past media summaries

August 16-31, 2007

PUSH JOURNAL MEDIA SUMMARY

SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS

Abortion Pill Poses No Health Risks:  On August 15, the Associated Press and Reuters reported that a recent study of 12,000 Danish women has found that women who use the abortion pill, RU-486, are at no greater risk for complications during later pregnancies. The U.S. approved use of RU-486 in 2000 and an estimated 8-10 percent of U.S. abortions are preformed using the drug. “The short-term safety of medical abortion has been well established," said Dr. Jun Zhang of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, who worked on the study. Read: Associated Press, Reuters

Wales Improves Abortion Services: On August 27, Western Mail (UK) reported that the Welsh Assembly has drawn up new guidelines to make abortion services available faster. Dr Patricia Lohr, medical director of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said “Abortion is a very safe procedure, but being able to offer the earliest possible abortion treatment once a woman has made her decision means the procedure is less invasive for her, and it is cheaper for the National Health Service to provide.” Read: Western Mail

U.K. Group Calls for Abortion Law Changes: On August 27, The Guardian (UK) reported that a group of 13 organizations called The Voice for Choice is using the Global Safe Abortion Conference as a platform to press for abortion reform in the U.K. The conference will meet in October and The Voice for Choice will propose eliminating the requirement for signatures from two doctors to perform an abortion, instead allowing nurses to perform the procedure. Ann Furedi, chief executive of the sexual healthcare charity British Pregnancy Advisory Service, called for "practical modernization of the law." Read: The Guardian

Top Bishop and Cardinal Resign from Amnesty: On August 18, The Times (UK) reported that The Right Rev. Michael Evans, the Bishop of East Anglia, will step down from Amnesty International after 31 years of service. On August 28, the BBC News and The Scotsman reported that Scotland's most senior Roman Catholic, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, has also resigned in protest against Amnesty’s new stance supporting abortion services in cases of rape, incest and violence in war-torn areas. Read: The Times, BBC News, The Scotsman

Sales of Plan B Soar: On August 22, the Associated Press reported on the August 24th first anniversary of the FDA approval of Plan B, the emergency contraceptive pill, for over-the-counter sale. Barr Pharmaceuticals, makers of Plan B, announced that its 2007sales will total about $80 million, almost double 2006 figures and up eightfold from 2004. Despite high sales, consumers still encounter occasional pharmacists’ refusal to carry or dispense the pill on moral grounds, lack of health insurance coverage and backlash from anti-abortion advocates. Read: Associated Press

Amnesty’s New Abortion Stance Encourages Mexican Activists: On August 17, Women’s ENews reported that Mexican pro-choice activists have been spurred into action by Amnesty International’s decision to support abortion in cases of rape, incest and violence. Although abortion rights face strong opposition in Mexico, Mexico City made history in April by legalizing abortion up to 12 weeks. "For some time women have been working to get their sexual and reproductive rights recognized as human rights," said Maria Consuelo Mejia, executive director of Catholics for the Right to Decide. "This helps close the gap between human rights activists and women's rights activists. The position that Amnesty International has taken is very important in this sense." Read: Women’s ENews

SAVING WOMEN’S LIVES

Rising Female Foeticide May Cause Crisis: On August 31, Reuters reported that rising  female foeticide levels in India could lead to a massive gender imbalance, which could result in greater violence against women and even wife-sharing. Female foeticide has increased due to wide access to ultrasound tests and amniocentesis to determine the foetus’s gender. A 2001 census report found fewer than 800 girls for every 1,000 boys in five different Indian providences. “When there are less women in the population and more men of the same age group, there is certainly going to be much more demand for women for marriage [and] for sex, and this pressure will certainly increase violence against women," the report said. Read: Reuters

Carmona Cites More Political Interference: On August 30, The Washington Post and Reuters reported that former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona has released more evidence of interference from the Bush administration in touting politics over science in areas of national health. Carmona revealed a breast-feeding advocacy campaign was watered down by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after receiving pressure from the infant formula industry. Meanwhile, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said this week that emails from the White House and HHS reveal clear political pressure upon the Surgeon General and other health officials. Read: The Washington Post, Reuters

Rape Victims Blamed in Burundi: On August 27, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that women who have been raped in Burundi are often blamed and forced to marry their attacker, who often goes unpunished. No official statistics exist, but the United Nations estimates that rape occurred on a “grand scale” during Burundi’s war from 1993 to 2006. Patricia Ntahorubuze, coordinator for the Association of Lawyers for Women's Rights in Burundi, said, “It's important for those who have committed these crimes to be punished. It is in the interest of all Burundi citizens. If we don't, then we're going to see the number of incidents increase because people won't believe they will be prosecuted." Read: San Francisco Chronicle

Britain and Germany Bid to Help World’s Poor: On August 22, Reuters and BBC News reported that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised “urgent action” to combat major health concerns in the developing world. Their International Health Partnership will begin in September and will tackle HIV/AIDS prevention and education and reducing rates of child and maternal mortality. "This partnership could literally save lives, by coordinating investment in healthcare that is free, public and well-staffed," said Alison Woodhead of Oxfam America. "Brown and Merkel should be congratulated for following through on their G8 promises to improve health care. The challenge for them now is to make sure other countries get on board to ensure maximum impact." Read: Reuters, BBC News

New Report Highlights Darfur Rapes: On August, 21, the Associated Press reported that a new United Nations report documents in detail the rape and torture of dozens of women in conflict-ridden Sudan. The report combined the accounts of 30 U.N. human rights investigators stationed in Darfur and added that despite the reported crimes, there was no investigation from local authorities. "It appears that rape during the December 2006 attacks was used as a weapon of war to cause humiliation and instill fear into the local population," the report said. Read: Associated Press

UN Condom Campaign Wins Award: On August 21, the UN News Centre reported that a condom awareness campaign in India, “Condom Bindaas Bol,” has won a United Nations award for outstanding achievement in public relations. “Condom Bindaas Bol” was created by the public relations company Weber Shandwick to address declining condom usage rates in eight Indian states. It succeeded by promoting condom use among the general public, not just high risk groups, and by saying that condom is not a “delicate” word but one that should be used freely. Read: UN News Centre

POPULATION

New Diseases Tied to Rising Population: On August 23, the Associated Press reported that the World Health Organization (WHO) said a rising world population, intensified farming and changes in sexual behavior created AIDS and 38 new pathogens that were unknown a generation ago. "We've urbanized a world. We have moved people and food around that world at ever increasing speed," WHO epidemics expert Dr. Mike Ryan said. "We're not saying that's a bad thing. What we're saying is that we must recognize the risk we create in the process and invest to manage those risks." Read: Associated Press

China Says One-Child Policy is Good for Climate: On August 30, Reuters reported that the Chinese government has said its one-child-per-couple policy has helped the environment by preventing some 300 million births, meaning that fewer people will demand less energy and lower emissions of heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels. Some scientists say population measures are often overlooked as beneficial solutions to climate change problems. “Population has not been taken seriously enough in the climate debate," said Chris Rapley, incoming head of the Science Museum in London. Read: Reuters

China Warned on Unbalanced Sex Ratio: On August 24, the Xinhua General News Service reported that the China Family Planning Association (CFPA) warned government officials about the risks of China’s unbalanced sex ratio, now at 136 boy births to 100 girl births. Highly unbalanced population levels could increase population problems like housing shortages and increase endemic and infectious diseases, the group said. Cause of the problem is “the traditional thinking that boys are better than girls, especially in poverty-stricken areas. Those people expect boys to support the family by going out for jobs," said Song Jiang, a professor of Population and Development Department of the Beijing-based Renmin University. Read: Xinhua General News Service

HIV AND AIDS

UNAIDS Accused of Mixing Politics and Science: On August 29, Agence France-Presse reported that two new books have accused UNAIDS of inflating AIDS infection rates in India for more funding and of spending funding irresponsibly. U.N. officials denied the claims. Prasada Rao, UNAIDS regional director for Asia, said, "I don't see any motive on the part of UNAIDS to inflate numbers. I don't think there is any axe to grind in this case," Read: Agence France-Presse

U.S. Anti-AIDS Program to Fund Male Circumcision: On August 20, The Washington Post reported that President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief will start allotting money towards male circumcision to prevent AIDS. Recent studies in Kenya, South Africa and Uganda have shown that circumcision reduces HIV infection rate by 60 percent, making it a beneficial part of anti-HIV initiatives. The Bush administration has been reluctant to fund circumcision programs until there was an international consensus on the issue. Read: Washington Post

Unsafe Sex is Leading Cause of HIV Infection in China: On August 20, the Xinhua General News Service reported that for the first time, unsafe sex has surpassed drug abuse as the leading cause of new HIV infections in China. Of the 70,000 new HIV infections reported in 2005, 49.8 percent were from sexual contact, with a noticeable rise in infection rates among Chinese men who have sex with men. The Chinese government has initiated campaigns targeting sex workers, also known as the “bridge population” because they connect those most at risk for infection with the general population.  "As it's hard to spot clients who buy sex, intervention has to begin with sex workers," said Tan Xiaodong, professor at the School of Public Health of Wuhan University. Read: Xinhua General News Service

Genital Washing Increases HIV Transmission: On August 21, The New York Times reported that a new study by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that genital washing after sexual intercourse increased the likelihood of HIV infection. The findings debunked longstanding recommendations of genital cleansing as part of  HIV/AIDS prevention programs. Dr. Merle A. Sande, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Washington in Seattle, who was not involved in the study, said, “There is still so much we don’t understand about the complex factors that influence HIV transmission in the genital tract, but this important study will help.” Read: The New York Times

In South Asia, HIV Rises Among Women: On August 21, Inter press Service reported that 40 percent of new HIV infections in South Asia now occur in women. The ABC (abstinence, be faithful and consistent use of condom) method is most commonly used in the region to prevent HIV, but it is unlikely to work for married women who are infected by their spouses. “Discrimination against women [and] unequal power relations between men and women constitute the basis of gender inequality that fuels the feminization of the epidemic," said Sunila Abeysekera, executive director of Sri Lanka-based Inform. Read: Inter Press Service

EDITORIALS and COLUMNS: On August 28, the Irish Times ran an op-ed by Joseph Powderly of the Oxford University Press about Amnesty International’s new liberalized stance supporting abortion in instances of rape, incest or violence. Powderly said the change was long overdue and that criticism from the religious community was unjust: “Abortion is understandably a highly divisive issue. Surely the countless harrowing personal histories emerging from war-torn regions provide an opportunity in which principle and dogma may be set to one side in favour of a truly compassionate appreciation of the circumstances faced by victims of sexual violence.” Read: Irish Times

On August 24, the Sun Star (Philippines) ran an editorial praising Philippine Senator Pia Cayetano for his pro-family planning recommendations to the Philippine government. Cayetano is asking Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to reconsider the relatively low position of family planning in the Department of Health 2007 priorities. Cayetano said that without proper action against a rising population, increased rates of disease and shortages of education, food and housing are inevitable. Read: Sun Star

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past media summaries