Global Perspectives on Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health Across the Lifecourse


Book Description

This expansive survey spotlights pervasive issues affecting girls’ and women’s sexual and reproductive health across the lifecourse. Research from diverse countries around the world analyzes the complex relationships among biological, psychological, sociocultural, and economic issues—particularly in terms of inequities—as they shape women’s lives. Major challenges and possibilities for intervention are examined in their national context and with their global implications, including child marriage/motherhood, reproductive care and access, fertility, childbearing, contraception, abortion, HIV/STIs, gender-based violence, sexual pleasure, and menopause. In these forceful dispatches, a consistent human rights perspective emphasizes women’s control, autonomy, and agency in all stages of their lives. A sampling of topics covered: Girl child marriage: a persistent global women’s health and human rights violation Investigating challenges and resilience among women living with obstetric fistula in Kenya A qualitative exploration of mainstream and social media reflections on abortion A continuum of severity of sexual intimate partner violence among black women in the United States Economic empowerment to improve sexual and reproductive health among women and girls Summarizing an interdisciplinary field on research and practical levels, Global Perspectives on Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health Across the Lifecourse will be an invaluable text for undergraduate and graduate courses in a wide range of fields, including public health, global health, women’s studies, sociology, anthropology, gender studies, and human rights.




Routledge International Handbook of Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health


Book Description

The Routledge International Handbook of Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health is the authoritative reference work on important, leading-edge developments in the domains of women’s sexual and reproductive health. The handbook adopts a life-cycle approach to examine key milestones and events in women’s sexual and reproductive health. Contributors drawn from a range of disciplines, including psychology, medicine, nursing and midwifery, sociology, public health, women’s studies, and indigenous studies, explore issues through three main lenses: the biopsychosocial model feminist perspectives international, multidisciplinary perspectives that acknowledge the intersection of identities in women’s lives. The handbook presents an authoritative review of the field, with a focus on state-of-the-art work, encouraging future research and policy development in women’s sexual and reproductive health. Finally, the handbook will inform health care providers about the latest research and clinical developments, including women’s experiences of both normal and abnormal sexual and reproductive functions. Drawing upon international expertise from leading academics and clinicians in the field, this is essential reading for scholars and students interested in women’s reproductive health.




Sexual and Reproductive Health


Book Description

"This volume presents the highlights of current global thinking about sexual and reproductive health. Major changes have taken place in the last 15 years in the way decision-makers think about the subject and the manner in which programmes deliver comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services. The turning point was the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo, Egypt, in 1994. ICPD was a watershed for several reasons. First, more than in any of the preceding United Nations population conferences, the issue of population was clearly placed as being central to sustainable development. Second, the narrow focus on population growth ("the population bomb") which had been a neo-Malthusian concern and preoccupation ever since the Club of Rome published its 1972 report Limits to Growth, was replaced by the comprehensive concept of (sexual and) reproductive health. Third, and linked to the definition and introduction of the reproductive health concept, was the strong call for a paradigm shift away from a policy environment driven by demographic considerations (sometimes to the point of using coercion in family planning services in order to reach demographic targets) to an environment that recognized the right of individuals to make their own choices. And, last but not least, ICPD as well as the Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW) held the following year in Beijing, People's Republic of China, strongly emphasized that the rights of women and men to good sexual and reproductive health are firmly grounded in universal human rights"--Provided by publisher.







Reproductive Justice and Sexual Rights


Book Description

This book takes an intersectional, interdisciplinary, and transnational approach, presenting work that will provide the reader with a nuanced and in-depth understanding of the role of globalization in the sexual and reproductive lives of gendered bodies in the 21st century. Reproductive Justice and Sexual Rights: Transnational Perspectives draws on reproductive justice and transnational feminism as frameworks to explore and make sense of the reproductive and sexual experiences of various groups of women and marginalized people around the world. Interactions between globalization, feminism, reproductive justice, and sexual rights are explored within human rights and transnational feminist paradigms. This book includes case studies from Mexico, Ireland, Uganda, Colombia, Taiwan, and the United States. The edited collection presented here is intended to provide academics and students with a challenging and thought-provoking look into sexual and reproductive health matters from across the globe. In this way, the work presented in this volume will help the reader understand their own reproductive and sexual experiences in a more nuanced and contextualized way that links individuals and communities to each other in a quest for justice and liberation.




Sexual and Reproductive Health at a Glance


Book Description

Sexual and Reproductive Health at a Glance provides a highly-illustrated, visual introduction to all aspects of sexual and reproductive health, from basic clinical examination skills to the management of acute Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and unplanned pregnancy. Covering topics which are often difficult to access as an undergraduate or junior doctor, Sexual and Reproductive Health at a Glance focuses on the fundamental principles in delivering effective contraception and sexual health care. It features high-yield information on the essential clinical topics covered in the Community Sexual and Reproductive Health (CSRH) curriculum. Presented in the familiar, easy-to-use, at a Glance format, Sexual and Reproductive Health at a Glance: • Provides a quick revision of basic anatomy, physiology and clinical skills • Offers balanced coverage of both male and female GU pathology, STIs and contraception • Includes material on practical gynaecological procedures performed in the out-patient setting • Presents a holistic approach to issues dealt with in this specialty • Takes a global perspective by addressing SRH issues in different cultures and resource-limited settings • Includes a companion website at www.ataglanceseries.com/sexualhealth featuring a selection of case scenarios and interactive flashcards for self-test This brand new title will provide an invaluable resource for medical and healthcare students, junior doctors, SRH trainees and busy clinicians working in other specialties.




Perspectives in Reproductive Health


Book Description




Consolidated Guideline on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women Living with HIV


Book Description

he starting point for this guideline is the point at which a woman has learnt that she is living with HIV and it therefore covers key issues for providing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights-related services and support for women living with HIV. As women living with HIV face unique challenges and human rights violations related to their sexuality and reproduction within their families and communities as well as from the health-care institutions where they seek care particular emphasis is placed on the creation of an enabling environment to support more effective health interventions and better health outcomes. This guideline is meant to help countries to more effectively and efficiently plan develop and monitor programmes and services that promote gender equality and human rights and hence are more acceptable and appropriate for women living with HIV taking into account the national and local epidemiological context. It discusses implementation issues that health interventions and service delivery must address to achieve gender equality and support human rights.




Rural Women's Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Illiteracy


Book Description

Based on twenty-five years of fieldwork, Rural Women’s Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Illiteracy: A Critical Perspective on Development examines rural women’s behaviors towards health in several developing countries. These women are confronted with many factors: gender inequalities, violence from partners, and lack of economic independence. The book also gives insight into the general weakness of the health systems in place and questions the progress of numerous international conferences ICPD (International Conference on Population and Development) and MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) along with WHO (The World Health Organization) Frame Work for Action, UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) and CEDAW (Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) all supporting women’s empowerment as related to violence, education, and reproductive health. Chapters provide numerous concrete examples and vignettes describing constraints on women in a variety of countries related to their intimate lives and their struggle between traditional and modern medicine. Widely practiced clandestine sex work is a challenge to HIV/AIDS programs. The book examines the women who choose clandestine sex work and their clients’ sexual behavior and attitudes toward prostitution and HIV prevention. It also explores the negotiations between promiscuous, migratory men, and the ties of sexuality and fertility that women use to tie them to a male partner. The book argues for effective delivery of healthcare programs accompanied by multi-lateral responses from the civil society, governments, donors and agencies. Rural Women’s Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Illiteracy is a useful resource scholars, as well as consultants and staff working in development agencies and public health.




Cultural Perspectives on Reproductive Health


Book Description

This volume brings together studies carried out in a variety of contexts to explore the relevance of the notion of reproductive health and the role of culture in shaping its diverse manifestations. The perspective that guides the collection is informed by anthropological and sociological research on the body, pluralism, and medicalization, and by recent debates regarding women's health and the need to reconcile global agendas and local conditions. The fourteen chapters provide views of how reproductive health is viewed by women and men in different parts of the world, mainly at the level of local communities---in India, Egypt, Mexico, Kenya, and South Africa---but also in centres of power in China and Iran, and in modern (and post-modern) settings of the North and Far East. The methodological approaches used by authors are varied, but all share a concern with the perceptions, decisions, and rationalizations that surround health and reproduction. A central theme is the correspondence between professional and lay models of reproductive health, and some chapters explicitly seek to uncover the logic of practices that appear irrational from a biomedical point of view. By analysing behaviour from the perspective of the actors themselves, they show the relevance of local notions for understanding the factors that constitute risks for reproductive ill-health, including conditions of material deprivation, constraints in seeking care, and inappropriate use of therapies and technologies. "Cultural Perspectives on Reproductive Health" illustrates complex processes of negotiation, adaptation, and manipulation in the formulation of ideas and policies related to reproductive health through analyses of such topics as the state's discourse on population, religious constraints on abortion care, professional and legal policies on reproductive technologies, health professionals' response to violence, and the dilemmas that emerge from the new diagnostic and genetic techniques. It also invites reflection on the societal construction of rights across cultures and on the place of cultural explanations in analyses of reproductive health.