Women and Health Network Created in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Latin American and Caribbean Women and Health Network was created in May 1984 at the First Regional Women and Health Meeting, organized by the Corporacion Regional para el Desarrollo Integral de la Mujer y la Familia, based in Bogota Colombia. The meeting was attended by more than 70 women from 11 Latin American and Caribbean countries who unanimously expressed the need for such a network. Isis International was asked to coordinate this network from our resource center in Santiago Chile.

Over the past ten years, the women's movement in Latin America has been working more and more in the field of health. Hundreds of health groups have sprung up in the continent, ranging from feminist health clinics to research organizations. Many women are working in the field of health with marginalized sectors of the urban and rural areas of Latin America and the Caribbean. Burning health issues in the continent range from the growing medicalization of health and illness,  population programmes, community health, mental health, violence against women, to self-help, and many, many more. The meeting in Colombia clearly showed the need for a network and channel of communication to share information and build links among all the many women and groups working on these issues in the continent and between Latin American and Caribbean women and women from other continents.

Isis International will put its experience in networking and information and communication services at the service of this new network. The women's health groups represented in this meeting asked Isis International to create a specialized data base on health issues of concern to women in the continent and to set up a specific information sector on activities, research and experiences shared by women's groups and individuals in the region. Acting as a clearinghouse, Isis International will distribute these materials to all interested groups to strengthen the ties among women from different countries. Information on the health network will be published regularly in Women in Action.

The groups and women who participated in the May meeting plan to contact other health groups in their countries and create a regular channel of communication with Isis International in Santiago to extend and strengthen this new women and Health network.

As part of this work, Isis International is working with women's health groups in Brazil to prepare the first issue of the 1985 Isis International Women's Journal on Health. We are distributing a questionnaire on Women and Health groups to gather information to share with others

Asian Women Workers in Struggle

"Arise, ye women workers!" This is the message CAW. the Committee for Asian Women, wants to get through to all Asian women workers. Set up in 1981, acting on the needs of industrial workers and run by directly involved or concerned Asian women, CAW works on:

• consciousness-raising of local women workers groupfin Asia;
• consolidating organizing efforts to effect favourable changes on the labour situation in Asia;
• facilitating awareness of the need for subregional and regional solidarity linkages.

CAW meets these aims and shares in the struggle of women workers in Asia through:

• the Asian Women Workers Newsletter;
• data on women workers issues made available to local groups;
• publications: Struggling to Survive, From the Womb of Han. Plight of Asian Workers in Electronics, Our Rightful Share, Tales of Filipino Working Women, and
  calendars in strong red and black colored cartoons and drawings, expressing the reality and problems of Asian women;
• women workers exchange programmes;'
• national workshops;
• guided training programmes;
• regional consultations.

The Asian Women Workers Newsletter, CAW'S quarterly publication, reports on activities, strikes and struggles of women workers in Asia. It prints appeals for solidarity and support for women workers' struggles and gives follow-up information on the results of women's actions. A valuable contribution to women's networking!

For more information, please contact:

Committee for Asian Women, CCA-URM.
57 Peking Road. 5th Floor, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Women and Development Network of Australia (WADNA)

Feminists working in development and aid agencies in rich countries often feel isolated and frustrated in their attempts to get these organizations to give priority to women and to respond to the real needs of women in developing countries. In several countries, women have joined together in networks to support each other and act as pressure groups for change. One of these networks is the Women and Development Network of Australia (WADNA). This is what they say about their work:

We are a network of women seeking friendship and solidarity with women everywhere, especially with women of the Third World. Our network supports women's
struggles for livelihood, justice, participation and peace.

WADNA was begun in 1981 by Australian women working in the field of overseas aid and development.

WADNA acts together with women of other countries to promote public awareness of issues and concerning  women internationally. We also work with  Australian aid and  development  agencies  to bring about better policies and  programs which benefit women, are controlled by women and take account of
women's needs and rights.

Some of the things WADNA is doing are:

• A book and video on Women, Aid and Development will be launched in 1984, following our 1983 conference on this topic.
• In 1982 we worked with women's groups in the South Pacific to present project proposals which have now been funded by Australian aid agencies. They include
  a health manual for and by Pacific women, village-based nutritional gardening programs in Papua New Guinea, a media workshop in the Solomon Islands and about 30 other projects.
• We are working closely with the Niuola Women and Development Organisation in Tonga, where women's clubs are making toilets, water-tanks and kitchens in their villages.
• We are also working with women's  groups in the Philippines on issues of women's livelihood and human rights nd strengthening our links with women in other Asian countries.
• We act as a lobby group on women's needs and rights in Australian and internationally and publicise issues through press, radio and television.
• We publish a quarterly newsletter.
• The book Women Aid and Development has been published. This is a collection of addresses, talks and discussions held in our 1983 Canberra conference, which a great variety of women's problems in the Third World were brought into focus. Topics discussed concern different models of development and their analysis, aid strategies and recommendations to governments, aid agencies and the development network.

For more information, please contact:

Women and Development Network of Australia (WADNA)
P.O. Box 151, CoIIingwood Victoria 3066,
Australia