"The best way for the world to thrive is to ensure that its women have the freedom, power and knowledge to make decisions affecting their own lives and those of their families and communities."
—Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

The International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC) envisions a world where women are free from discrimination, sexual coercion, and violence; where they make free and informed choices on sexuality and reproduction; and where health information and services are accessible to all.

We Address Urgent Health and Rights Issues

• Young people's right and ability to prevent HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and unwanted pregnancy. We empower young people to get the information and services they need to make their own choices, be healthy and safe when they do have sex, and have mutually respectful relationships.

• Making HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care work for women and girls. Together with HIV, human rights, women's rights, youth, religious, and sexual and reproductive health and rights leaders, IWHC increases women's power to prevent infection in the first place and care for themselves and their families if they become infected.

• Access to safe abortion. Each year, tens of thousands of women die and even more suffer as a result of unsafe abortions—all of which are preventable through greater access to contraception, safer services, and legal reform. Because IWHC receives no U.S. government funding, we are one of the few global institutions with the autonomy to advocate a full range of sexual and reproductive health services, including access to safe abortion.

• Recognizing that sexual rights are human rights. IWHC strives to protect every woman's right to sexual health, and to freedom from violence, coercion, and discrimination.
  

We Bridge Two Worlds

For 23 years, the International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC) has uniquely positioned itself to bridge global movements for women's and young people's health and human rights, and governments and global institutions that control health policies and budgets.

• We invest in women and youth leaders as they develop vision, skills, and organizations. With IWHC's professional assistance and financial support, local organizations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America make their communities and countries safer and healthier for women of all ages, empowering them to advocate for themselves.

• We partner with these leaders to build consensus among multiple stakeholders and constituencies, documenting and exposing where current policies are off track, where women and girls are missing, and where the solutions are.

• We advocate with governments and influential institutions—the United Nations Population Fund, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, UNAIDS, and other international agencies—to generate essential policies and resource flows that directly benefit women and their families.
  

Where We Work:  We currently support work in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroun, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Uruguay, as well as regional networks in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern and Central Europe.

Annual Budget: $7 million, provided by private foundations, UN agencies, European governments, individuals, and corporations.

Board of Directors: Chaired by Brian A. Brink, MD, the 22 members include health, human rights, legal, and other professionals; philanthropists; and feminist leaders from Argentina, Colombia, England, France, Ghana, India, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, and the United States.

Staff: President Adrienne Germain leads 25 staff who speak seven languages and have expertise in public health, social marketing, gender, law and policy, social and economic development, advocacy and communications.

Recent Publications: "Overlooked and Uninformed: Young Adolescents' Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights;" Side by Side: Building and Sustaining a Culture of Youth Participation at Reprolatina. (To download or order copies of these or any other IWHC publications, visit our Resource Library.

April 30, 2008