Report from the Meeting on Changing Communication Strategies for Reproductive Health and Rights, December 10-11, 1997, Washington, D.C.

The Working Group on Reproductive Health and Family Planning (FP) was convened by the Health and Development Policy Project and the Population Council in 1994 to help make US-supported international FP programs consistent with the Plan of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. This document reports on a 1997 Working Group meeting on "Changing Communication Strategies for Reproductive Health and Rights." The first part of the report reviews changing communication strategies and offers a brief history of health communication. Part 2 presents results of a panel discussion about client-provider interactions, community participation, and the interface of client satisfaction and quality of health care. The third part summarizes a panel discussion on community mobilization and reproductive rights education strategies, including communication strategies for maternal health and rights in Bolivia; sex education in Latin America; IEC (information, education, communication), FP, and sexually transmitted diseases interventions; and a methodology for incorporating gender issues into community AIDS prevention programs. Part 4 contains papers from a panel on the mass media and social marketing that consider how to use the media as a tool for social change, a communication strategy to increase male involvement in FP in Zimbabwe, marketing the female condom in Zimbabwe, and the empowerment of women and youth in Nicaragua. The final sections present donors' perspectives, a summary of themes covered in technical group discussions, and appendices.