Vision without action is useless. But action without vision does not know where and why to go somewhere. Vision helps organizations with team building and promotes trust and interdependence. It focuses energy and establishes the big picture and more importantly it illustrates what is important rather than what is urgent. The fourth vision building workshop of IPPF south Asia region will be held in Colombo from 14th to 15th January 2008. This meeting will review the region’s performance in taking the IPPF strategic framework forward and will plan for the way ahead.
Research Summary: An estimated 890,000 induced abortions occur annually in Pakistan and it is a widespread and significant means of fertility control in the country. Pop council has published the report of the National Study on Unwanted Pregnancy and Post abortion Complications in Pakistan (available at:
http://www.popcouncil.org/). This report raises serious concerns about the large number of women who experience serious health complication each year in Pakistan as a result of unsafe abortion, and who are treated in medical facilities. An estimated 197,000 women are treated each year for complications resulting from unsafe induced abortion, in public health facilities and private teaching hospitals. The unwanted pregnancies occur because of contraceptive failures (itself a reflection of heavy reliance on ineffective methods) and because couples have discontinued contraceptive use despite wishing to avoid pregnancy. That women who wish to avoid becoming pregnant do not use contraception can be attributed to several important factors. Existing family planning services are inaccessible to many women and, of equal importance, those who are poor struggle to afford the recurrent financial costs of contraceptive supplies. A major obstacle to use of contraception is the fear of health side effects and misperceptions. It appears that many Pakistani women and men regard continuing contraceptive practice as more threatening to their health than an occasional induced abortion.
Resources: Info project’s Global Health e-Learning Center offers a menu of courses that learners from many disciplines and positions can use to expand their knowledge in key public health areas and access important up-to-date technical information. The e-Learning Center is available at no cost to learners and can be accessed 24 hours a day from any place in the world. See details at:
http://www.infoforhealth.org/elearning/?PHPSESSID=bb9fc4152dea55a2d0e3bab979ad5df9
News: Family Planning Association of India has been awarded the ISO 9001-2000 Certification by Bureau Veritas Certification (in accreditation with United Kingdom Accreditation Service and ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board. This certification was awarded after a visit by a team of external auditors who did an in-depth review of the framework of the organizational procedures followed by FPAI.
Events: International Conference on Investing in young people’s health and development: Research that improves policies and programs will take place at Abuja, Nigeria from April 27-29, 2008. This conference aims to provide an international forum for exchanging research and programmatically generated evidence on how to meet the health and developmental needs of young people in low -resource settings. The thematic areas relate to population, development, sexual and reproductive health, poverty reduction and gender equity as they affect young people. See details at:
http://www.jhsph.edu/gatesinstitute/policy_practice/adolhealth