Countries of transition: impoverishment and reproductive health choices.
Int Conf AIDS 2004 Jul 11-16; 15:(abstract no. E10138)
Hussain TM UNICEF, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
A study by the ILO Organisation concluded that the negative impact of economic reform and transition to market economics including the former USSR has tended to hit women than men. Collapse of USSR, worsening of the socio-economic situation and poor and slow state development of new organisational structure of public life, has increased the vulnerability of women, children & young people in this region. Women's voices are hard less and less in all spheres of the society. It has been argued that women are particularly vulnerable in these circumstances to the anti-choice lobby. With little income, women face the dilemma of having to choose between meeting basic family subsistence needs and attending to their own health. In a situation of poverty, women often have the least access to food, health, education and employment, which in turn violates the right of control over their reproductive function. The Armenian Reproductive Health (RH) Survey revealed that the high cost makes some women reluctant to use RH services and about five percent of women prefer to deliver at home the next time. In the Central Asia, deaths due to abortion complications have remain very high due to illegal practices to which women are driven by unofficial-fees demanded by doctors. Another link between poverty and reproductive health is the increase in incidence of sexually transmitted infections as a result of prostitution, for instance, in some countries of the former USSR the incidence of syphilis increased 50 times compare to the situation in 1995. As with other sectors, there can be no quick fix for the health situation. Poverty is now the single greatest cause of ill health in the world and action to improve health should be coordinated with initiatives to reduce poverty. This paper will review the situation based on available data in addition to the author's own experiences in this region and outline the recommendations which might support policy making and collaboration.
Keywords: AEGIS, Reproductive Medicine, Health, Poverty, Organizations, Health Planning Guidelines, Health Services, Income, Health Services Needs and Demand, Health Planning, Maternal-Child Health Centers, USSR, Asia, Central, United States, Humans, Female, Male, Pregnancy, Child, economics, organization & administration, education
