Regional demands for the human right to health. (News and Meetings).

Health as a civil and human right was the focus of many activities undertaken by women's organizations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean as part of the events commemorating May 28, International Day of Action for Women's Health. We are pleased to share examples from several actions celebrating this important date:

In Nicaragua, Servicios Integrates para la Mujer (SI MUJER, Comprehensive Services for Women) launched a call for action with "six urgent actions to reduce maternal mortality and unsafe abortion," two serious public health concerns in this Central American country. SI MUJER's call for action stressed the need for: reliable statistics on maternal mortality and abortion; collaborative relationships among women's alternative care centers; treatment for complications of unsafe abortion; education and specialized services for adolescents; access to emergency contraception; prevention of sexual violence; and a review of the legislation that criminalizes abortion. In all, 17 networks and 40 organizations, collectives and universities took part, as well as countless individuals.

Further north, Guatemala's Agrupacion de Mujeres Tierra Viva ("Tierra Viva" Women's Group) published the document "Justicia para las mujeres es gozar de salud en mente, cuerpo y espfritu" (Justice for Women Means Enjoying Health in Mind, Body and Spirit). They called for freedom from conservative social and religious beliefs, an end to the taboo on sexual and reproductive rights, and the effective exercise of these rights. The document states that "we can only speak of justice for women when our country's maternal mortality rate drops significantly, when women no longer die due to causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, when Guatemala no longer holds first place for maternal mortality in Central America and second place in all of Latin America."

Another document was prepared by the Taller de Varones Colombianos (Colombian Men's Workshop). The "Manifiesto de Hombres de Colombia por el Derecha a la Salud coma derecho de Ciudadania de las Mujeres" (Colombian Men's Manifesto for Women's Right to Health as a Civil Right) asks women's forgiveness for all the horrors, errors, violence and violations that they have suffered at the hands of the patriarchal culture embodied in every man. They call on all men to "reflect upon, share and accept publicly our constant and systematic responsibility for violating women's right to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights as civil rights."

As part of their celebrations of May 28, the Casa de la Mujer in Rosario, Argentina sponsored a workshop prepared by the group Mujercitas of the Centro de la Juventud Municipal (Municipal Youth Center) for some 40 adolescents of both sexes. The workshop addressed young people's sexual and reproductive rights and provided information about emergency contraception. The materials on EC that were distributed to the workshop participants were also disseminated to the larger community through local health clinics.

Elsewhere in Rosario, city council-member Silvana Svatez presented her colleagues with a proposal to call a public hearing to discuss the issue of women's right to health as a civil right, within the context of LACWHN's Advocacy Campaign for the Exercise of Sexual and Reproductive Rights. The Municipal Council approved her proposal.

The Costa Rican association Primal promoted a May 28 campaign for the humanization of childbirth as part of the organization's ongoing efforts to improve birthing conditions. Primal has focused on this issue since 2001 and has already achieved favorable results in local public hospitals. The group's goal is to humanize care for all the 80,000 births that occur annually throughout Costa Rica.

Adolescent pregnancy was the focus of a study released in commemoration of May 28 by the Salvadoran group Las Dignas. El Salvador is among the top five Latin American countries for adolescent pregnancy rates: 116 pregnant teens per 1000 young women. Adolescent women account for 20 to 25% of all births in Salvador. The Las Dignas study also reports that these young mothers are 30% less likely to escape their situations of poverty than other girls their same age and that they are seven times less likely to continue their studies. The study also noted that in El Salvador 5.8% of all girls aged 15 to 19 have reported being the victims of sexual violence: over 90,000 young women.

In Bolivia, the September 28 Campaign Coordination -- which includes CIDEM, Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir (Catholics for a Free Choice), Platafarma de la Mujer and Red-Ada -- used the opportunity of May 28 to denounce the numerous deaths related to unsafe abortion. According to the US-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP), Bolivia has the highest rate of maternal mortality in Latin America and the Caribbean (416 per 100,000 live births), and unsafe abortion is the third highest cause of these deaths. In a public declaration, the September 28 Campaign Coordination asserted that women's health continues to be a low priority, despite the commitments that Bolivia assumed at the International Conference on Population and Development and the Fourth World Conference on Women. At both these international meetings, states and governments expressed their will to improve women's quality of life and health through the recognition of their sexual and reproductive rights.

Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir (CDD, Catholics for a Free Choice) in Cordoba, Argentina issued a public statement denouncing the flagrant example of gender discrimination and social injustice evident in forced or coerced maternity. The many women who die as the result of complications from unsafe abortion is a glaring example of these health inequities. The rights ensured for all citizens in the comprehensive and humane language of international treaties, conventions and conferences have not yet been recognized and implemented at the national level, which, CDD stresses, disproportionately affects women.

Uruguay's Comision Nacional de Seguimiento (National Monitoring Commission) launched a broad-based call for action for May 28 to promote the right to health as essential for the full exercise of civil rights. The Commission also joined with the women's health group MYSU to produce the informational dossier "Aborta en Uruguay" (Abortion in Uruguay), which is available on-line at http://chasque.apc.org. comision. Other activities related to this call for action included: a workshop on health and self-care; a roundtable entitled "Maternidad Voluntaria e Informada, ?es hoy una realidad?" (Is Voluntary and Informed Motherhood a Reality Today?) organized by the Casa de la Mujer de la Union; and a debate, "Aborto ?cuestion de jovenes?" (Abortion, A Young People's Issue?), organized by the Red de Jovenes "Hacia Falta" ("What We Were Missing" Young People's Network), the Juventud Socialista (Young Socialists) and MYSU.

The Haitian women s organizations ENFOFANM, KAYFANM and FANMYOLA in Port au Prince also joined the campaign for women's civil right to health. These groups stressed the campaign's importance for the poorest communities, especially women and young people, who are the most disenfranchised.

A number of May 28 activities were undertaken in Brazil, as reported in a special edition of the electronic newsletter Redefax, produced by the Rede Nacional Feminista de Saude e Direitos Reprodutivos, RedeSaude (National Feminist Network for Reproductive Health and Rights).' Many of these activities addressed the issue of maternal mortality. In addition to the special edition of their virtual newsletter, RedeSaude produced a pamphlet "Mortalidad Materna"(Maternal Mortality) with detailed information on this issue. Over the past 20 years, Brazil's rates of maternal mortality and morbidity have been quite high compared to those of developed countries. In addition, the differences in these rates among Brazilian states also has varied considerably. In keeping with the campaign focus, the first state-sponsored Seminar on Maternal Mortality was held in Rio de Janeiro under the auspices of the state's Coordination of Programs for Women's Comprehensive Health Care.

And last in this list, but not least by far, in Puerto Rico the workshop "Rampiendo el Closet par la salud sexual y reproductiva de las lesbianas" (Coming Out for Lesbians' Sexual and Reproductive Health) addressed an issue that is absent from health policies and programs, especially in regard to sexuality and reproduction. The workshop was sponsored by Taller Salud, Grupo Pro Derechos Reproductivos, Madres Lesbianas, Taller Lesbico Creativo, Grupo de Apoyo UPR and LACWHN.