Editor's note: Today we welcome Deepali Gaur Singh, writing from India. She has experience in childcare, health, and education; she will be covering reproductive health issues on the continent of Asia.
At a time when even children from rural marginal families in one part of India—the southern state of Karnataka—are engaging in information dissemination on HIV with a specific focus on stigma and discrimination, adult policy-makers in five states of the country have rejected the new syllabus introduced by the national government's Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) featuring sex education as a dedicated subject for middle school students. Just as the central government gets credit for taking one of the most proactive steps with regard to both education and children in recent times (by directing all states to include the subject in their curriculum), and with the training of teachers also underway, it's ironic that the resistance to the move has come from just about every quarter possible.
An article in Time Magazine on March 30th sported some sloppy reporting on reproductive health. The article "A Pro-Choice Movement in Mexico" included a comparison of abortion policies in surrounding Latin America (emphasis mine):
Although Chile has one of South America's strictest anti-abortion codes, it's estimated to have twice as many abortions each year (200,000) as Canada - a country with twice Chile's population. (Abortion is legal in Canada.) As a result, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, a socialist, late last year sanctioned the free distribution of abortion-inducing "morning-after" contraception pills at government-run hospitals.
Elizabeth Leahy is a Reseach Assistant at Population Action International (PAI) and lead author of "The Shape of Things to Come: Why Age Structure Matters To a Safer, More Equitable World" which is being released today.
As the lead author of PAI's new report "The Shape of Things to Come: Why Age Structure Matters to a Safer, More Equitable World," I was interested to read Eesha Pandit's recent blog post about an article profiling the report appearing last week in The New York Times. I am glad that Ms. Pandit is considering the complexities of the linkages between youthful populations and civil conflict. However, she based her analysis on a single news article that covered one aspect of what is a complex, multi-faceted piece.
The report aims to provide valuable new insights into the programs and investments that can make countries "healthier"—more peaceful, more democratic, and better able to provide for the needs of their citizens. Far from "scapegoating young people...for the problems of developing nations," youth are a tremendous asset for any society, especially if they are educated, healthy, and living in a safe and equitable world. PAI's report shows why investments in programs that respond to their needs are so important.
... it is no simple coincidence that 80 percent of the civil conflicts that broke out in the 1970s, '80s and '90s occurred in countries where at least 60 percent of the population was under 30, and that almost 9 of 10 such youthful countries had autocratic rulers or weak democracies.
The PAI study finds one thing that is consistent among strife-ridden nations like Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Congo is that they all have very young populations.
William L. Nash, a retired Army major general who directs the Center for Preventive Action of the Council on Foreign Relations, says: "You've got a lot of young men. You've got a lot of poverty. You've got a lot of bad governance, and often you've got greed with extractive industries. You put all that together, and you've got the makings of trouble."
It is unfortunate that in the year 2007 feminism still gathers negative media attention with such ease. For the last few weeks the blogosphere has been buzzing with fervor about a study claiming that feminism is bad for people's health. The topic has gone viral, ranging from conservative blogs such as rightthinkinggirl to liberal blogs such as feministe. All you have to do is search for "feminism is bad for your health" and up pops 11,200 results.
The fact that this topic has garnered so much attention, including kudos from Rush Limbaugh, worries me deeply. It is reminiscent of the late nineteenth century theory that education was bad for women's health, which attempted to keep women out of higher education. Fortunately this theory was dispelled, as the one about feminism hopefully will be. As absurd as it sounded, I decided to go to the source and see if there's any merit to the claim that feminism is bad for people's health.
I just arrived in New York, among other reasons to participate in a panel discussion today titled "Preparing the Next Generation—Safeguarding Adolescents' Healthy Transition to Adulthood." The panel is a side event on the occasion of the meeting of the UN's Commission on Population and Development.
My recent work has focused on solving what at first glance may seem like a contradiction: The poorest adolescents in Africa engage in riskier sexual behavior, but, according to recent evidence, the wealthiest adolescents have the highest rates of HIV. I suspect that this may be because wealthier young people can afford to have sexual relationships with more partners, thus increasing their exposure to the virus.
Women's abortion experiences. There are statistics and there are stories. Numbers are solid, final and finite. One million women will have an abortion in the United States this year; thirty-five percent of women in this country will have an abortion by the time they are 45 years old. For every number in black and white, however, there is a story in grey. There is always the woman, of course. And there is always an abortion. Sometimes there is a fetus, sometimes it is called a baby, sometimes "my baby." Maybe there is a partner. There is sadness for some, guilt for others. Relief overwhelms many. There is always, however, a story. A growing and vocal movement of women creating public forums to communicate their personal abortion experiences and stories is encouraging; from films like The Abortion Diaries to Speak Out: I Had An Abortion and web sites like Imnotsorry.net. Our Truths-Nuestras Verdades, the new abortion zine published by Exhale, is one such project that aims to transform the societal dialogue around abortion by creating a (bilingual) space for women to share their stories (full disclosure: I was on the original Board of Directors for the zine).
The pious moralizing of social conservatives grates on the national psyche, its hypocrisy evident for all to see. But it's the ethics of social conservatives sucking tax dollars from public health programs and personally profiting from them that causes concern. Congressional leaders should not just redirect federal monies from failed abstinence-only programs to proven public health strategies, they should investigate thoroughly, for they are likely to find Corruption, with a capital C, and that rhymes with T, and that stands for Trouble.
Last week, Rewire wrote about the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA), and its affiliation with Creative Research Concepts (CRC), makers of the Swift Boat ads in 2004. The team looks to intimidate policy makers with threats of aggressive lobbying and public relations campaigns, in the genre CRC redefined, smear and fear.
Today, we take a closer look at the leadership of NAEA, a group that has profited from personal connections, public appointments, and the publishing of half-truths. These stories are known individually, but weaving them together underscores the illegitimacy of the billion dollar abstinence-only program and calls into question the ethics of those who preach morality, and teach nothing proven, at taxpayer expense.
Editor's note: Today we welcome Carolina S. Ruiz-Austria, writing from the Philippines. She has experience in women's rights, law and journalism, and will be reporting on reproductive health in Southeast Asia.
In the tropics, where year-round warm weather is expected, summer temperatures hitting 33-36 degrees (Celsius) in Manila is still considered extreme.
But the summer heat isn't the only thing approaching fever like extremes. It is also the height of a mid-term electoral campaign. Politicians of every color and persuasion are making rounds to win votes.
Editor's Note: Today we welcome Florence Machio, a journalist writing from Kenya. She has experience in reproductive health, global health and human rights and will be reporting on reproductive health in Africa.
2007 is the halfway mark to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, one of which focuses on reduction of maternal mortality by 2015. It also marks nine years since the World Health Organization's 1998 statement declared safe motherhood a human right, yet contraception is far from being available in many parts of the world.
