AMANITARE Awards 2003
- Karen Efford, UK
***********************

Eleven awards were granted to individuals and organisations for their
contribution to the sexual and reproductive health field in Africa as part
of the opening day celebrations of African Women's Health and Rights day
at the African Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Conference, Johannesburg, February 4 - 7, 2003

Prevention of Violence against Women Category

Deborah Ana Quènet, formerly Attorney for the Women's Legal Centre (in
memoriam)Received on her behalf by Anastasia Maw, her life partner,
Deborah was awarded for her work at the Women's Legal Centre in South
Africa.where she ran the centre's violence against women project. She
worked fearlessly in the two years she was with the centre to achieve
legislative and policy reform and the ultimate goal of being able to
litigate on behalf of clients who had been victims of violence. She
pushed the boundaries of her role as attorney and demonstrated tremendous
empathy with her clients.

AVEGA-AGAHOZO, Association of Genocide Widows, Rwanda

Dancilla Mukandolie, acting president of Avega accepted this award on
behalf of the organization. The organisation was established to provide
much needed mutual support, health care and counselling to support women
who had been tortured, raped and endured untold horrors at the hands of
armed men during the genocide of 1994.

The organisation also has a political profile. By lobbying parliament,
judges and others, the organisation helped to secure a historic victory
for women in 1999 when the government passed a law allowing widows the
right to inherit land and their husbands' property.

Bringing rights to reproductive and sexual health services category

Mafanato Sibuyi, Midwife and abortion activist, South Africa

Mafanato worked in maternity from 1992 - 1999 before she trained to become
a master trainer in abortion care services and set up a reproductive
health clinic. A trainer, counsellor, nurse, midwife, advocate and
activist, Mafanato co-founded the support group Midwives for Choice and
has continuously worked to improve maternal and neonatal care, not only to
provide services but to educate her colleagues and communities on the new
South African law which made abortion legal on demand.

Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia

This award was received by Dr Mulu Muleta, the longest serving
gynaecologist at the hospital. Since its establishment, the number of
cases treated in this hospital has risen steadily, from 30 cases in 1975
to 1 200 in 2002 making it the largest repair service of its kind
worldwide. More than a treatment centre, the hospital provides specialist
training to surgeons from Ethiopia and other countries where obstetric
fistulae are endemic. The hospital has trained more than 200 local
gynaecologists on basic fistula repair techniques and offers free training
at the hospital to surgeons from other countries training on average 12
surgeons a year from different countries.

Reaching out to the New Generations Category

Yetnerbersh Negussie, HIV peer educator, Ethiopia

23 year old Yetnerbersh lost her sight when she was 5 years old after a
severe fever. Now studying for her first degree in Law at the Addis Ababa
University, she also works. public relations officer for the anti-AIDS
movement at the University and mobilises peer educators in different
activities. Serving as a chairperson of the Ethiopian National
Association of the Blind Women's wing, the only body working to bring
socio-economic betterment to the lives of blind women, she co-ordinates
the reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention programme for the women's
wing in the association.

Holo Muchangwe Hachonda IV, Zambia Integrated Health Project, South Africa

Holo has been an activist since the age of 17 when he co-founded the Youth
Activists Organisation in Zambia. His organisation focused on various
developmental, civic and governance issues and has played an active role
in monitoring the 1996 parliamentary and presidential elections of his
country. In 1997, the organisation started working in the area of
reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention working with churches, schools
and NGOs to promote young people's rights to access sexual and
reproductive health information and services. Holo's work is
distinguished by his innovative approach to addressing the issues of SRHR
of young women and girls. He has worked with young men and boys to enable
them to understand and respect the reproductive rights of young women and
girls.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Fred Sai, Advisor to the President of Ghana on Reproductive Health, HIV
and AIDS.

Fred Sai is a Ghanaian family health physician trained in the universities
of London, Edinburgh and Harvard. He has devoted his life to working on
community health concerns at home and internationally. In the last thirty
years he has concentrated on advocacy of sexual and reproductive health
policies, programmes and services for women and adolescents.

He has been Director of the Health Services of Ghana, Professor of
Community Health in the University of Ghana Medical School, Advisor on
food and nutrition in Africa to the FAO, President of the IPPF, Senior
Population Advisor to the World Bank and currently Advisor to the
President of Ghana on Reproductive Health, HIV and AIDS
He has received international recognition and commendation for his
chairing of the WHO/UNICEF conference on Infant and Young Child Feeding
which resulted in the International Code of Marketing of Breast milk
Substitutes and the Main Committees of the 1984 and 1994 UN conferences on
Population.

Historical Award for the Women of Africa

This award was received by Dr. Jane Chege, the first daughter of Phyllis
Wairimu Munoru of Kenya, on behalf of all African mothers who resisted
FGM. This award celebrated three mothers who resisted FGM and was
dedicated to all African mothers who have resisted violation of their
daughters against the odds.

International Awards

DAWN, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era, South-South
Network

Sonia Correa, Regional Co-ordinator, Brazil received this award on behalf
of the organisation. The DAWN network was established in 1984. The
network today covers Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and the
Pacific. As a south-to-south network Dawn was an important voice in
articulating the vision and voices of women before and during the
deliberations of the NGO forum of the International Conference for
Population and Development in Cairo in 1994. Much of DAWN's global
advocacy work involves working in partnership with other organisations and
networks to reform international institutions, ensure that governments
live up to the commitments they make at conferences, and mainstream gender
in NGO advocacy.

Helen Vera Rees

Professor Helen Rees is the Executive Director of the Reproductive Health
Research Unit, a Research Unit of the Department of Obstetrics and
Gynaecology of the University of the Witwatersrand, where she is also an
Associate Professor. Professor Rees is internationally recognized for her
expertise in the field of sexual and reproductive health including
STIs/HIV/AIDS. She has a particular interest in microbicides, barrier
methods, HIV vaccines and adolescent health. Her work on the Medicines
Control Council has also given her expertise in drug regulation and
clinical trials. She is the Chairperson of the International Clinical
Trials Committee of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), and
also serves on IAVI's Scientific Advisory Committee. She regularly serves
as an adviser to the World Health Organization and to UNAIDS on a range of
sexual and reproductive health issues, on STIs/HIV/AIDS including
microbicides and HIV vaccines, and on drug regulation.

Adrienne Germain & the Africa Program, International Women's Health
Coalition (IWHC), USA

Adrienne Germain has worked for thirty years to promote women's
opportunities, health and rights. She joined IWHC in 1985 and has served
as the organisations president since 1998. Adrienne's personal
contribution to the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights is
well-known through her writing. The Africa program of IWHC was started in
1988 with a focus primarily on Nigeria. Since then it has expanded its
support to groups and individuals in Cameroun and Mozambique. The program
provides technical, financial, managerial and moral support to women's and
adolescent health organisations, advocacy groups, individual health and
rights activists, and education and clinical service providers in Africa
countries.

Karen Efford
Email:[email protected] [2]

*---*
A posting from AF-AIDS ([email protected] [3])