Beth Fredrick

International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC)

Beth Fredrick is Executive Vice President of the International Women's Health Coalition, which works with women and youth leaders, activists and decision makers to promote and protect the sexual and reproductive rights and health of women and girls. Prior to joining IWHC in 2005, Beth worked with the Guttmacher Institute, a thinktank on sexual and reproductive health, most recently as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President.  During her tenure with the Institute, she helped to guide strategic planning, communications, fundraising, and U.S. and international collaborations.  In 1995, Beth represented the Guttmacher Institute at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women.  In 1997, she was a visiting fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, where she focused on global communications. Her recent publications include articles on the ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health services for women worldwide, the sexual and reproductive health of Latinas in the United States, gender and HIV/AIDS in developing countries, and online legal resources related to reproductive rights.  She currently serves on the Boards of EMPower, Ibis Reproductive Health, ScenariosUSA, and the Advisory Board to the Women's Initiative to Stop HIV-New York.

Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back

Beth Fredrick

Women Deliver and the Global Safe Abortion Conference proved that at least a few thousand people from among the world's 6.6 billion are ready to shake up priorities for women's health and end the unnecessary suffering that in much of the world endures.

Does the Breeze Kill HIV?

Beth Fredrick

Beth Fredrick is Executive Vice President of the International Women's Health Coalition.

The session starts simply: eight young men stand at the front of a room in Minna, Nigeria. Each young man holds up a large piece of paper with a word written on it, each word a type of sexual activity.

From there it becomes more complicated.

First, the youngest boys are asked to leave. This is not a lesson on birds and bees and community leaders, though supportive, need to be reassured that this workshop is only for those who are mature enough. The 50 or more young men, ranging in age from 16 to 19, are learning how to stay safe from HIV. That will require frank conversation about what will put them at risk and what they can do to protect themselves and their sexual partners. In other words, this is a life-saving conversation.