Barbados tackles RTIs

The women who gathered on an island in the Caribbean didn't go there for some R&R. They went there to discuss RTIs. The Reproductive Tract Infections (RTIs) Seminar Workshop, held in Barbados last March 16-19, 1992, convened with participants representing various women organizations and medico-legal professionals in various fields of specialization who are specially concerned with reproductive tract infections. It was sponsored by the International Women's Health Coalition and the Women and Development Unit of the University of West Indies. Institute for Social Studies and Action (ISSA) Executive Director Alexandrina Marcelo was one of the participants in the workshop. She presented a paper on the current status of RTIs and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) affecting Filipinos, particularly women. About 30 participants attended the seminar, which concluded by voicing a growing alarm over these diseases and by emphasizing that immediate action should be part of the world leaders' plans for women's health and reproductive rights. The participants all agreed on the increasing danger of the disease and its widespread infection, and they drafted a "Call to Action" to all governments and world leaders, expressing the delegates' belief that RTIs and STDs should be given importance by not only those suffering from infection but also by governments all over the world.