More Resources on Women's Health & Reproductive Technologies

Health Resource Kit on Women-Centered and Gender Sensitive Experiences: Changing Our Perspectives, Policies and Programs on Women's Health in Asia and the Pacific
Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Center for Women (ARROW)

ARROW has produced a health resource kit which shares the experience of organizations and individuals in the region who have succeeded in changing perspectives, policies and programs on women's health so that they are more focused on women's needs and more responsive to gender issues. The kit highlights a variety of efforts to meet women's health needs and features pull-out sections containing concise case studies with lessons learned for easy reference and practical use. It also contains practical tools in the form of frameworks, guidelines, questionnaires, etc. A wall-chart poster which contrasts the conventional population control and family planning approach with a women-centered one, and a description of concepts and terms are also provided.

For information on how to obtain the kit, contact ARROW, 2nd Flr, Blk F, Anjung FELDA, Jalan Maktab, 54000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, e-mail: arrow@po.jaring.my.

Negotiating Reproductive Rights: Women's Perspectives Across Countries and Cultures
Edited by Rosalind P. Petchesky and Karen Judd. London and New York: Zed Books, 1998.

This book grows out of the International Reproductive Rights Research Action Group's (IRRRAG) four years of collaborative research in Brazil, Egypt, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines and the US. Based on in-depth interviews with women in diverse settings, the book asks when, whether and how grassroots women express a sense of entitlement or self-determination in everyday decisions about childbearing, work, marriage, fertility control and sexual relations. It also explores what strategies they employ to negotiate with various levels of authority, and the role of economic and cultural constraints in shaping choices.

Touch me, Touch-me-not: Women Healing and Herbs
By Shodhini - a network of women health activists.

This book provides information about common gynaecological problems and traditional plant remedies collected from women healers from various parts of India. These remedies have been in use for hundreds of years but are rapidly disappearing from people's knowledge.

This work is an outcome of an action research by Shodini - a network of women health activists. Touch me, Touch-me-not attempts to rediscover the efficacy of common herbal remedies in healing a wide range of disorders particularly gynaecological ones.

· Symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of menstrual problems, vaginal infections, urinary infections, uterine problems, backache etc.
· Exhaustive, simple to use indices by symptoms, plants and ailments.
· Tested herbal recipes for gynaecological problems.
· Women's perceptions, beliefs and experiences about their health.
· Experiences of self-help process.
In a unique integration of self-help methodolgy with herbal remedies, Shodhini experiences open a new dimension in the perspective of women's health.

300 pp.50 illustrations; Price Rs 150 / US $15 [postage extra]

Copies can be ordered from:
Shodhini Network
C/o Kali for Women, B 1/8, Hauz Khas, New Delhi - 110 016 INDIA