Abortion Ship Doctor Slams Irish Policy

[Editor's Note: This post was written by Tracy Brown Hamilton, a journalist based in Amsterdam. It originally appeared on Rabble.ie.]

Photo credit: WOW Facebook page.

News broke over the weekend that a woman in Ireland was forced to bear her rapist’s child having been denied an abortion after going on hunger strike. Tracy Brown Hamilton chatted to Rebecca Gomperts of Woman On Waves about how Ireland’s laws are failing women.

The Protection of Life in Pregnancy Act of 2013 was ostensibly going to help secure a woman’s rights, and sparked outrage from Ireland’s pro-life community. But the policy is flawed, according to Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, 47.

“It’s ridiculous,” Gomperts says. “Women are dying and suffering health problems. Human rights are being violated. It was bad before, but now it’s worse. This policy won’t help women.”

Gomperts is the founder and director of Women on Waves, an organization that, among other things, sails a ship to countries where pregnancy termination is prohibited and offers non-surgical abortions beyond territorial waters.

Ireland Campaign

In 2001, Women on Waves launched their first ship campaign – to Ireland.

“There is a very dedicated pro-choice community there,” Gomperts says, “and they were very interested in the project.”

The number of women who sought Gomperts’ services exceeded anyone’s expectations. “The groups we worked with said, ‘no woman is going to come to a ship for an abortion’,” Gomperts recalls. “But we had 80 calls immediately, and realized we had not brought enough pills.”

Those who responded included women who had been raped, schoolgirls who could not find a feasible excuse to go to England for a couple of days, mothers who could not afford childcare while away in England, and political refugees who did not have the papers to travel.

In the end, because they did not have two necessary licenses from the Dutch and Irish authorities –one for operating medical facilities and the other for carrying passengers to sea – Women on Waves was unable to distribute the abortion pill.

Regardless, hundreds of Irish women continued to reach out to Gomperts for help.

Non-Surgical Abortion

According to Gomperts, the abortion pill – mifepristone and misoprostol – can be safely used to terminate pregnancies up to 12 weeks at home, without medical supervision.

“The World Health Organisation has published guidelines that say women can do this,” she says. “So there is no need for surgical abortion anymore. The only issue is getting women access to the pills.”

To that end, Gomperts has created an international network to help women around the world find a means of getting the abortion pill. “We are not selling drugs,” she clarifies. “We are a referral service; we help women get a medical abortion at home. But they risk prosecution if it’s illegal in their country.”

And under Ireland’s new abortion policy, punishment has become stricter. “The sentence for such an ‘illegal’ abortion in Ireland used to be three years,” Gomperts says, “and now they have made it twelve years.”

Dr. Gomperts smiles on the telephone during a recent action in Smir, Morocco. Photo credit: WOW Facebook page. 

No Link to Depression

The new law also removes the possibility of suicide risk as a means of permitting legal abortions. “Of course it was already problematic if you are forcing someone to say they are suicidal just to obtain an abortion,” she says, “but now even that is not allowed.”

Gomperts strongly opposes claims that abortion can lead to mental distress or illness.

“There have been lots of scientific studies published in major journals,” she says, “that show there is no link between depression or suicide and abortion. None.”

Statistics of women who express regret after terminating a pregnancy can be misconstrued, Gomperts finds. “Our data shows that 1 percent of women regret it,” she says. “But a lot of women mean they regret being in the position to begin with. That’s different.”

A Selfless Decision

Gomperts has encountered many women who have been surprised to find themselves opting for termination. “They tell me, ‘I am against abortion, but my situation is different,’” she says. “It takes a certain degree of empathy to extend that reasoning to other people, or to realize that perhaps you are not against abortion after all.”

People are too judgmental about abortion, Gomperts says.

“For me, it’s obvious that it’s a selfless decision,” she says. “There are women who, if they had the right conditions, may make a different choice. But when women really find they don’t have what it takes to raise a child in a good situation, then abortion is a very moral decision.”

Social Justice Issue

Gomperts, who has two children, says she is a doctor first and an activist second. “As a doctor, I’m here to aid in the well being of people,” she says. “And if you want to make sure that the well being of women is being guaranteed, you have to legalize abortion. For me it’s completely about social justice. The problem with many health issues today, including abortion, is that it comes down to who has the means to access the care.”

Traversing India to Support Public Health Programs

 CORE Group's leadership, including Pinky Patel (fourth from left), in India.

CORE Group, a public health organization based in Washington, DC, has an admirable vision: a world of healthy communities, where no mother or child dies of preventable causes. An extremely dedicated and effective nonprofit, I recently interviewed Pinky Patel, CORE Group's Communication Manager, about their recent trip through India to visit, learn from, and support successful public health programs.


You recently traveled through India with CORE Group. Tell me a bit about why you all made the journey, some goals, and also some surprises.

This year, to meet the professional development and learning needs of the CORE Group community, we launched the annual Practioner Academy Community Health Workshop. This workshop is designed to bring together public health professionals from all over the world to spend a week visiting and learning from a successful community health project. For our first site, we selected the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP), founded in 1970 by Drs. Raj and Mabelle Arole. With the community always in mind, CRHP pioneered the principles of comprehensive, community-based primary care. Communities are encouraged to take health into their own hands through the support of the Village Health Workers (VHWs), community groups such as women’s groups, farmers groups, and adolescent groups, and the mobile health outreach team and CRHP hospital and training center.

Pinky along with women village health workers.

My role was to film the workshop and interview the participants, Village Health Workers, communities, and Comprehensive Rural Health Project staff to capture lessons learned and understand what makes this model so successful. 

I knew I would bear witness to some amazing stories and learn a lot, but I had no idea just how touching and inspiring so many of the women and girls would be. Each and every VHW has such a tremendous story of overcoming incredible challenges. They shared their stores with us about starting out as illiterate, low-caste girls, not able to allow even their shadows to touch another person. They endured early child marriages, early and sometimes dangerous pregnancies, abusive husbands and in-laws, and extraordinary poverty. Most reached breaking points that they barely overcame.

But, then they became a part of Comprehensive Rural Health Project's training program, which empowered and trained them to become VHWs, learning about life-saving community-based health approaches. They were trained to treat diarrhea, check for leprosy, provide pre and ante-natal care, and even perform safe deliveries in people's homes. They also addressed broad community concerns such as the low-status of women, the caste system, poverty, traditional beliefs, agricultural production, watershed development, and appropriate technology. Tackling the social determinants of health and empowering the whole community is the key to their success and central to the CRHP model.

Children, particularly girls, face great obstacles to receive education. 

Having close ties to India, do you feel that the portrayal of women and girl's is accurate in worldwide media? If not, what could be done to change or better illustrate a more accurate point of view and thus perception?

I was born in the States but have traveled to and throughout India many times. I believe that the media and even public health practitioners could do a better job of portraying and promoting the strength and potential of Indian girls and women.

Thankfully, there are many campaigns trying to protect girls against the incredibly high rates of infanticide throughout India. Many of these campaigns are trying to educate parents, families, and communities on the potential of the girl child. As one young girl told me, "Girls are perceived as a burden from the time of birth until death. Yet, it is us that give birth, raise our children, care for our families, and work so hard to make life better for those we love. We are NOT burdens! We deserve the chance to live our lives."

Within the public health, what are the main concerns facing young girls, both rural and urban?

Girls in India face extreme discrimination yet show incredible resiliency.

Unfortunately, for many girls, it is a challenge to simply be born! With the high rates of female infanticide, many are never even given the chance to have a life. If born, many face horrible discrimination, extreme poverty, and incredibly tragic circumstances. Many are denied an education, forced into early child marriages and sexual encounters, give birth before their young bodies are even fully developed, and struggle to ensure the health and safety of their children amongst incredibly challenging circumstances especially if they are living in rural areas without access to services.

The low-status of women throughout India, and the world, MUST be addressed if we ever really hope to change the world. Empowering a girl not only changes her life, but every generation after!

Share one (or some) of the most meaningful stories you heard from females during various trips throughout India.

While everyone I have ever interviewed left a lasting impact on me, there is one story that genuinely broke my heart but also reminded me of how powerful a woman can be. For the sake of confidentiality, I will call her Ambika.

Ambika was forced into an early child marriage at the age of 12 to a man 21 years her senior. She was forced to have sex and became pregnant with twins by age 16. She struggled with the pregnancy and eventually lost one child- the boy- and was left with a girl, which was a death sentence for her and her daughter. Despite having NO control over the sex of her child, she was beaten and BURNED and almost died as a result of having a girl-child. Thankfully, she survived and escaped with her daughter. Amika is now slowly rebuilding her life. Despite enduring such horrible tragedies, she believes in a brighter future, especially for her daughter. She is determined to make that happen by teaching her daughter of her potential, providing her with an education and a healthy adolescence free from marriage or pregnancy.

Women of Kashmir and Drug Addiction

Recently, the Inter Press Service reported on the female drug addicts of Kashmir. Very little help is available for these women. Torn between international politics and local customs, women in Kashmir have become the victims of badly administered policy. As a result, their social standing, psychological welfare, and general health have greatly suffered as have their communities.

Many Westerners think of Kashmir as somewhere near Pakistan and Afghanistan where a bunch of terrorists may hide as they force their
women into hijabs. Although this image has been imposed onto Kashmiri women, their ancestry shows a different face -- and, for me, a very personal one.

My paternal grandmother was from Kashmir, but she didn’t grown up there. Along with the rest of my family, my great grandparents on both sides emigrated to Kenya mainly through forced British displacement when labor was needed for imperialist colonies. However, my great grandmother brought her customs with her and relatives of mine always reminisce of Kashmir being the Switzerland of Northern India. The women of Kashmir had equal rights with men and over 100 years ago they also had equal decree to land rights. This was sophistication heaven, so women like my grandmother were connoisseurs of perfume, with the Kashmiris adopting Persian methods of pressing roses for face oil and perfume. Different types of brewed teas were standard in most households. Many people, literate and illiterate, recited poetry in mixed gender settings. There has always been an influence of types of medicinal drug use. My grandmother talked about seeing men smoke hookas as a relaxing ritual. Herbs such as opiates were also used medicinally, and she talked about squeezing poppy seeds for the milk, which would then be boiled and used as a remedy to ease aching joints. When did ritual turn into the hardcore drug use found throughout Kashmir today?

No Woman No Cry: A Review

Model Christy Turlington Burns recently released the documentary film, No Woman No Cry. Inspired to learn more about women's health issues because of the complications associated with her own pregnancy, Christy and a film crew sought to cover some of the major issues affecting maternal and women's health around the globe.

In the film, Christy travels to three different countries to highlight some of the health issues facing women. In Tanzania, she concentrates on women's lack of access to health care. In Bangladesh, she shows that sometimes the problem isn't a lack of available care, but rather the stigma or other problems associated with the care that is available. In Guatemala, she focuses on the dangers associated with a lack of access to family planning solutions. Finally, in the U.S., Burns shows that even in developed countries, women are not given the care they need, often because of a lack of insurance. Such a problem indicates the true lack of concern toward women's health issues most often practiced by health care companies and law makers.

A particular strength of this film is that it highlights not only the various aspects of maternal health, but also that it recognizes the fact that these issues are not isolated to women in developing countries and rural areas within. Even in the United States, maternal health is not always given the coverage or priority that is needed.

Some of the maternal health statistics Burns shares in the film are staggering, but as she later shares in the final interview, she chose to make this film partially as a way to educate her friends on some of the things she has seen and the health challenges that women around the world face. In that regard, she is 100% correct. These are stories that need to be shared. Despite the tireless efforts of organizations such as Planned Parenthood, Every Mother Counts, and Half the Sky, maternal health issues and women's health issues are still largely ignored. The general public needs to become more aware of the challenges women face -- not only domestically, but globally.

As such, Christy Turlington Burns and the Opera Winfrey Network have posted the full length film to YouTube. (Hurry though! It is only streaming for a limited time!) Finally, to learn more about the issues discussed and what you can do to get more involved, visit Christy's foundation, Every Mother Counts.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Entertainment Weekly

Environmental Crises Collide in Japan

To imagine what survivors face in Japan seems almost impossible. News photos and videos attempt to capture and encapsulate the destruction. We click through feeling compassion and disbelief, trying to understand the experiences of those who have lived and how many are gone. So far, the media has reported the slowly rising death toll as close to 3,000 -- even as whole towns, like Sendai pictured above, list missing persons well beyond that number. Bodies are washing up on shore. Already 400,000 to 500,000 survivors are displaced.

As search and rescue teams wade through what already looks like complete devastation how did they find much less help those who survived? Miraculous stories emerge of a 60-year-old man riding his roof for two days after drifting nine miles out to sea. A survivor is pulled from the rubble after four days. In the picture below, a Red Cross volunteer feeds an infant who was rescued.

Yet, on top of aftershocks climbing as high as 6.0 after the initial 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami reaching heights of 30 feet, now radiation releases are strengthening as a third explosion has rocked the Ukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Northeastern Japan. In the face of already two catastrophic environmental disasters, Japan now risks what seems to be an escalating man-made third. Major news sources have started conjuring memories of nuclear meltdowns at facilities such as Three Mile Island in 1979, an accident that caused my own family to evacuate, including my mother who was almost nine months pregnant with me, and also the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Currently, how much radiation or how great the impact on Japan's public health remains unfolding, but there is no doubt converging crises are mounting every single day.

According to Agence-France Press, this morning the World Health Organization (WHO) cited they are ready to assist Japan in any way possible if and when help is needed.

"We have expressed our availability to participate in a mission, to offer necessary assistance, if it is required, " said Maria Neira, the UN health agency's director of public health and environment.

"We are ready," she added.

The question is: When will WHO be called on for assistance? Already basic supplies run low, survivors are being evacuated from areas listed as dangerous due to escalating radiation levels, and reports of radiation exposure are climbing, hence the crucial need for health agencies to step in and assist. According to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the rescue effort is currently being led by the Japanese government along with local aid groups with extensive disaster response experience, including expert support from fifteen countries. The IRC was not able to respond to the disaster due to red tape when they could not get necessary papers from the British Embassy.

"Our emergency team members are on standby to respond and fill in gaps as needed," says Gillian Dunn, the IRC's director of emergency response programs.

"In the meantime, we are starting direct assistance to Japanese aid groups with better access to communities in need and survivors who have been evacuated."

As multiple crises evolve in Japan, all resources need to be pulled on to help in every capacity. Last month, New Zealand experienced a 7.0 earthquake that caused between $7 to $11 billion dollars in damage. Comparing Japan's present situation lends some perspective to how much support the challenged country needs.

Photo credit: Reuters

In Health and Hope: Girls on the Run Teaches the Power of Positivity

Last Saturday Girls on the Run Manhattan converged at Asphalt Green on the Upper East Side to complete their 5K race in culmination of their Fall 2010 season. With 17 sites throughout New York City and 200 girls, the East River and Carl Schurz Park was filled with active, healthy girl runners in pursuit of finishing a champion.

Earlier in the week, I had trained with the Girls on the Run (GOTR) team pictured here at Sisulu-Walker in West Harlem. When Sisulu-Walker opened in 1999, it became New York City's first public charter school. Named after two African leaders, Walter Sisulu, who is acknowledged as the father of the South African anti-apartheid liberation movement, Sisulu was also responsible for recruiting Nelson Mandela into the African National Congress (ANC) in the 1940s where together they grew the ANC into the most prominent human rights organization that fought for the liberation of black South Africans. The school's name also honors Dr. Wyatte Tee Walker who is an internationally recognized pastor, author, lecturer and advocate for human and civil rights. He was executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference under Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

Stretching in the gymnasium and then running along Harlem Meer in Central Park during their final practice before the race, the Sisulu-Walker GOTR team shared they were nervous, but also ready for the 5K. Each week the lessons accompanying the Girls on the Run program feature training runs, but also focus on topics ranging from peer pressure to bullying and trust to healthy eating habits. Cheyenne who is asthmatic and was known as "The Quiet Storm" last season when I coached her, because she will often quietly catch up and pass teammates, told me that this season she still found every lesson to be her favorite. Seated together in a circle when I asked each member of the Sisulu-Walker GOTR team why they loved coming to practice, they voiced communally how contagious the program's positivity. In fact, almost every girl shared that what she loved best about GOTR is how positive it is.

Sisulu-Walker coaches Jayme Heffler and Kristen Kawecki also spoke about how vibrant the GOTR atmosphere. Kristen came to Girls on the Run after seeing it featured in Health magazine while Jayme wanted to reach young girls. In an interview, Jayme shared, "I want to give back and I want to help these girls find themselves and their inner 'runner.' I love their energy, enthusiasm, and how they have each found their positive cord. I tended to be a non-athletic, yet energetic young kid, and found my sports later in college. Exercise and healthy eating are my mantras and I want to help these girls learn the importance at a young age. I also want to help them love themselves. GOTR is an amazing program for young, impressionable girls."

Holly Carmichael, race director for the Manhattan GOTR chapter and a former coach, recently related that with childhood obesity on the rise, the Girls on the Run program hopes to inspire lasting change in response to a national epidemic. "We are not only helping these little girls see the value in healthy habits, but we are developing in them a sense of agency around their health and teaching them to be resourceful in finding space to be physically active. We hope that these habits become ingrained in them, and that they continue to develop them as they grow into young adults."

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "Overweight and obesity in children are significant public health problems in the United States. The number of adolescents who are overweight has tripled since 1980 and the prevalence among younger children has more than doubled." With 16 percent of children age 6-19 years overweight and with minority populations being vastly more effected, the Girls on the Run program map reflects how they have stepped up their growth to have a presence in the majority of U.S. states in response. And, the plan is for the GOTR program to continue to grow.

While racing alongside Alexis (pictured above second from right), I listened as her GOTR running buddies cheered and supported her. I held her hand then hat, just as I did in the practice before the race when she asked me to run beside her on race day. I remembered how many of those 56 miles during Comrades 2010 in South Africa I ran for these GOTRM girls, for all little girls, to raise monies for SoleMates, the charity leg of Girls on the Run International, but in hope for all girls' true empowerment.

Girls on the Run's mission is to educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living, and as race director Holly cheered each girl when she crossed the finish line on Saturday, she saw it happen.

One GOTRM girl was dragging at the beginning of the finish line chute. You could see - even from a distance - that she was exhausted. I thought she was going to start walking, as many of the girls do, but hoped she didn't as she was so close to finishing! All of a sudden she perked up, her posture changed, she smiled, and she sprinted to the finish line with such control and dedication and pride. It was an overwhelming moment of accomplishment, certainly for her, but also for all of us bystanders and her supporters. Her family squealed, I cried, and she just smiled. Certainly, GOTRM trains girls to run a 5K and so we are immensely proud that she completed it with such strength. But this was also an example of how many girls, if provided the opportunity to shine, will do so.

In that moment, another Girls on the Run champion was born.

Photo credit: Kristen Kawecki

MAKE CHANGE: Support World AIDS Day

Today, December 1, marks World AIDS Day. Therefore, advocates, health professionals, world leaders, and individuals are asked to take action by acknowledging the incredible challenges still surrounding HIV/AIDS. The Global Fund shares this year's theme is the Light to Rights. Accordingly, "public buildings and landmarks will be flooded with lights to signal the commitment of people to universal access to life-saving treatment and respect for the human rights of people affected by HIV and AIDS."

The Global AIDS Alliance (GAA) cited in a press release today, "With over 7,300 new HIV infections and nearly 5,500 AIDS deaths each day, we must continue to hold U.S., global, and implementing country decision-makers accountable for scaling up a comprehensive response to this deadly pandemic, and ensuring the basic human rights of all people affected by HIV/AIDS."

Like the GAA, AIDS-Free World also recognizes how closely linked HIV/AIDS is to issues of social justice, like poverty, gender equity, and discrimination. Throughout all of November the ad shown here was projected by AIDS-Free World in New York City's Time Square on a 520-square-foot video billboard space displaying an advocacy message: AIDS discriminates because we discriminate.

(RED) a campaign powered by consumption to provide financial force for those in need works with brands from Apple to Nike. (RED)'s World AIDS Day page cites that, "half a million babies were born with HIV last year." Since 2006, Red has raised $150 million to support the Global Fund. Today, you can add to the support by reading the UNAIDS 2010 report here, learning more about World AIDS Day at the World AIDS Campaign, or by attending an event.

Strength in Numbers: Mobilization, Awareness, and Health

Yesterday morning at the foot of the Eiffel Tower over 20,000 women converged ready to race in the 14th edition of La Parisienne to celebrate women's health and raise awareness for myriad causes. En route to the start line from Metro École Militaire, I thought about the passage of time. I looked to the gray misting skies of Paris and remembered that sunny day nine years ago when everything my fellow New Yorkers, Pennsylvanians, and Washington, DC residents knew, my country knew, and I knew about safety changed.

This weekend also marked the ninth anniversary of September 11, 2001, when the United States as a country and as individuals, including my sister and myself in Manhattan, experienced one day of terrorism in an act of war. One day. Nearly 3,000 victims. It took months to recover, years to fully heal. A week after the 9/11 attacks, I vividly remember my sister and me in Grand Central Station crying in front of a sign seeking two missing sisters. Out of thousands of posted missing persons signs, we cried for those sisters because enough days had passed we knew them probably gone, but also because we knew they could have been us.

 The Healers of 9/11, by Nicholas Kristof, shares the journey of Susan Retik since she lost her husband in the 9/11 attacks nine years ago along with Patti Quigley, another widow who was pregnant with her first child when her husband was also killed that day. Though devastated and suffering post-9/11, "they realized that there were more than half a million widows in Afghanistan — and then, with war, there would be even more. Ms. Retik and Ms. Quigley also saw that Afghan widows could be a stabilizing force in that country."

America has been at war in Afghanistan since October 2001, meaning Afghan women have been suffering the strife of war for almost a decade. Kristof explains that "at a time when the American government reacted to the horror of 9/11 mostly with missiles and bombs, detentions and waterboardings, Ms. Retik and Ms. Quigley turned to education and poverty-alleviation projects — in the very country that had incubated a plot that had pulverized their lives. The organization they started, Beyond the 11th, has now assisted more than 1,000 Afghan widows in starting tiny businesses."

Health Versus Harm: Youth Advocacy and the Fight Against Violence Against Women and Girls and HIV/AIDS

Read Part 1, Health Versus Harm: Zero Tolerance on Violence Against Women and Girls.

PART 2
Winnie Ncongwane is a 34 year-old single mother of two currently residing in Mbabane, Swaziland. Winnie and I met at the 2010 AIDS Conference and her strength resonated as soon as I sat down next to her.

Recently, Winnie shared with me her thoughts on how she has come into her current role as an empowered HIV-positive woman journalist and activist, “Losing family and friends from HIV/AIDS made me choose to live positively than to die in an abusive have-it-all marriage. I left all the luxury and walked out of my marital home with a bag of clothes for me and my children. I had to start life from scratch, sleeping on a mat on the floor with my children, but at least I had a job. Today, I am happy and I never regret leaving that house for a second. Now, think of a young woman, who has no job or education and depends fully on the man, who might be in the same situation as mine. What can she do, than to stay in such a situation and wait for her last hour? If there are no policies to protect abused women, they will stay as they see no other option out.”

Accordingly, in Swaziland women are more infected by HIV/AIDS. There, females aged between 15 and 19 are infected five times more than their male counterparts, and the ages of 20 to 24 are infected three times more than the males in the same age group.

In July 2010, Winnie started working for the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS after being a member since 2007. She finds her work fulfilling because she is doing what she has always wanted to do, which is communicating and showing her peers that there is life after HIV. Her dream “is to make the HIV/AIDS story worth understanding and most of all remove the stigma that HIV comes with.”

Neelanjana Mukhia is the International Women’s Rights Policy and Campaign Coordinator at ActionAid’s international secretariat and one of the founders who currently manages the international campaign secretariat of Women Won’t Wait: End HIV and Violence Against Women and Girls Now. She shared with me their report What’s the Budget? Where’s the Staff? Moving from Policy to Practice. It cites, “Violence against women and girls and HIV are global, intersecting health and human rights crises. Research demonstrates how women’s risk of, and exposure to, threats or actual violence, particularly intimate partner violence, is a leading factor in women’s heightened vulnerability to HIV. Meanwhile, women are subjected to different forms of violence on a daily basis due to their real or perceived HIV status, whether in their homes, in the workplace, in schools, in health facilities or elsewhere. Both epidemics limit women’s power and participation in society and their agency over their own lives and bodies, sustaining women’s economic, political, social and sexual subordination as well as denial of women’s human rights.”

Where is the good news? UNAIDS recent release of their report, How Young People Are Leading the HIV Revolution, highlights that “HIV prevalence trends in 16 countries show decline among young people 15-24 years.”

Youth advocates are paving the way in HIV/AIDS prevention. As part of Vienna Youth Force 2010 and as an Intern at the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS, Remmy Shawa joined the fight against VAW/G and HIV/AIDS after his Aunt became HIV-positive from her husband and gave birth to her HIV-positive son, his cousin. Born in Zambia, yet raised in a rural area called Chongwe, Remmy lived with his parents before moving to the main city of Lusaka for education. After trying to stay with relatives in Lusaka at 15 years of age, he started staying alone, renting a small room with support from his parents until he finished his high school education.

Remmy’s views on VAW/G as a major factor in HIV/AIDS are just as powerful as his reason for becoming an advocate. “The fight to end the social vulnerability of women to HIV, like harmful gender and cultural practices needs to start with bringing men on board as well. We need to design strategies that work with men and boys not only as perpetrators of gender violence, but as partners with an upper hand in the politics and the economy of our nation. The concepts of masculinity need to be redefined and fatherhood must also be used as one way men can show their love and responsibility to their family in the absence of violence.”

Yvonne Akoth and Kuena Diaho were also part of Vienna Youth Force 2010. From the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho, Kuena currently holds a bachelor’s in law degree from the University of Lesotho. Since 2004, she has worked with the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) as a youth advocate. She shared how at her first meeting she kept looking at the door waiting for more young women to arrive, but as she kept attending she realized she was experiencing, “more than just meetings but also a safe space for the women to come together and share their experiences. The YWCA has since been my home and more.”

For Yvonne, who was born and raised in the Kwale District which is in the Coast Province of Kenya, her work as a young leader guide for the Kenya Girl Guides Association (KGGA) feels like a privilege. In our recent interview, she shared Kenya’s progress, “Statistically HIV/AIDS is decreasing in Kenya as a result of behavior change among the youth in the age cohort (15 – 24yrs) most likely to be infected. Rates have dropped down due to increase of condom use especially in urban centres, reduction of multiple partners, peer education programs in schools and colleges, TV and Radio advertisements targeting young people, youth friendly one stop centres in most districts, billboards, etc.”

However, Yvonne also shares that even though every African country has a national body to address HIV/AIDS. She still believes that if more young people “are co-opted as members of the various committees in the governing body, many issues affecting young people, especially girls and young women, will be [more] adequately addressed.”

The Global AIDS Alliance (GAA) agrees. GAA’s Policy Director Lisa Schechtman sums up their work ahead. “Through the press conference and the participation of Yvonne Chaka Chaka, we have begun exploring a partnership with the Man Up Campaign, which focuses on empowering youth leaders to end violence against women and girls. In addition, GAA has long been working with other partners that have also identified a multisectoral approach similar to the seven pillars, such as the Women Won’t Wait Campaign, and more recently, the CDC, which is developing a technical package of interventions for the Sexual Violence against Girls Initiative that nearly mirrors the seven pillar approach. That a comprehensive multisectoral response is the only way to halt and mitigate the impacts of violence against women and girls has been accepted; our goal with the new report [Political Breakthrough: Mobilizing Accelerated Action to End Violence Against Women and Girls by 2015] is to emphasize that rhetoric and technical documents alone will never protect women or change the power dynamics or social and gender norms that perpetuate violence. Only real political will and long-term predictable funding directed to local civil society and community-based organizations—those that know their own needs best—will get us there. And without this, our multibillion dollar fight against AIDS is certain to fail.”

No one wants to see this much potential melt away as we move beyond AIDS 2010. Yet even with the power of youth advocacy, new treatments, and the syncing up of organizations with comprehensive approaches, only time, stable funding, and continued action will show true change. As individuals, you can keep momentum going by taking your own steps in the fight against VAW/G and HIV/AIDS by supporting the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) through the Global AIDS Alliance action page. You can also check out Michelle Hamilton's A Magnificent Mile at Runner's World which highlight's Founder of Run for Congo Women Lisa Shannon's work along with Women for Women International. A team to race the 20 Kilometers de Paris on 10.10.10 at 10 AM for Congo Women is currently being assembled to run to benefit the organizations. You can learn more at the Run for Congo Women Team Paris site.

On August 12, 2010 in order to celebrate International Youth Day the UN launched the International Year of Youth. The the theme for 2010 to 2011 is "Our Year our Voice."

Photo credit: AIDS 2010

Health Versus Harm: Zero Tolerance on Violence Against Women and Girls

PART 1
This past weekend after my first lap running along the Seine then past the Louvre through the Tuileries, Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe, and back, I paused to stretch in front of the Louvre and thought, “I am the luckiest human being alive to run this. Go again? Yes. Go again? Then again!” When I was fully exhausted but sprinting to finish strong on the Champs-Élysées, I was applauded by tourists. I smiled and thought about how much I love endurance running and how much deeper the reasons why. I know what I look like out there sporting my Run for Congo Women t-shirt and Comrades 2010 hat: Determined. Physically healthy. Strong. That has always been the goal.

But, then, as I was walking down the Metro stairs sipping Pellegrino, I saw her. Head down. No shoes. Bare toes out. Unwashed. I will never see her face. She couldn’t even bear to lift her head to beg anymore. Why bother? She just sat there hunched over, huddled in defeat at the bottom of the stairs with a dirty empty cup. So, I gave. She is why I am so determined. She is why I run. She is why for three years I traveled alone while raising monies for girls and women’s health through Girls on the Run International and their charity, SoleMates. To see her. To speak with her. To mentor her. Then, to ensure change for her.

For these past weeks, I have had my own head down reading reports citing statistics about gender-based violence (GBV). I kept asking questions and hoping for answers that would somehow give sound reason as to why so many women and girls in this world are being harmed. With that harm what happens to their chance for physical health? How high are their risks of other vulnerabilities like HIV/AIDS?

Globally, one in three women will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime according to a 2010 fact sheet put out by Women Won’t Wait Campaign, International AIDS Women’s Caucus, and the International Women’s Health Coalition. According to Women for Women International’s article Violence Against Women and Girls, “A 2007 report and survey of grassroots Iraqi women found that 63.9% of respondents stated that violence against women in general was increasing, with 38.5% reporting that rape was increasing.”



Women for Women International’s research also depicts harrowing challenges in Africa, “Over the course of more than a decade of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), millions of lives have been lost and hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped in a strategic campaign of sexual violence employed by virtually all armed groups, including the military... In 2009, the violence is still increasing.”

As such in 2009, violence against girls was cited by the Clinton Global Initiative as an epidemic. From their web site, “According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in one year alone nearly 150 million girls experience some form of sexual violence. Rape, assault, exploitation, and trafficking devastate the lives of victims and contribute to the spread of HIV and AIDS.”

In fact, last year, the Clinton Global Initiative brought together nine organizations—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the CDC Foundation, five United Nations organizations (UNICEF, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNIFEM, and the WHO), the Nduna Foundation, and Grupo ABC—and each pledged their commitment to end violence, in particular sexual violence, against girls.

At AIDS 2010, the Guardian reported Bill Clinton and Bill Gates opened with a speech about why organizations should make the best use of donated monies due to the economic crisis hampering an increase in funding. Yet conference statistics cited epidemic numbers of violence against women and girls (VAW/G) and also how deep the links between gender-based violence (GBV) and HIV/AIDS. In fact, the American Bar Association’s article Universal Access and Human Rights: For Women and Girls, Too affirms the current challenge in the fight against HIV/AIDS is to acknowledge “the feminization of a modern day pandemic.”

While in Vienna, the Global AIDS Alliance (GAA), an advocacy organization that focuses on improving U.S., multilateral, and affected-country national government policy and funding for the global AIDS pandemic, held the press conference pictured here to announce their report, Political Breakthrough: Mobilizing Accelerated Action to End Violence Against Women and Girls by 2015.

After the press conference, I spoke with Lisa Schechtman who is the Policy Director of the Global AIDS Alliance. In a recent interview, she shared, “the new report was called ‘Political Breakthrough’ because, for the first time, three major AIDS donors and normative agencies (PEPFAR, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and UNAIDS), have placed GBV front and center in their efforts and have committed to providing funding dedicated to addressing this critical challenge—the first expression of political will.”

Lisa affirms needing more than political momentum, however, even as she acknowledges the inherent importance. “While political will starts as rhetoric, it allows for affected communities to demand action and for advocates and activists to hold donors and policymakers accountable for actually doing something—the second and most important expression of political will. It also allows us to trace where the money is going and what impact it is having.”

Enter funding. The problem is the reality. The places where HIV/AIDS are most prevalent are some of the most impoverished in our world. According to UNIFEM’s Backgrounder at AIDS 2010 “in Africa where the epidemic is most widespread, young women are three times more likely to be HIV-positive than young men.” The organization cites gender inequality as one of the most important reasons for this. Less control over their bodies and their lives leads to higher rates of HIV for women and young girls. Is that not another way to say, gender-based or sexual violence?

Even with all of the preceding, eliminating gender-based violence is not explicitly one of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals hence some of the current funding challenges. Lisa explains, “very little funding from any source has been directed specifically to GBV. Slightly more funding has been directed to the intersection of GBV and HIV, but even this has been small and directed to piecemeal projects that do not advance comprehensive change or even meet the needs of the vast number of women and girls who experience violence. Through these smaller efforts supported by the international community and many other programs undertaken by local civil society around the world, we have learned not only that we can address violence, but how to do so effectively. It’s time to stop talking about this major human rights abuse and hold our governments accountable for doing what works at a scale that can reach everyone in need.”

The International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) is a major step in ascertaining that goal. IVAWA is currently moving through Congress with bipartisan support and as Lisa shares, “it mandates a coordinated, multiagency multisectoral response to GBV across all USG diplomatic and international development channels. Recognizing that violence against women and girls has an impact on—and is impacted by—every area of a woman’s life and every part of society, the bill takes a holistic approach and, for the first time, makes violence against women and girls a foreign policy priority for the United States.”

Therefore, IVAWA, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and how effective both female and male youth are as agents of mobilization and social change to end VAW/G for greater public health was also the focus of researchers and advocacy groups at AIDS 2010 and beyond.

Check out Her Blueprint on Thursday, August 12 for Part 2 of this article in which Kate goes in-depth with Remmy Shawa, Intern of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS, Yvonne Akoth of the Kenya Girl Guides Association, and other youth and women advocates who are taking huge strides in the prevention of gender-based violence and the rights of those living with HIV/AIDS.

Haiti: Displacement, TB, and Progress?

Walking into the media center at the 2010 World AIDS Conference was like being barraged. I came out of lectures to have people read my tag as media and then offer a plethora of business cards. Attend our press conference. Highlight us. Be in the know. Do good. OK. I will. The sense of being overwhelmed came from the fact that what everyone presented showed exactly how deep our world's public health crisis already is in terms of HIV/AIDS as well as related diseases, but also how much worse it could become if funding is less than needed due to the economic crisis.

Paul Farmer has worked in wide-ranging capacities for vulnerable communities the entire length of his career. His book Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor was a guide in my travels through South Africa pre- and post-Comrades and during the World Cup 2010. Thus, when I saw his name on a press release in Vienna, I decided to trust his voice about what the worlds’ needs are at a conference concentrating on health and human rights, before they may be fully acknowledged or funded.

AIDS 2010: Rights Here, Rights Now

From check-in to landing, the flight home to Paris late last evening from Vienna, where I was attending the XVIII International AIDS Conference, was anything but smooth. Admittedly, once airborne and while flying through lightening, the Air France flight attendant had to slightly console me, even though the African woman adjacent to me had a chenille turquoise blanket wrapped around her eyes and head, and was clutching it outright every time we rocked or dipped. She had put away the book she was reading with the chapter entitled, “Living with HIV/AIDS.”

We landed safely. At baggage claim, while standing next to Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, pictured here because she was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2008 for her shared discovery of HIV in 1983, I realized had the plane experienced fatal issues, the whole world would have recognized a monumental loss. Professor Barré-Sinoussi’s life is that significant to everyone.



With the “Rights Here, Rights Now” theme, the significance of human life and rights were forefront at AIDS 2010. I heard many participants, especially youth advocates and Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, invoking The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

In 1948, The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted UDHR and signed it here in Paris in response to the Holocaust, which The United States Holocaust Museum web site says allowed for the murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi. Therefore, UDHR asserts that the “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”

According to a report published by UNAIDS in November 2009, HIV/AIDS is the world’s fourth leading cause of death. Since 1981, the disease has killed 25 million people. In 2008, it claimed 2 million lives, yet that year an additional 2.7 million people became infected. At the same time, there were 33.4 million individuals living with HIV.

With over 770 volunteers, 228 sessions, 6,000 abstracts, and 193 countries, AIDS 2010 breathed human rights. Vienna’s Messe Wien conference center became a microcosm of a world where top researchers and doctors, people living with AIDS/HIV, Nobel Prize Laureates, activists, advocates, and artists, journalists, NGOs, GOs, and politicians (though less than desired) all converged to assess how the world will meet the AIDS/HIV United Nations Millennium Development Goals to:

1. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.

2. Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.

3. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.

On Monday, July 19, AIDS 2010 opened with a speech by Bill Clinton and Bill Gates. By Wednesday, UNAIDS announced that top world personalities like Desmond Tutu, Irene Khan, Jacque Chirac, and Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi are joining with UNAIDS to bring about a prevention revolution. In that press conference’s release, Professor Barré-Sinoussi cites, “Today, for every 2 persons starting treatment, 5 new infections occur.”

That is, 7000 new infections daily.

Check back starting in August for more Her Blueprint posts in which Kate talks about other AIDS 2010-related issues, from the link between Gender-Based Violence and HIV/AIDS to Haiti’s tuberculosis crisis post-quake.

Public Health Goals: Gender at Play in World Cup 2010

Read Part 1, Public Health Goals: What Has the World Cup Cost South African Women?

PART 2

Originally from Kenya but now residing in Cape Town, single mother and avid runner 45-year-old Ruth Kamau manages Ikhaya Lodge, the bed and breakfast where I’m staying during my monthlong visit to the Rainbow Nation to run the 85th Comrades Marathon and see the World Cup. Ruth’s daughter Jessica is six years old. Ruth shared with me one evening that Jessica had been watching her twelve-year-old brother play Sims and the video game began simulating sex between two characters—obviously inappropriate for a child her age. She particularly stressed how harming it is when girls are exposed to sexualized content at such an early age. Instead, she leads Jessica toward games like Scrabble and she also shares that, “Jessica accompanied my son and me to Tae Kwondo classes and it is already clear she will enjoy some form of martial arts. A runner, I am not sure, but she loves dance. We attempt to do Yoga together and she enjoys going for walks with me.”

Public Health Goals: What Has the World Cup Cost South African Women?

Cape Town, South Africa.

PART 1
A rainbow that could rival a fairy tale arcs above Table Mountain as I prepare to run Cape Town, South Africa, the country known as the Rainbow Nation. I take video and say aloud, “This is what South Africa hopes for: a pot of gold.”

Just two days before the commencement of the 2010 World Cup, I run through the Company Gardens on Government Avenue near Parliament to see how life plays out for the everyday citizen of Cape Town. My first stop is to help a young mother who is trying to carry three bags and a tired baby.

“They become heavier when they’re asleep,” she explains as I hold her things so she can shift weight. Behind her is South Africa’s National Gallery.

I wish her luck and keep on. I started my journey in Johannesburg, then flew to Durban to run the 85th Comrades Marathon on May 30 for Girls on the Run International through their charity, SoleMates. I finally arrived in Cape Town for the World Cup 2010; I chose Cape Town because it is the city that hosts the least soccer games yet most natural beauty. By noon, vuvuzelas are blazing in a city-wide practice round. The roar sounds the passion Africans have for this incredible sport. Still, I can’t help but wonder: what can the World Cup bring to this country (other than the 350,000 plus fans coming to watch the games)? Better yet, what can it do for African women and girls?