Family Planning Advice in State-Socialist Poland, 1950s-80s: Local and Transnational Exchanges.

This paper scrutinises the relations between different models of family planning advice and their evolution in Poland between the mid-1950s and the late 1980s, focusing on their similarities and dissimilarities, conflicts and concordances. From 1956 onwards, the delivery of family planning advice became a priority for both the Polish Catholic Church and the party-state, especially its health authorities, which supported the foundation of the Society of Conscious Motherhood and aspired to mainstream birth control advice through the network of public well-woman clinics. As a consequence, two systems of family planning counselling emerged: the professional, secular family planning movement and Catholic pre-marital and marital counselling. We argue that reciprocal influence and emulation existed between state-sponsored and Catholic family planning in state-socialist Poland, and that both models used transnational organisations and debates relating to contraception for their construction and legitimisation. By evaluating the extent to which the strategies and practices for the delivery of birth control advice utilised by transnational birth control movements were employed in a 'second world' context such as Poland, we reveal unexpected supranational links that complicate and problematise historiographical and popular understandings of the Iron Curtain and Cold War Europe.

Historias locas: Internaciones psiquiátricas durante el siglo XX

Compilación del trabajo de investigación desarrollado sobre un fondo documental de historias clínicas del período 1895-1987 del Archivo Intermedio del Archivo General de la Nación, provenientes del Hospital Neuropsiquiátrico de Mujeres José Esteves, de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (Argentina). La investigación tuvo el aval de la Universidad Nacional de Lanús (UNL) y el CONICET, y se centró en la trayectoria del hospital en ese período, y la atención a la salud/enfermedad mental, partiendo de una presentación socio-epidemiológica de las personas internadas, y situándolas en su contexto socio-histórico y cultural.

Trajetória histórica das políticas de saúde da mulher em Angola / Trayectoria histórica de las políticas de salud de la mujer en Angola / Historical trajectory of women's health policies in Angola

O estudo teve como objetivo descrever o panorama histórico das políticas públicas voltadas à saúde da mulher em Angola. Trata-se de pesquisa sob perspectiva histórica, utilizando a análise documental e análise categorial de fontes históricas oficiais, provenientes do Ministério da Saúde e Direção Nacional de Saúde Pública, de Angola, e do site oficial da Organização Mundial da Saúde, no período de 1975 a 2012. O corpus documental foi constituído por 12 documentos. Observou-se que as políticas de saúde da mulher se misturam com as políticas de saúde para a população, tendo sido formuladas com investimentos internacionais e fortemente influenciadas pela conjuntura mundial no período. Foram observadas dificuldades para a completa implementação das ações previstas. Concluiu-se que, apesar dos esforços realizados, o desafio de Angola continua sendo a melhoria da prestação de cuidados à saúde da mulher e o aumento do acesso a serviços de qualidade a toda população

El estudio tuvo como objetivo describir los antecedentes históricos de las políticas públicas para la salud de la mujer en Angola. Estudio de perspectiva histórica, utilizando el análisis de documentos y análisis de categorías de las fuentes históricas oficiales del Ministerio de Salud y la Dirección Nacional de Salud Pública de Angola y el página web oficial de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, de 1975 a 2012. El corpus documental consistió en 12 documentos. Se observó que las políticas de salud de la mujer y las políticas de salud para la población estaban mezcladas se han sido formuladas con financiación internacionales y fuertemente influenciado por el contexto global en el período. Hubo dificultades para la plena aplicación de las acciones previstas. Se concluyó que a pesar de los esfuerzos realizados, el desafío de Angola sigue siendo la mejora de la atención a la salud de las mujeres, y aumentar el acceso a servicios de calidad a toda la población

The aim of this study was to describe an historical view of public policies focused on women's health in Angola. This is a historical perspective research, using documental analysis and categorical analysis of official historical sources, from the Ministry of Health and the National Directorate of Public Health of Angola and the official website of the World Health Organization, from 1975 to 2012. The documentary corpus consisted of 12 documents. It was observed that women's health policies are mixed with health policies for the population, formulated with international investments and strongly influenced by the global situation in the period. It was observed difficulties to fully implement the planned actions. It was concluded that despite the efforts made, Angola's challenge continues to be to improve the delivery of women's health care, and to increase access to quality services for the entire population

Muerte en manicomio: Un estudio de caso exploratorio de historias clínicas de mujeres fallecidas en el Asilo de Lomas -actual Hospital Interzonal J. A Esteves- entre los años 1957 y 1971 / Death in the asylum: an exploratory case study of medical records of women who died on Asylum of Lomas-current Hospital Interzonal J. A Esteves-between the years 1957 and 1971

Esta tesis busca promover una mirada crítica acerca de los procesos de internación y muerte en los espacios manicomiales y sobre las tensiones en la implementación de las políticas públicas en salud mental. Consiste en un estudio de casos que tiene el objetivo de describir y caracterizar las particularidades que adquieren los recorridos de internación de las mujeres fallecidas en el período 1957-1971 en el Asilo de Lomas, actual Hospital Interzonal J. A. Esteves. La selección de dicho período obedece a que en esos quince años falleció la mitad de las personas fallecidas allí en todo el siglo (2088). El análisis se realizó a partir de historias clínicas (HC) y entrevistas a informantes clave. Asimismo se efectuó un relevamiento bibliográfico y se construyó una base de datos con 372 HC a partir de la cual se elaboró un perfil socioepidemiológico de las mujeres fallecidas. Se reconstruyeron ocho recorridos de internación y se los puso en relación con la historia del hospital, las discusiones en salud mental, las políticas en salud mental y el contexto económico político de la época en nuestro país. Este trabajo se enmarca dentro de la corriente de pensamiento de la Medicina Social Latinoamericana que estudia los procesos salud-enfermedad atención (PSEA) desde una articulación jerarquizada entre los niveles singular, institucional y económico político (Stolkiner, 1994; Castellanos, 1990). Como resultado se destaca la cantidad de registros de procedimientos clínicos que sugieren condiciones de higiene y cuidado clínico deficientes. Estos descuidos fueron analizados desde las categorías conceptuales de manicomio (Basaglia, 1972), estigma (Goffman, 2001) nuda vida (Agamben, 2013), lo cruel y tercero de apelación (Ulloa, 1995). Entre las reflexiones finales se prefigura la relación entre fallecimientos en manicomios y procesos de ajuste económico, crisis institucional, condiciones de trabajo y modificaciones en los recorridos de internación. (AU)

Industry is not the dark side, but an essential partner to make progress in reproductive health.

For the last 20 years, Thomas D'Hooghe has been coordinator of the Leuven University Fertility Center at Leuven University Hospitals, Belgium, one of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe. Since 1995, he has also been Professor of Reproductive Medicine and Biology at KU Leuven (University of Leuven) and Adjunct Professor at Yale University, USA. Since 1 October 2015, he has been the Vice President and Head of Global Medical Affairs Fertility at Merck's headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany. He has published nearly 300 papers in internationally peer-reviewed journals and has contributed to reproductive health serving major international organizations such as the WHO, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, the Society of Reproductive Investigation and the World Endometriosis Research Foundation.

La clausura femenina del Hospital de las Cinco Llagas de Sevilla en el Antiguo Régimen / O encerramento feminino do Hospital das Cinco Chagas de Sevilla no Antigo Regime / Women’s enclosure in the the Hospital of the Five Wounds in Sevilla in the Ancient Regime

El Hospital de las Cinco Llagas de Sevilla se creó para atender a enfermas pobres y a causa de la separación de los sexos se formó una enfermería femenina para el cuidado de estas mujeres. Las madres y doncellas de dote trabajaron en la llamada clausura femenina del Hospital de la Sangre durante más de tres siglos. De esta manera, este artículo estudia el tratamiento que se dio a las enfermerías femeninas de este hospital como si fuesen monasterios en reclusión, completamente separadas del resto del hospital y con acceso restringido a los varones fuesen legos o religiosos, con un torno y puerta de entrada al área de clausura femenina (AU)

The Hospital of the Five Wounds of the city of Seville was found to attend the poor patients and because of the separation of sexes was created a women’s infirmary to take care to those women. The «mothers» and «daughters» worked in the called women’s enclosure of the Hospital of the Five Wounds during more that three centuries. In this manner, this article studies about the treatment that was given to the feminine infirmaries of this hospital as if they were monasteries, completely separated from the rest of the hospital and with access restricted to the religious and laymen (AU)

O Hospital das Cinco Chagas de Sevilla foi criado para servir os doentes pobres e por causa da separação dos sexos foi formada uma enfermaria feminina para o cuidado destas mulheres. Mães e filhas de dote, trabalhado no fechamento feminino chamado «Hospital de la Sangre» por mais de três séculos. Assim, este artigo analisa o tratamento dado para a fêmea de enfermagem deste hospital, como se fossem mosteiros em reclusão, completamente separada do resto do hospital e com acesso restringido para os machos foram leigos ou religiosos, com um torno e a porta de entrada para a área de fechamento feminine (AU)

"Civil unrest does not stop ovulation": women's prenatal and family planning services in a 1960s Detroit neighborhood clinic.

In 1965, Nancy Milio established a prenatal and family planning clinic in Detroit, Michigan, to address health disparities and limited access to care among low-income, African American, urban women. Women's health disparities persist today nationally and internationally. Using historical methods, this research analyzes how Milio provided women's health services in the context of the social and political environment. Milio empowered neighborhood women to direct, plan, and participate in the care they received. Successful methods to address disparities in access to family and planning and prenatal care should include empowered participation from the women these programs are intending to serve.

What do women know about government services and benefits?

This article examines how much women know about government services and benefits and discusses why this type of knowledge matters. Using data from a survey as well as focus groups conducted in Montreal and Toronto, we show that the women who are most likely to need information about these programs are often the least likely to be aware of them. This is especially true of low-income women, older women, and women who came to Canada as immigrants. We end by suggesting some steps that could be taken to address these knowledge gaps.

Assessing women's understandings of health in rural Papua New Guinea: implications for health policy and practice.

In Papua New Guinea (PNG), women's health is addressed by applying biomedical solutions which often ignore the complexity of women's histories, cultural contexts and lived experiences. The objective of this study was to examine adult and older women's perceptions of health and well-being to identify priority areas for public service interventions. Rapid ethnographic assessment was conducted in the Wosera district, a rural area of PNG from mid-2005 to early 2006, to examine the health concerns of women. Twenty-seven adult women and 10 older women participated in the study. Health was not limited to one aspect of a woman's life, such as their biology or maternal roles; it was also connected with the social, cultural and spiritual dimensions of women's daily existence. Participants also identified access to money and supportive interpersonal relationships as significant for good health. A disconnect was found to exist between women's understandings of good health and socio-political health policies in PNG, something likely to be repeated in health service delivery to different cultural groups across the Asia Pacific region. Health and development practitioners in PNG must become responsive to the complexity of women's social relationships and to issues relating to the context of women's empowerment in their programmes.

Governing sex workers in Timor Leste.

This paper argues that international security forces in Timor Leste depend upon civilian partners in HIV/AIDs "knowledge networks" to monitor prostitutes' disease status. These networks produce mobile expertise, techniques of government and forms of personhood that facilitate international government of distant populations without overt coercion. HIV/AIDs experts promote techniques of peer education, empowerment and community mobilisation to construct women who sell sex as health conscious sex workers. Such techniques make impoverished women responsible for their disease status, obscuring the political and economic contexts that produced that status. In the militarised context of Timor Leste, knowledge of the sexual conduct of sub-populations labelled high risk circulates among global HIV/AIDs knowledge networks, confirming their expert status while obscuring the sexual harm produced by military intervention. HIV/AIDs knowledge networks have recently begun to build Timorese sex worker organisations by contracting an Australian sex worker NGO to train a Timorese NGO tasked with building sex worker identity and community. Such efforts fail to address the needs and priorities of the women supposedly empowered. The paper engages theories of global knowledge networks, mobile technologies of government, and governmentality to analyse policy documents, reports, programmes, official statements, speeches, and journalistic accounts regarding prostitution in Timor Leste.

Attitudes to abortion in the era of reform: evidence from the Abortion Law Reform Association correspondence.

This article examines letters sent by members of the general public to the Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA) in the decade immediately before the 1967 Abortion Act. It shows how a voluntary organisation, in their aim of supporting a specific cause of unclear legality, called forth correspondence from those in need. In detailing the personal predicaments of those facing an unwanted pregnancy, this body of correspondence was readily deployed by ALRA in their efforts to mobilise support for abortion law reform, thus exercising a political function. A close examination of the content of the letters and the epistolary strategies adopted by their writers reveals that as much as they were a lobbying tool for changes in abortion law, these letters were discursively shaped by debates surrounding that very reform.