Speaking Up for Human Rights

In July, AVSC's president, Dr. Amy E. Pollack, gave a presentation at the Second International Conference on Women and Health, held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her remarks described the essential relationship between access to public health and human rights in a political context.

Dr. Pollack has always been an advocate of human rights, in particular as they relate to women and health policy. This interest evolved from her hands-on experience as a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist. During the past decade, international dialogue on the relationship between development, women's rights, and health has supported a transition in health care service delivery worldwide. The "rights" part of the dialogue has always been complex.

"Why do I believe that health care is a political issue?" explains Dr. Pollack. "Women and children are the principal users of health care under the age of 50. Providing health care services requires financial and material resources that may be scarce. Therefore, policy decisions made about health care tend to affect women and children disproportionately. This is complicated by the lack of power that women generally have in political arenas in many countries.

"While service delivery is at the core of AVSC's mission, we have learned that policy decisions about service delivery and human rights can support or undermine the success of our programs," she continues. "Therefore, to achieve our mission, we must seek to influence health care policy in the context of reproductive health care services that we support."

Terry Jezowski in 1979 (above) and today.

Terry Jezowski, Then and Now

We are pleased to announce that Terrence Jezowski has been chosen by the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health as an outstanding contributor to the field of public health in the past 50 years.

This honor marks a career of distinction at AVSC. Terry joined AVSC more than 25 years ago and has served in numerous challenging capacities. While living in Bangladesh, he was AVSC's first regional director for Asia. He then served as director of international programs, vice president and director of planning, and chief operating officer. Terry currently manages corporate strategic planning and conducts special agency projects.

AVSC joins the University of Pittsburgh in celebrating Terry's many achievements in making family planning and reproductive health services more accessible, safe, and desirable in countries all around the world.

Annual Report Is Cited

In its most recent International Annual Report Competition, the International Academy of Communications Arts and Sciences awarded a Gold Certificate to AVSC's 1998 annual report for its design. This highly prestigious competition receives hundreds of entries each year from over 1,000 private-sector and other organizations.

For a copy of our annual report, please contact the Development Office at 212-561-8045.