Women-Oriented Health Care

There are today some 200 women's health centers in the United States providing information and, in many cases, direct health and family planning services to women in a manner responsive to their needs and preferences, and that involves them in the design and provision of services. This approach to delivering services was specifically recommended by the International Conference of Family Planning in the 1980's held in Indonesia in April 1981. in addressing the challenges facing family planning programs in the decade ahead, the conference noted that in many parts of the world, women often have little control over decisions related to their own fertility. Furthermore, low levels of acceptance and use of family planning, which are characteristic of many programs, often reflect a failure to design and provide services in a manner that is responsive to the needs and perceptions of the users. The conference called for measures to improve the status of women, and recommended that women be involved in all aspects of program design, management, policymaking, and provision of services. In this special report, Judith Bruce describes how women-oriented services are designed and provided at one of the women's health centers, The New hampshire Feminist Health Center

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