EVENTS REPORT
Issue October 2006
Conferences/ workshops on RPC related topics attended
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Susannah Mayhew gave an invited paper at the International Academy of Sex Research (IASR), Annual
International Meeting in Amsterdam (July 13th-16th). Paper: ‘Sexual Health: An international perspective’.
Resulted in an invitation to join the Academy.
EngenderHealth gave a number of presentations, held workshops and forums on SRHR at the XVI
International AIDS Conference in Toronto (August 13th- 18th). Some of the topics included:
‘Comprehensive Training for Health Workers on the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of HIV
Positive Women’, ‘Controversy and Common Ground: Reproductive and Sexual Rights & HIV/AIDS:
Surmounting the Challenges’ and ‘Towards a Rights Based Approach to Sexual and Reproductive
Health of HIV Positive Women’.
John Cleland’s research on trends in contraceptive and condom use among young African women was
presented by Tim Farley of WHO at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto (August 13th18th).
Sarah Hawkes gave an invited paper at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto (August 13th18th) on “Programming for Better Adolescent Sexual Health”.
Hawkes attended WHO meeting on “Evidence for STI interventions for HIV Control” in Geneva (July
12th-13th).
Eliya Zulu and Nyovani Madise attended the Indepth Network AGM in Ouagadougou (September 18th23rd). This included a meeting of the Reproductive Health Working Group. The working group plans to
produce a monograph on fertility. A scientific committee for the monograph was created, and so far, five
sites in Asia and three sites in Africa have joined.
Eliya Zulu, Nyovani Madise, and James Ciera attended a meeting with research and communications
partners for the ‘Protecting the Next Generation’ (PNG) research programme in Malawi (October 6th11th), to discuss results and communications strategies. Following the meeting, Zulu ran a scientific
writing workshop focusing on sexual and reproductive health research for 14 young scholars from the
PNG countries (Ghana, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Malawi and Kenya).
Citations of published work
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Susie Jolly and Andrea Cornwall edited the November 2006 IDS bulletin titled ‘Sexuality Matters’.
Susie Jolly in BRIDGE, IDS, with Pinar Ilkkaracan in Women for Women’s Human Rights (Turkey) are
finalizing the ‘Cutting Edge Pack on Gender, Sexuality and Sexual Rights’ due out by year end.
Meetings or other personal contacts with key stakeholders – e.g. policy makers, advocates:
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John Cleland invited to give a presentation to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs – attended by multidisciplinary participants
The Washington DC-based Center for Health & Gender Equity (CHANGE) contacted Joanna Busza in
reference to their upcoming report on the effects of US policy to HIV-programme funding on communitybased programmes.
Joanna Crichton held a training session on database maintenance and basic data analysis with staff of
the Nairobi-based Women’s Rights Awareness Programme on August 2nd.
Anne Ngugi, the Director of the Women’s Rights Awareness Programme, requested advice and
technical input with developing proposals for funding on action research into sexual and reproductive
health and violence against women. Crichton and Ngugi met to work on the proposal on September 1st
and September 21st.
During October, Crichton and Frederick Mugisha conducted interviews with four senior officials in the
Kenyan Ministry of Health and the National Coordinating Agency for Population and Development. The
interviews were part of an RPC case study on family planning policy in Kenya.
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Contacts with media, e.g. journalists, radio
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Rose Oronje, Communications Officer at APHRC, spoke about reproductive health research at a
Reproductive Health Training Seminar for Journalists, organized as part of the 2 nd Africa Conference on
Sexual Health and Rights, (June 15th to 17th).
An article entitled ‘Emergency Pill Debate Rages On’ by Kakaire A. Kirunda in the Ugandan Monitor
Online newspaper featured research by APHRC on coercive sex and adolescents (July 25, 2006).
John Cleland gave two radio interviews as a result of the press-release for the Population-MDGs series:
The Today Programme, Radio 4 on September 12th; Colourful Radio (a black radio station based in
London) on September 14th.
Susannah Mayhew was contacted for information by an independent film maker interested in our
Population Series. We are liaising on the development of a film on the issues of Population/contraceptive
access.
Joanna Busza was interviewed by a journalist from the US-based Center for Public Integrity on issues
around sex work, trafficking, and the US government funding restrictions on programmes for sex
workers.
Cross RPC contacts and arrangements
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As a result of the Population Series InterAct Worldwide has said they are considering the development
of a statement on ‘Population’.
Joanna Busza asked to contribute to the development of two research programmes around sex work/
trafficking issues, (1) study on trafficking of children into the UK, and (2) effects of EU migration policy on
sex workers from Eastern Europe/ Former Soviet Union.
Others
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Joanna Busza spent a day in transit in Nairobi working with APHRC on finalizing their proposal for the
DFID funded DelPHE capacity-strengthening scheme, and discussing other collaborative opportunities,
specifically with LSHTM’s new Centre for Research on Gender Violence and Health.
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