Women's Health Forum Opens Online

By Cassie Ferguson

Gazette Staff

A group at the School of Public Health has built a digital space for discussing women's reproductive health, connecting concerned people from Katmandu to Tanzania through the Internet.

Primarily available through a Website called The Global Reproductive Health Forum, the international effort was officially launched this past Monday, May 18.

"The site is about how to use new technology for activism and empowerment so people can improve their lives," said Orit Halpern, project manager for the new site. "The Internet is a good way to allow women to represent themselves in discussions about their health and bodies."

While researching community-based activism, Halpern found that the information on the Internet tended to be limited, and that the voices of women from developing countries were missing from any online discussions.

"The Internet is supposed to be a democratic forum, but the fact is that not everyone participates. Certain groups of people have obstacles preventing them from taking part," said Halpern.

"The medium is a powerful way for people to share information with each other and to get their message out to the rest of the world. We need to solicit underserved populations and groups that aren't online so they can join the discussion."

The project focused on building a Website and bringing discussions online. For example, the project has started an online journal called Re/productions to discuss reproductive health and gender issues in Southeast Asia, and a mailing list called Bol!, based in Nepal, where the current topic is the trafficking of girls and young women in Asia's commercial sex market. In addition, the site contains a huge library of links and will soon be available in Spanish and French.

"Orit has taken an idea and turned it into reality. She's created a gateway to valuable information," said Michael Reich, Taro Takemi Professor of International Health Policy at the School of Public Health.

Halpern took over the project about a year ago, creating a team of 11 people to put together a Website that would contain information on everything related to women's health from reproductive rights to HIV to family planning. The project was funded by a gift from Carol and Disque Deane to the School of Public Health.

Halpern hired each person for their diverse skills and interests as well as their diverse geographic backgrounds.

"The people who created the site range from MD's to people who are studying women's studies. I tried to involve women [now studying at SPH but who may return to their countries] and use the site on their own," said Halpern.

Andrea Acevedo, who just completed her first year of a master's degree at the School of Public Health, coordinates the section of the Website on HIV and AIDS. She will be traveling to Mexico this summer to let people working with HIV and AIDS issues know about the new resource, and assess what they need, as well as to research how they use new technology and what they thing of it.

"The site will be a valuable tool for anyone working with reproductive health and rights," she said.

Although helping people in a developing county connect to the Internet seems like it might be a difficult task, team members said the task is not impossible.

"We'll start with the people who have computers and e-mail, but we will also actively reach out to organizations that don't have computers and help them disseminate their work through our web site," said Acevedo.

Ra'eda Al-Zu'bi, a project coordinator who has been researching women's status and fertility issues among the women of Jordan, said, "There are more people online in developing countries than you might think. But at this stage what we are doing is partnering with organizations that do have access, so women can go into a center and use the Web."

Already, said Al-Zu'bi, she has found that there has been "incredible interest" in the new resource.

The forum is at www.hsph.harvard.edu/organizations/healthnet/