressing health crises, especially for women:

• Currently, 15.7 million women are living with HIV around the world.
• Of these 15.7 million women, 80% live in sub-Saharan Africa.
• In all countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in certain Caribbean countries, the majority of those living with HIV are women and girls, especially between the ages of 15 and 24.
• Globally, only 46% of countries report having a budget for HIV programs that specifically address women and girls.
• Overall, AIDS is the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age.

To learn more about the current state of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, click here to read UNAID’S 2010 Global Report.

What follows are additional helpful sites, resources and publications about HIV/AIDS, women, and how you can take action:

• CHANGE: Center for Health and Gender Equality
• Women Won’t Wait
• Health Global Access Project
• Advocates For Youth

Finally, for those of you looking to participate in World AIDS Day events, here are some events taking place in and around New York City today:

• The AIDS Memorial Quilt on Display in Borough Hall, Brooklyn from 11 am to 7 pm
• A film screening of Last Address and Candle Light Vigil at The Center, 6:30 pm
• World AIDS Day Vigil at City Hall, all day long
• Light for Rights in Washington Square Park, 5:30 pm

What I Saw during My Visit with KOFAVIV, a Haitian Women’s Group

Nearly ten months after the earthquake, Haitians still live in a state of emergency.  I saw this in person during my recent trip to Haiti, where I met with leaders of our sister organization KOFAVIV. 

During my stay, I heard the first-hand testimonies of women who have been raped while living in the camps. As one camp resident explained, “People rape older women, younger women, and kids. We need security and lighting…but the people who are doing security don’t get paid…they are discouraged.”

KOFAVIV told us again that sexual, domestic and gang violence in the camps have increased and that both security and lighting in the camps are barely present.  This is a reality that we have worked with KOFAVIV to document for months and that continues to threaten women’s lives. Indeed, just the night before my arrival a 15-year-old girl had been raped by a police officer in the camp. 

I also witnessed first-hand the valuable and powerful work that KOFAVIV is doing to promote women’s health. The day that I arrived in Port-au-Prince, KOFAVIV held a training on maternal health care for women who had recently given birth or were currently pregnant as a result of rape.  (Photo at left: MADRE Human Rights Advocacy Director Lisa Davis and I at the maternal health training.)

Even before the earthquake, pregnancy in Haiti was dangerous and risky.  Now, with women and girls facing the threat of rape in the camps and enduring the health related consequences of the attacks, KOFAVIV is working to ensure that pregnant women get the care they need.  General healthcare in the camps is already insufficient, and women receive limited prenatal care only through mobile and temporary clinics. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the recent cholera outbreak, coupled with high incidence of HIV, the shortage of clinics and experienced doctors in childbirth, and a lack of basic sanitation means that thousands of pregnant Haitian women may face pregnancy-related complications.

It was heartbreaking and infuriating to see conditions that women are forced to endure in the camps, especially when grassroots women’s groups have already identified simple solutions – such as increasing lighting and police presence in the camps, and adopting a gendered perspective to relief efforts – that can create drastic improvements.

But all the while, I was inspired by KOFAVIV’s determination to demand that these solutions be implemented and by the life-saving support that they provide. KOFAVIV is continuously and relentlessly working to improve conditions for displaced women and girls in Haiti, and we at MADRE are committed to support them in this effort.

For more information:

• Our Bodies Are Still Trembling (PDF) – July 2010
• Legal Petition Submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (PDF) – October 2010
• myMADRE Blog Entries on Haiti

Pakistani Women Giving Birth in Displacement Camps

While the water levels along the Swat River have returned to normal, the evidence of the devastation from the floods remains widespread. Roads, bridges, schools, water supply and sanitation systems are still affected. Recent reports by the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) highlight the various diseases that have begun to spread since the floods: approximately 300,000 suspected malaria cases have been reported since the end of July, three flood-affected provinces have reported 99 cases of cholera, and an increase in dengue fever and a tick-borne viral disease have also been reported.

The Asian Development Bank and the World Bank are estimating that the floods caused $9.5 billion in damage to Pakistan’s infrastructure. The floods severely damaged property, roads, buildings, irrigation systems and crops.  However, the damage the floods caused in Pakistan extend far beyond structural and material losses; they have created massive human suffering.  Some 20 million people have been displaced, many of whom are still residing in makeshift shelters.

Of those displaced, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that 70 percent are women, half a million of whom are now pregnant and facing giving birth in a country still recovering from the floods. While media coverage of the Pakistan floods has faded, the situation remains much the same for pregnant Pakistani women; in all likelihood these women will give birth in unsanitary conditions without the help of a skilled health professional.  Their children will be born to a country where the floods have made an already existing food and water crisis even worse.

MADRE maintains our commitment to the safety of these women and their children through work with our Pakistani ally organization, Shirkat Gah. Together we are providing women with clinics, women doctors, safe spaces, family planning education and relief supplies. Pakistani women still suffer from the aftermath of the floods, and you can still support local women’s relief efforts.

Video: Haitian Women's Rights Activist Speaks to US Law Students on Sexual Violence

Last month, Eramithe Delva, one of the leaders of our sister organization in Haiti, KOFAVIV, was visiting the US.  She spoke at an event at the law school the University of Virginia, and the full video of the event is below and available at this link.

Abortion Laws in Mexico and Nicaragua Endanger Women's Human and Reproductive Rights

The New York Times recently featured a disturbing article about the current state of women's reproductive rights in Guanajuato, Mexico. In Guanajuato, a state located in central Mexico, women who receive abortions are being prosecuted as murderers.

Guanajuato's government has traditionally been headed by Roman Catholic conservatives, which is one reason for their radical approach to abortion, but as women's rights advocates and some health officials have said, Guanajuato is no exceptional case. According to them, a "broad move to enforce antiabortion laws has gained momentum in other parts of Mexico," most likely as a backlash against Mexico City's 2007 decision to legalize abortion for women in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Under these strict antiabortion laws, women who do not give birth to a healthy baby are often suspected of "homicide." The result is that many women are too scared to seek medical care in cases of miscarriage or stillbirth, severely endangering their own health. Eight women in Guanajuato have been convicted of homicide and jailed in recent years, and according to women's health advocates, 166 investigations on abortion have been opened in Guanajuato in the past ten years.

MADRE stands firm against laws restricting access to abortion, especially in situations where women are criminalized for their choices. Such laws violate women's human rights. Mexico is unfortunately only one of many countries in which women are denied access to safe abortions.

In 2006, Nicaragua became the third country in the Western hemisphere to completely outlaw abortion. While most forms of abortion have been illegal in Nicaragua for over 100 years, the 2006 vote banned therapeutic abortion, thereby outlawing abortions in cases of incest, rape, or danger to the women's health or life. The result is the degradation of women's reproductive rights and an increase in cases of women seeking unsafe, illegal abortions. MADRE continues to work in Nicaragua to lift the ban. Together with other US-based and Nicaraguan organizations, MADRE took part in preparing an international legal challenge to Nicaragua's abortion ban. The complete ban on abortion has yet to be revoked, but MADRE has continued to advocate for the protection of Nicaraguan women's reproductive and human rights and for the end of the abortion ban.

1.8 Billion Strong: Young People Driving the MDGs

Last week, UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund), IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation) and the Inter-Agency Network for Youth Development held an insightful panel discussion outlining the importance of involving young people and especially young women in the orchestration and implementation of the MDGs.

The case for investing in young people has never been stronger: statistics show that youth make up 30% of the average national population and up to 50% in some countries. Evidence has shown national poverty levels can be reduced by devoting time, money, education, health provisions and resources to young people. Making the voices and well-being of women and young people a priority not only makes economic sense; it also helps to ensure the sustainability of the development effort.

The event highlighted the topic of reproductive health and the benefits of educating and empowering young people, especially girls, about their sexual and reproductive choices. Currently 11% of births worldwide are by girls of the age between 15-19, many of whom who have only had the opportunity of limited education. Horrifyingly, every 14 seconds a young person becomes HIV positive and every year 3 million girls are subjected to female genital mutilation, with many suffering adverse consequences long after.

By improving education services and tackling negative social attitudes, many of these statistics could be greatly reduced. It has already been well documented that the better educated a mother is, the greater chance her children have not only of surviving but of leading a better and more healthy life.

The panelists, who included UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid and Gill Greer; Director General of the IPPF, called on the international community to stop ignoring the 1.8 billion young who are the makers of tomorrow and to involve them in MDG discussions. This would help to ensure that legislation and provisions for the youth are not based on ideology or assumptions, but on evidence and reality.