2005 Budget Response

By ARHA - 11 May 2005

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Australia's Country Statement, Commission on the Status of Women (49th Session)

By Australian Government - 03 Mar 2005

Australia's Country Statement, Commission on the Status of Women (49th Session)

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Australia's Report Card – How are we doing internationally?

By ARHA, presented by Lesley Vick - 15 Sep 2004

The Cairo conference produced a program of action which was a strategic platform for policy and program initiatives around issues of population, reproductive health, gender equity and the environment. 179 countries signed on to this program of action, including Australia. So where is Australia at with the ICPD? Have we met our Financial Commitments? Have we maintained support for ICPD or been part of the conservative backlash?

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Family Planning in the Pacific Region: Getting the basics right

By Maggie Kenyon, Jennifer Power - 07 Aug 2003

Paper presented at the international symposium “Population Change in Asia and the Pacific: Implications for Development Policy”, Australian National University, August 2003 The pacific region still has high population growth rates, high fertility rates and low contraceptive coverage. Getting the basics right, means that more training is required for senior supervisory levels and front line health staff. Raising and maintaining awareness of population related development problems is also key to long term changes in social and cultural attitudes.

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Reproductive Rights and the Politics of Fundamentalism

By Jennifer Power, Dianne Proctor, Rachel Ingwersen, - 01 Mar 2003

This paper is concerned with the politics of religious fundamentalism and reproductive rights. Inevitably, political movements are influenced by, and responsive to, historical circumstance. A historical perspective on religious belief can help us understand better some of the arguments put forward by fundamentalist groups regarding reproductive health and rights. In this paper, I will look at the current position on reproductive health politics taken by fundamentalist Catholicism and Islam. Obviously these are not the only religious players on the world stage. However, some Islamic states and their supporters, alongside the Holy See, have been the most vigilant and vocal in the politics of reproductive rights.

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The Catholic Church and Reproductive Rights: the Politics of Religion

By Rachel Ingwersen, Australian Reproductive Health Alliance - 01 Jan 2003

Paper presented at the Public Health Association of Australia conference 2003 The Australian Reproductive Health Alliance recently took a group of Australian and Pacific Island parliamentarians to the Philippines on a study tour to learn about the population and development challenges that country faces. We met with those working to improve public health, in particular reproductive health, from NGOs, government health facilities, private health providers and Senators and Congresspeople. They all told us the same thing: the main barrier in that country to introducing effective population and development programs and addressing the reproductive and sexual health needs of its people is the Catholic church. Today I will outline the history of the Catholic church's position on reproductive rights to put the current position into perspective. I will also outline the good work being done by Catholics to challenge this.

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An Ounce of Prevention (Reproductive Health and Early Intervention)

By Dianne Proctor and Rachel Ingwersen - 01 Sep 2001

Paper presented at the Public Health Association of Australia conference September, 2001 Australia's health system still does not seem to have the balance right between early prevention and high tech solutions to a range of reproductive health problems. This paper will explore some of these issues especially the amount of attention given to early detection of STDs versus high cost, high tech IVF services. Causes of some forms of infertility are still not broadly recognised as easily treatable with early intervention.

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Reproductive Health - Who is Setting the Agenda in Australia

By Dianne Proctor and Rachel Ingwersen - 01 Jan 2001

Paper presented at the Australian Society of Reproductive Biology, September 2001 The NGO and scientific community must join together – as it's currently doing in Europe and Asia, through emerging networks – to speak out loudly and courageously on issues of population and reproductive health so that the general population of every country becomes vividly aware of the importance of the issues we are facing. Until the broader community understands and supports these issues, governments will fail to act.

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