Dear friends,

This week’s update features a guest blog on medical professionalism that sheds light on less recognized human rights abuses in health care: from denying morphine to cancer patients to coercing marginalized women to submit to sterilization procedures.

We also share a new report on efforts to improve women’s access to harm reduction services in Russia, despite barriers such as stigma, domestic violence, and child custody concerns. Women make up 40 percent of Russia’s 1.6 million drug users, yet local harm reduction groups report as few as one in six of their clients are female.

Thank you for reading, and please join the Open Society Public Health Program on Facebook.

Paul Silva
psilva@sorosny.org
Follow me on Twitter: @PauloNYC

Medical Professionalism and Human Rights Violations

The complicity of medical professionals in the abuse and torture of prisoners has been well documented. What is less recognized, though, is how state-sponsored violations of human rights can undermine medical professionalism in day-to-day clinical practice. In a new blog post, Leonard Rubenstein, former executive director of Physicians for Human Rights and a Senior Scholar at the Center for Human Rights and Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, argues that the medical community must take a stand against government policies that undermine the health of marginalized groups. Read more and add your voice to the Open Society blog.

Bringing Women Drug Users Out of the Shadows

Women who use drugs face profound challenges to accessing essential health care. In many countries, harm reduction programs are taking active steps to reach out to women by providing gender-sensitive services. A new fact sheet produced by the Open Society Public Health Program documents how five harm reduction projects in Russia achieved greater participation among women drug users and ultimately enabled safer behavior. Download By Women, For Women: New Approaches to Harm Reduction in Russia.

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