The Latin American women's health movement has used international advocacy emerging from the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD, Cairo 1994) and the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995) to develop innovative programs. This paper will briefly review two examples of how linking women's health, human rights, and economic justice helps reconceptualize both direct services and their evaluation.
Case Study #1: Clients are people, not methods: Incorporating Reproductive and Sexual Health into a Family Planning Program in Colombia This case study, based on the experience in Profamilia in Colombia, examines a successful process of transforming a national private-sector family planning program into a reproductive and sexual health program within a gender and rights framework. The case demonstrates the compatibility of Profamilia's mandate to generate more revenue during health care reform, with their commitment to these ICPD principles. Case Study #2: "Let's be Citizens, not Patients": Constructing Citizenship and Users' Rights with Women's Organizations and Public Health Services in Peru. This case study of a program run by Consorcio Mujer analyzes an innovative four-city experiment in citizen participation in evaluation of quality of public health services and promotion of respect for users' rights. The author shows how the NGOs worked with both providers and women's organizations to move both parties towards a citizenship framework in which health care for low-income people is treated as a human right, and in which quality of care training interventions hinged on the key concept of users' rights.
Learning Objectives: 1) At the conclusion of this session, participants will recognize the need to address providers' cultural attitudes and prejudices in order to provide high-quality reproductive and sexual health services. 2) participants will understand why implementing ICPD principles can be a key contribution to the financial sustainability of private family planning service providers. 3) Participants will become familiar with the use of citizenship and user's rights concepts as a means of promoting low-income women's greater participation in demanding quality health care and evaluating quality of care 4)participants will recognize that projects must intervene with both health providers and community members to achieve positive changes in respect for users' rights and quality of care
Keywords: Latinas, International Reproductive Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.