Bridget Canniff Fellini, MALD and Jessica Freya Greenberg, AB. Global Health through Education, Training and Service (GHETS), 8 North Main Street, Suite 404, Attleboro, MA 02703, 508-226-5091 x15, bridget@ghets.org

Around the world, poverty and limited decision-making power continue to have a serious negative impact on the health of women and their children. GHETS’ Women’s Health Initiative aims to improve women’s health by reducing barriers to healthcare for women in underserved communities and encouraging women’s access to higher education and economic opportunity. Guided by these objectives, GHETS has teamed with The Network: Toward Unity for Health and their Women and Health Taskforce, a diverse group of health professions educators, advocates and students from countries including Malaysia, Sudan, South Africa, Pakistan, Uganda, Mexico and Cameroon. With the goal of increasing the capacity of health professionals to meet women’s needs, the taskforce has created a series of educational modules on key women’s health topics. Under the title of the "Women and Health Toolkit," these modules will be made available as a free resource for health professions educators and students in developing countries. The first edition covers topics such as Unplanned Pregnancy and Unsafe Abortion, Violence against Women, Adolescent Health, Contraceptive Practices, and Female Genital Mutilation; future editions may include additional modules on Nutrition and Women’s Health, Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS and Prevention of Cancers in Women. This presentation will discuss the impact of social and economic inequalities on women’s health; review some of the gender-related health challenges that women face; and demonstrate how innovations in health professions education can create new generations of women-friendly health professionals and women empowered to seek out the best care for themselves and their families.

Learning Objectives: During this presentation, attendees will

• Learn about how a small international group of faculty members are making women's health topics accessible to health professions students in the developing world, and fostering a new generation of women leaders in health;
• Identify the most pressing women's health issues in developing countries today, and why gender-related health topics are absent from health curricula;
• Discuss the need for innovative women's health education, especially in developing countries where women may face barriers and discrimination both as patients and health professionals; and
• Have the opportunity to review and evaluate draft educational modules for health professions studetns, which will be included in the 2005 edition of the Toolkit.

Keywords: Women's Health, International Health

Related Web page: www.ghets.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Global Health through Education, Training and Service (GHETS); The Network: Towards Unity for Health (The Network: TUFH)
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: I am employed as Director of International Programs at GHETS, which works in close partnership with The Network: TUFH, and I serve as administrative coordinator of The Network: TUFH Women and Health Taskforce.