From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: WOMEN READY TO GO IT ALONE ON CONTRACEPTION
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 1992 09:23:40 GMT

/** gen.women: 384.0 **/
** Topic: POPULATION: WOMEN WILLING TO GO IT **
** Written  2:44 pm  Mar 29, 1992 by hrcoord in cdp:gen.women **
From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: POPULATION: WOMEN WILLING TO GO IT 

/* Written 10:14 am  Mar 29, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: POPULATION: WOMEN WILLING TO GO IT ALONE ON CONTRACEPTION

an inter press service feature

by william bradshaw

bridgetown, mar 26 (ips) -- women want research on contraceptives
to focus on drugs which enable them to protect themselves from
sexually transmitted diseases (stds) even if their male partners
do not want to cooperate, representatives of women's groups say.

representatives of women's organizations the world over who
attended a recent conference here, also felt that it was time for
a ''new contract'' to be established between the sexes, both in
private relationships and in the public sphere.

the theme of the mar.18-20 conference, sponsored by the women
and development unit (wand) of the university of the west indies
and the international women's health coalition (iwhc) was
''global alert: women, the aids pandemic and reproductive tract
infections.''

about 250 million people are infected by std's in the world
each year. according to world health organization (who) figures.
an estimated nine to 11 million people are infected by hiv in the
world, and the percentage of women among them is increasing.

''unless relationships change in the bedroom, the boardroom and
the boiler rooms of power, even more women will die,'' iwhc
president joan dunlop told the over 50 representatives of women's
organizations attending the conference.

the concern is based to a large extent on the fact that there
are still many men who refuse to use condoms, including some who
reject any type of contraception. some of these have multiple
sexual relationships and they often infect monogamous women.

the women felt that the emphasis of researchers should shift
to the development of safe and effective microbicides and
spermicides which could be used without the consent or knowledge
of the sexual partner to protect them against stds and the human
immuno-deficiency virus (hiv).

many of the spermicides which are in use are messy creams which
are easy to detect by a minimally observant male partner.

but debrework zewdie, a founding member of the society for
women and aids in africa, said that while changing male sexual
behaviour was difficult, it was not impossible.(more/ips)

population: women (2)

she said that after sex workers in her country, ethiopia, were
made aware of the dangers of the anti-immune deficiency syndrome
(aids)  and reproductive tract infections and learnt of the
protection condoms offer, they made a pact that there would be no
sex without condoms.

women can change men's sexual behaviour collectively, as they
have done in kenya and ethiopia, she said.

there is also a need to develop simple, inexpensive, rapid
diagnostic tests for stds, judith wasserheit, head of the std
branch of the us national institute of health, feels.

this is particularly necessary in the case of asymptomatic
infections, she said.

but, although women's organizations the world over have been
engaged in efforts to increase women's knowledge of stds and rtis
, much work remains to be done since many people are still
ignorant of the dangers these infections represent.

for example, many women are unaware that miscarriages can be
caused by rti's, peggy antrobus of wand said.

millions do not know that cervical cancer, which kills
hundreds of thousands of women in poor, underdeveloped countries
each year, is directly related to these infections, she added.
(end/ips/wb/kb)

nnn

** End of text from cdp:gen.women **
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive