For decades, women's rights advocates "believed that a campaign for 'gender mainstreaming' at the United Nations ... was all that was needed to bring the status of women, and women's rights, in from the margins of the international system," she continues. Although the "principle may have been a good one, ... women were often sidelined," and many nations "signed agreements protecting and benefiting women but did not implement or enforce them," Crossette writes. She notes that a "look at the scorecard" of the 2000 Millennium Development Goals "show[s] major indicators specifically on women and girls lagging behind targets in other areas, such as poverty reduction."
U.N. Women is expected to have both operational and "normative" rules, which are those "dealing with policies and promoting and monitoring international covenants and agreements," according to Crossette. The new body will work with the intergovernmental Commission on the Status of Women and the U.N.'s Economic and Social Council.
Crossette argues that "[h]elping people devise culturally sensitive approaches" to advancing women's rights "might be the job for U.N. Women." However, funding such operations in the field will be the "hitch" for this approach, as funding will come from voluntary contributions, "not from the U.N.'s regular budget." A $500 million operating budget has been suggested "as a good starting point, but the majority of that will have to be raised from governments, and success is by no means assured," Crossette writes, noting that some advocates were hoping for a $1 billion budget.
Still, U.N. Women is "all potential at its birth, and the next six months will determine whether it will wield any more power than the pile of documents promoting and protecting women that have been accumulating in U.N. headquarters," she continues. Crossette adds that the "next few weeks are especially critical" because U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will select a head for U.N. Women. According to Crossette, the leader of the new body should be a diplomat with an understanding of the problems women face in the developing world. Ban has requested that governments submit their nominations by mid-July.
Women in the developing world "bear the largest, most painful burdens, and need a champion with enough clout to make governments listen -- and donate," Crossette argues, adding that "[m]illions lack access to reproductive health and family planning, making them vulnerable to HIV/AIDS." Moreover, women in the developing world "die in large numbers of preventable deaths in pregnancy and childbirth," and they "suffer rising levels of domestic violence" and sexual assault, she says. "Put in perspective, women in the developing world need the most help," and U.N. Women "has a lot of work to do," Crossette argues (Crossette, The Nation, 7/6).
Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.
© 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.
вторник, 27 сентября 2011 г.
U.N. Women 'All Potential At Its Birth,' The Nation Opinion Piece Says
On July 2, the United Nations' General Assembly created U.N. Women, a new body "dedicated to promoting women's rights and involvement in development, peacemaking, politics and economic activity," The Nation's Barbara Crossette writes. U.N. Women will absorb the work of four existing U.N. funds and programs: the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women; the Division for the Advancement of Women; the U.N. Development Fund for Women; and the U.N. International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women. Advocates have "long argued" that the four programs "were grossly underfunded and unable to exert influence in the field," according to Crossette.
вторник, 20 сентября 2011 г.
Spousal Violence Increases Chances Of Single And Repeated Fetal Loss
A study of more than 2,500 pregnant women in Africa has shown that those who experience violence from their partners are 50% more likely to lose their baby in at least one pregnancy. The study findings support the idea of prenatal screening for spousal violence in Africa, the region with the highest levels of fetal loss in the world. These are the conclusions of an Article published in this week's edition of The Lancet, Dr Amina Alio, Department of Community and Family Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA, and colleagues.
The authors analysed data from the Cameroon Demographic Health Survey. In the violence module of this survey, women were questioned about their experience of physical, emotional, and sexual violence inflicted by their spouses. Respondents were also asked about any stillbirths and spontaneous abortions. From detailed questions, violence was categorised into subtypes: (1) physical violence, including instances of pushing or shoving, throwing objects, slapping, arm twisting, punching, hitting with an object, kicking, dragging, attempting to strangle or burn, threatening with a weapon, and attacking with a weapon; (2) emotional violence, referring to verbal or physical public humiliation and verbal threat to the woman or her family; and (3) sexual violence, incorporating being forced to have sex or to undertake sexual acts. The authors included all women who responded to the violence module questions by referring to their "husband" or "spouse".
Of the 2562 women who responded to the violence module, those exposed to spousal violence (1307) were 50% more likely to experience at least one episode of fetal loss compared with women not exposed to abuse. Repeated fetal loss was associated with all forms of spousal violence, but emotional violence had the strongest association. If the prevalence of spousal abuse could be reduced to 50%, 25%, or eliminated completely, preventable excess recurrent fetal loss would be 17%, 25%, and 33% respectively.
The authors conclude: "Spousal violence increases the likelihood of single and repeated fetal loss. A large proportion of risk for recurrent fetal mortality is attributable to spousal violence and, therefore, is potentially preventable. Our findings support the idea of routine prenatal screening for spousal violence in the African setting, a region with the highest rate of fetal death in the world."
Click here to view SUMMARY of article online.
In an accompanying Comment, Dr Claudia Garcia-Moreno, Department of Reproductive Health and Research, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland, says: "More support is needed for education and information for health-care providers and the integration of intimate-partner violence and sexual violence into existing initiatives for maternal, infant, and child health. There is also a major need for more research on primary prevention interventions.
"The focus on fetal outcomes should not detract from the impact of violence on women's health and lives. Violence against women is a violation of their human rights."
Click here to view beginning of COMMENT online.
Source
Tony Kirby
Press Officer
The Lancet
32 Jamestown Road
Camden
London
NW1 7BY
thelancet
The authors analysed data from the Cameroon Demographic Health Survey. In the violence module of this survey, women were questioned about their experience of physical, emotional, and sexual violence inflicted by their spouses. Respondents were also asked about any stillbirths and spontaneous abortions. From detailed questions, violence was categorised into subtypes: (1) physical violence, including instances of pushing or shoving, throwing objects, slapping, arm twisting, punching, hitting with an object, kicking, dragging, attempting to strangle or burn, threatening with a weapon, and attacking with a weapon; (2) emotional violence, referring to verbal or physical public humiliation and verbal threat to the woman or her family; and (3) sexual violence, incorporating being forced to have sex or to undertake sexual acts. The authors included all women who responded to the violence module questions by referring to their "husband" or "spouse".
Of the 2562 women who responded to the violence module, those exposed to spousal violence (1307) were 50% more likely to experience at least one episode of fetal loss compared with women not exposed to abuse. Repeated fetal loss was associated with all forms of spousal violence, but emotional violence had the strongest association. If the prevalence of spousal abuse could be reduced to 50%, 25%, or eliminated completely, preventable excess recurrent fetal loss would be 17%, 25%, and 33% respectively.
The authors conclude: "Spousal violence increases the likelihood of single and repeated fetal loss. A large proportion of risk for recurrent fetal mortality is attributable to spousal violence and, therefore, is potentially preventable. Our findings support the idea of routine prenatal screening for spousal violence in the African setting, a region with the highest rate of fetal death in the world."
Click here to view SUMMARY of article online.
In an accompanying Comment, Dr Claudia Garcia-Moreno, Department of Reproductive Health and Research, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland, says: "More support is needed for education and information for health-care providers and the integration of intimate-partner violence and sexual violence into existing initiatives for maternal, infant, and child health. There is also a major need for more research on primary prevention interventions.
"The focus on fetal outcomes should not detract from the impact of violence on women's health and lives. Violence against women is a violation of their human rights."
Click here to view beginning of COMMENT online.
Source
Tony Kirby
Press Officer
The Lancet
32 Jamestown Road
Camden
London
NW1 7BY
thelancet
вторник, 13 сентября 2011 г.
Romney Supports Two-Step Process Of Allowing States To Decide Abortion Policy, Passing Constitutional Amendment Banning Abortion, Advisers Say
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, on Tuesday in an interview with Nevada television station KLAS said that if elected president he would allow individual states to keep abortion legal, the Washington Post reports. Romney earlier this month in an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos said he supports a constitutional amendment that would ban abortion nationwide. According to the Post, the "two very different statements" reflect a "challenge" for Romney as he attempts to be a "champion of the antiabortion movement" (Shear, Washington Post, 8/23).
In an interview with the Associated Press Tuesday, Romney said that giving states control to "fashion their own laws with regard to abortion" should be the "next step" in the abortion debate (Riley, AP/Salt Lake Tribune, 8/22). Top Romney advisers on Tuesday said the governor supports a two-tiered process in which states first would obtain authority to regulate abortion after Roe v. Wade -- the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that effectively barred state abortion bans -- is overturned. The second step would be a constitutional amendment that bans most abortions nationwide.
James Bopp -- an attorney who has represented antiabortion groups and a top Romney adviser on abortion -- said, "There's no flip-flopping. There's no contradiction. There's simply step one and step two." Jon Ralston, a columnist for the Las Vegas Sun who interviewed Romney for KLAS, said he believes Romney's "moral positions conflict" with his "states'-rights opinions," adding, "I don't see how you can be antiabortion, be in favor of a constitutional amendment and be in favor of states' rights" (Washington Post, 8/23).
"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
In an interview with the Associated Press Tuesday, Romney said that giving states control to "fashion their own laws with regard to abortion" should be the "next step" in the abortion debate (Riley, AP/Salt Lake Tribune, 8/22). Top Romney advisers on Tuesday said the governor supports a two-tiered process in which states first would obtain authority to regulate abortion after Roe v. Wade -- the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that effectively barred state abortion bans -- is overturned. The second step would be a constitutional amendment that bans most abortions nationwide.
James Bopp -- an attorney who has represented antiabortion groups and a top Romney adviser on abortion -- said, "There's no flip-flopping. There's no contradiction. There's simply step one and step two." Jon Ralston, a columnist for the Las Vegas Sun who interviewed Romney for KLAS, said he believes Romney's "moral positions conflict" with his "states'-rights opinions," adding, "I don't see how you can be antiabortion, be in favor of a constitutional amendment and be in favor of states' rights" (Washington Post, 8/23).
"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
вторник, 6 сентября 2011 г.
Agent Provides Treatment Option For Women With Hot Flashes
A pill used for nerve pain offers women relief from hot flashes, Mayo Clinic researchers report at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
They say the agent, pregabalin, decreased hot flash severity and frequency about 20 percent more than did a placebo agent. Thus, pregabalin appears to offer about the same benefit as gabapentin, an older, related drug, as well as newer classes of antidepressants.
"Hot flashes are a major problem in many women, and for those who opt not to take hormonal therapies or antidepressants, pregabalin appears to be another treatment option," says the study's lead author, Charles Loprinzi, M.D., a medical oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
While pregabalin offers about the same benefit as gabapentin, women who use it only need to take two pills a day, versus three for gabapentin, he says. Side effects can occur with the use of either drug. However, in this study, they were not severe enough that participants stopped using the active study drug any more often than did patients who were taking placebos, researchers say.
Dr. Loprinzi has pioneered the field of nonhormonal hot flash therapy, which he began researching decades ago to help breast cancer patients using tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen treatment that creates symptoms of menopause. He is the first researcher to test the use of antidepressants, compared to placebo treatment, for hot flashes.
Gabapentin, an agent that has long been on the market to treat pain caused from injury to nerves, has been shown to decrease hot flashes more than do placebos. This drug is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat diabetic peripheral neuropathy and for shingles; anecdotal evidence suggested that menopausal women who used it had a reduction in hot flashes, Dr. Loprinzi says. Multiple placebo-controlled studies have since demonstrated that this drug decreases hot flashes.
Gabapentin and a variety of antidepressants are now commonly prescribed for treatment of hot flashes, although these agents are not specifically approved by the FDA for such use.
Pregabalin is a newer version of gabapentin. "We thought it might also relieve hot flashes and thus was worth testing," Dr. Loprinzi says.
So, using funds from the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Loprinzi and colleagues set up a 207-participant study conducted by the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG). The study was a Phase III double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized trial, testing three different treatment arms: a placebo versus daily doses of 150 milligrams (mg) of pregabalin (75 mg twice a day) and 300 milligrams (150 mg twice a day). Patients getting pregabalin started off with lower doses which were increased weekly to the eventual full dose.
Participants, who reported having at least 28 hot flashes a week, kept a "hot flash diary" in which they recorded the number and severity of hot flashes they had each day while taking their study drug - the content of which was unknown to them.
In the study group, 34 percent were using anti-estrogen therapy - either an aromatase inhibitor, raloxifene, or tamoxifen - to help prevent the recurrence of estrogen-sensitive breast cancer.
The researchers found that for the 163 patients for whom information was available, both doses of pregabalin reduced hot flashes to about the same degree, but that toxicities, such as cognitive dysfunction, were increased at the higher dose. Other reported side effects included weight gain, sleepiness, dizziness, coordination troubles, concentration troubles, and concerns regarding vision changes.
They found that, after six weeks of treatment, women using a placebo agent reported about a 50 percent decrease in their hot flash score (severity), but the change was greater for those who used a 75-milligram twice daily dose of pregabalin (65 percent decrease) and a 150-milligram twice daily dose (71 percent decrease). The declines in hot flash frequency were 36 percent for placebo users, 58 percent in women who used lower-dose pregabalin, and 61 percent in women given the higher dose.
"All in all, this study demonstrates that we have another agent to add to the list of medications that offer benefit against hot flashes, even in women using anti-estrogen therapies," Dr. Loprinzi says.
Pfizer, the company that manufactures pregabalin, donated both the drug and placebo tablets for this study.
Source:
Karl Oestreich
Mayo Clinic
They say the agent, pregabalin, decreased hot flash severity and frequency about 20 percent more than did a placebo agent. Thus, pregabalin appears to offer about the same benefit as gabapentin, an older, related drug, as well as newer classes of antidepressants.
"Hot flashes are a major problem in many women, and for those who opt not to take hormonal therapies or antidepressants, pregabalin appears to be another treatment option," says the study's lead author, Charles Loprinzi, M.D., a medical oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
While pregabalin offers about the same benefit as gabapentin, women who use it only need to take two pills a day, versus three for gabapentin, he says. Side effects can occur with the use of either drug. However, in this study, they were not severe enough that participants stopped using the active study drug any more often than did patients who were taking placebos, researchers say.
Dr. Loprinzi has pioneered the field of nonhormonal hot flash therapy, which he began researching decades ago to help breast cancer patients using tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen treatment that creates symptoms of menopause. He is the first researcher to test the use of antidepressants, compared to placebo treatment, for hot flashes.
Gabapentin, an agent that has long been on the market to treat pain caused from injury to nerves, has been shown to decrease hot flashes more than do placebos. This drug is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat diabetic peripheral neuropathy and for shingles; anecdotal evidence suggested that menopausal women who used it had a reduction in hot flashes, Dr. Loprinzi says. Multiple placebo-controlled studies have since demonstrated that this drug decreases hot flashes.
Gabapentin and a variety of antidepressants are now commonly prescribed for treatment of hot flashes, although these agents are not specifically approved by the FDA for such use.
Pregabalin is a newer version of gabapentin. "We thought it might also relieve hot flashes and thus was worth testing," Dr. Loprinzi says.
So, using funds from the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Loprinzi and colleagues set up a 207-participant study conducted by the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG). The study was a Phase III double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized trial, testing three different treatment arms: a placebo versus daily doses of 150 milligrams (mg) of pregabalin (75 mg twice a day) and 300 milligrams (150 mg twice a day). Patients getting pregabalin started off with lower doses which were increased weekly to the eventual full dose.
Participants, who reported having at least 28 hot flashes a week, kept a "hot flash diary" in which they recorded the number and severity of hot flashes they had each day while taking their study drug - the content of which was unknown to them.
In the study group, 34 percent were using anti-estrogen therapy - either an aromatase inhibitor, raloxifene, or tamoxifen - to help prevent the recurrence of estrogen-sensitive breast cancer.
The researchers found that for the 163 patients for whom information was available, both doses of pregabalin reduced hot flashes to about the same degree, but that toxicities, such as cognitive dysfunction, were increased at the higher dose. Other reported side effects included weight gain, sleepiness, dizziness, coordination troubles, concentration troubles, and concerns regarding vision changes.
They found that, after six weeks of treatment, women using a placebo agent reported about a 50 percent decrease in their hot flash score (severity), but the change was greater for those who used a 75-milligram twice daily dose of pregabalin (65 percent decrease) and a 150-milligram twice daily dose (71 percent decrease). The declines in hot flash frequency were 36 percent for placebo users, 58 percent in women who used lower-dose pregabalin, and 61 percent in women given the higher dose.
"All in all, this study demonstrates that we have another agent to add to the list of medications that offer benefit against hot flashes, even in women using anti-estrogen therapies," Dr. Loprinzi says.
Pfizer, the company that manufactures pregabalin, donated both the drug and placebo tablets for this study.
Source:
Karl Oestreich
Mayo Clinic
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