THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE UNITED NATIONS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INFORMATION NGO Resource Centre, Room L 1B31, United Nations, New York, NY 10017 January 9, 2004 Rita Luthra, MD Women’s Health and Education Center 300 Stafford St. Suite 265 Springfield,MA 01104 Dear Dr. Luthra, We received your check for $1,000 and cannot thank you enough for your extremely generous contribution. On behalf of the NGO/DPI Executive Committee, I want to say that the mission of your Organization is devoted to something so important and vital that we are truly proud to represent you as an affiliate of the NGO community. I would like to visit you sometime and see your Center. Perhaps we can arrange something in the future. In the meantime, I thank you again for your wonderful contribution. It will go a long way towards funding our outreach projects. If you are planning on attending the next Annual DPI/NGO Conference in September 2004, I look forward to talking with you. With Warm Regards, Joan Levy, Chair NGO/DPI Executive CommitteeRead More

Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Psychiatry Yale University School of Medicine New Haven, CT (USA) Dr. Philip M. Sarrel, MD is currently Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. He was appointed to the Yale faculty in 1969 and has remained at Yale throughout his career, rising to the rank of Full Professor in 1988. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine in New York, Dr. Sarrel completed his internship at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Yale-New Haven Medical Center in New Haven. Following his appointment to the Yale faculty in 1969, along with Lorna Sarrel, he founded the Yale Sex Counseling Service. In 1971, he and Mrs. Sarrel were trained in sex therapy by William Masters and Virginia Johnson and in 1975-1976; Dr. Sarrel received a Macy Foundation Faculty Scholar Award for one year at Oxford University in England, where he worked with John Bancroft in the Department of Psychiatry. In 1976, Dr. Sarrel started the Yale Menopause Program and in 1982-1983, he devoted a sabbatical year to the study of the menopause working with Dr. Malcolm Whitehead at the Kings College Hospital in London. He was promoted to the rank of Full Professor in 1988 at Yale. In 1989-1990 his appointment in Cardiac Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute in London enabled a year of cardiology research into the effects of ovarian hormones on arterial function. Also in 1990, Dr. Sarrel began his tenure as Co-Director of the Yale Neuro-Gynecology Clinic, which continues today. In the 1996-1997 academic year, an appointment as Visiting Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York enabled a study year devoted to understanding the actions of androgens. He has served as a Consultant to the Center for Alternative Medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, NY, since 1997. He has also served as a Consultant to the Center for Alternative Medicine at Yale-Griffin Hospital, Derby, Connecticut since 1998, and since 2000 has been Attending Consultant in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Yale-Griffin Hospital. At Yale, Dr. Sarrel has been Co-Director of the Sex Counseling Service since 1969 and Director of the Mid-life Study Program since 1984. Dr. Sarrel is the author or co-author of over 200 medical articles and chapters for medical texts and is also the co-author of six textbooks related to menopause and to understanding sexual behavior and response. He has been the recipient of four research grants from the National Institutes of Health as well as many other research grants from foundations and the pharmaceutical industry. His research during the past 17 years has focused on studies of arterial effects of hormones and issues related to sex and aging. He is currently involved in studies of dietary interventions, and SERMs and phytoestrogens and their effects on endothelial cell function. He was one of the co-investigators of the Women’s Estrogen for Stroke Prevention Trial funded by the National Institutes of Neurological Disease and Stroke. Dr. Sarrel is currently the editor of MATURITAS, the journal of the International Menopause Society; Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society; the Journal of Sex Research; the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy; and the Journal of Gender-Specific Medicine. He is also a manuscript reviewer for the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Endocrine Reviews, Cardiovascular Research, the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, and the American Journal of Cardiology.Read More

Professor Division of Gynecologic Oncology Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Creighton University School of Medicine at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, a member of Catholic Healthcare West 500 W. Thomas Road, Suite 660 Phoenix, AZ 85013 (USA) Tel #: (602) 406-6000 Fax #: 602-406-9921 Email: Bradley.monk@chw.edu Biographical Summary Dr. Monk received his medical degree from the University of Arizona in 1988 where he graduated at the top of his class. He then underwent training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of California, Los Angeles between 1988 and 1992, and Gynecologic Oncology at the University of California Irvine (UCI) between 1992 and 1995. In 1995, he was appointed the Director of Gynecology Oncology at Texas Tech University and Associate Director of the Southwest Cancer Center where he served until 1998. Since 1998, he has been a member of the faculty at UCI where he currently is Associate Professor (with Tenure). He is board certified in both Obstetrics and Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He is also an active full member of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the American Association of Cancer Research. Dr. Monk has been an Investigator for the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) since 1995 and is the Chair of the Cervical Committee along with serving on the Tissue Utilization and Publications Committees. He is the Co-Principal Investigator for the GOG at UCI and Study Chair for both group wide phase III trials in cervical carcinoma and also serves as the study chair or co-chair for seven other trials investigating new therapies in cervical and ovarian cancer. Dr. Monk has received career development funding (K-23) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to investigate new strategies against HPV related illnesses and, in addition, is funded by the NCI to study therapeutic HPV vaccines. Dr. Monk has over 90 peer-review publications predominantly dealing with the areas of cervical and ovarian cancer prevention, therapeutics as well as issues related to quality of life. He has also published fifteen book chapters and is on the Editorial Board for Gynecologic Oncology and The American Journal of Hematology/Oncology and is a past President of the Orange County OB-GYN Society.Read More

Scope and Editorial Policy The mission of the Journal, WomensHealthSection.com is to publish and disseminate scientifically rigorous public health information, with special focus on women’s health, of national and international significance that enables health care providers, policy-makers, and researchers to be more effective. It aims to improve health, particularly among disadvantaged populations in both developed and developing countries. Women’s Health and Education Center (WHEC) welcomes unsolicited manuscripts, which are initially screened in-house for originality and relevance. Manuscripts passing the initial screening are sent blindly for peer review. After the reviews have been received, the editorial advisers decide on the manuscript’s acceptability for publication in WomensHealthSection.com. Accepted papers are subject to editorial revision, including shortening of the text and omission of tables and figures if appropriate. The word limits shown below do not include the abstract (where applicable), tables, figures and references. The principal types of manuscripts are outlined below. I. Unsolicited Manuscripts 1.1 Letters. Useful contributions referring to something published recently in the WomensHealthSection.com or WHEC Update; 400-850 words, maximum 3 references. Letters are also edited and may be shortened. 1.2 Policy & Practice. Reviews, debates or hypothesis-generating papers; not more than 3,000 words, with a non-structured abstract (see below 3.5) and not more than 25 references; peer reviewed. 1.3 Research. Methodologically sound primary research of relevance to women’s health and health development. Formal scientific presentations of not more than 3,000 words, with a structured abstract (see below) and not more than 25 references; peer reviewed. 1.4 Systematic reviews in women’s health. Exhaustive, critical assessments of published and unpublished studies (grey literature) on research questions of relevance to women’s health and practice are welcome. Reviews should be prepared in strict compliance with MOOSE or QUOROM (PRISMA) guidelines or with Cochrane’s complementary guidelines for systematic reviews of health promotion and public health interventions. Not more than 3,000 words and 25 references, plus a 250-word structured abstract (see below 3.5). All studies included and excluded in the review should be shown in a flow diagram that will not count towards the word limit if published as an appendix only in the electronic version of the journal or on the author’s URL. Peer reviewed. 1.5 Perspectives. Views, hypotheses or discussions (with clear message) of an issue of women’s health interest; up to 1,500 words, no more than 6 references. 1.6 Lessons from the field. Papers that capture experiences and practice gained in solving specific women’s health problems in both developed and developing countries, with a structured abstract (see below); not more than 1,500 words and not more than 10 references, with no more than one table and one figure. II. Commissioned manuscripts The categories of articles shown below are normally commissioned by the editors. Authors wishing to submit and unsolicited manuscript to be considered for one of these categories should first contact editorial office. 2.1 Editorials. Authoritative reviews, analyses or views of an important topic related to the various themes in women’s health or an important health development subject; not more than 800 words, maximum 6 references. 2.2 Round tables. Consist of a base paper on a controversial subject of current women’s health issue of national and international importance (not more than 2,000 words and an abstract) and a debate on it by several discussants, who are invited to contribute not more than 500 words each. 2.3 Books & electronic media. Reviews of a book, web-site, CD-ROM, etc. of women’s health interest; 400-800 words, no references. 2.4 Current commentaries. Explanatory or critical analysis of an individual article; not more than 800 words, maximum 6 references. 2.5 Public health classics. A landmark public health paper which focuses on women’s health and achieving universal access to reproductive health or publication is reproduced, accompanied by a commentary of up to 1,500 words. III. Preparation and Submission of Manuscripts Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals established by the Vancouver Group (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, ICMJE). The complete document, updated October 2007, is available at: http://www.icmje.org 3.1 Languages. Manuscripts should be submitted in English. Authors who have difficulty in preparing their manuscript in English should contact the editorial office for advice. 3.2 Authorship. Authors should give their full names and the name and address of their institutions. If possible, only one institution per author should be given. In accordance with the “Uniform requirements” (see above), each author should have participated sufficiently in the work being reported to take public responsibility for the content; each author should provide a description of his or her contribution to the work being reported. The full postal and e-mail address of the corresponding author will be published unless otherwise requested. The WomensHealthSection.com encourages submissions from authors in developing countries, and in line with this policy at least one author should be a national of the country where the study was carried out and have an affiliation there. 3.3 Automatic links: All links inserted by the automatic reference and footnote facilities of word-processing software must be removed before the manuscript is submitted. Footnotes are not permitted and such material should be inserted into the main text. 3.4 Tables and figures: Tables and figures should be used only if they enhance understanding of the text. In the text, tables and figures should be numbered consecutively (e.g. Table 1, Fig. 1). They should be presented with clear, concise titles at the end of the text and not incorporated or embedded into it. Abbreviations or acronyms should be avoided but if used must be explained. Graphs or figures, which should be presented in two-dimensional and not pseudo three-dimensional “perspective” format, should be clearly drawn and all the data identified. 3.5 Abstracts. Abstracts, which should be clearly written to highlight the text’s most significant points, should be provided for the following types of papers: Research, Systematic reviews, Policy & practice, base papers for Round tables and Lessons from the field. The abstract, which should not exceed 250 words, appears in WomensHealthSection.com and WHEC Update. 3.6 Competing interest. A competing interest arises when a professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as patient’s welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain or personal rivalry). We ask all authors to disclose at the time of submission any competing interests that may have. Examples of types of competing interests may be found at: http://www.icmje.org. 3.7 Funding. Authors should declare sources of funding for the work undertaken; affirm that they have not entered into an agreement with the funding organization that may have limited their ability to complete the research as planned, and that they have had full control of all primary data. 3.8 Ethical issues. The Women’s Health and Education Center (WHEC) publishes the results of research involving human subjects only if it has been conducted in full accordance with ethical principles, including the provisions of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (as amended by the 59th General Assembly, October 2008; available at: http://www.wma.net/ ) and the additional requirements, if any, of the country in which the research was carried out. Any manuscript describing the results of such research that is submitted for publication must contain a clear statement to this effect, specifying that the free and informed consent of the subjects or their legal guardians was obtained and that the relevant institutional or national ethical review board approved the investigation. 3.9 Maps. Use of maps should be avoided, but should their use be necessary authors are requested to use the relevant UN-approved maps, which can be downloaded from: http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm 3.10 Bibliographic references. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of all references, which should be verified at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov : these are not checked by editors. References should be numbered consecutively as they occur in the text (in superscript roman type, preferably at the end of a sentence) and listed in numerical order at the end of the text. WomensHealthSection.com adheres closely to the Vancouver style of references (see http://www.icmje.org updated October 2007). The first three authors of a work should be named, followed by “et al”. If there are more than three.Read More

name Ms. Brigitte ERNST DE LA GRAETE present position Member, Belgium Francophone Green Party (ECOLO) previous positions Federal Secretary and Spokesperson of the Francophone Green Party“ECOLO” until (1999-June 2002)Director of the European Bureau of Amnesty International (1995-1999)Member of the European Parliament (1989-1994)Alderman of the City of Liege (1983-1988) other positions Member of the Executive board of the European GreensMember of the Liege City Council education Law Degree, University of LiegeSociology Degree, Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) address/telephone Brussels, Belgium languages French, English US travel Attended conference in USAFS Student in Wisconsin at age 16 other travel extensive travel abroad background Ms. Ernst has been an active member of the Francophone green party (Ecolo) since 1981. She started off in local politics as alderman for youth affairs and sports of the city of Liege and thus became the first Francophone green politician to help govern a large city. In her capacity of member of the European parliament. Ernst was a strong advocate of eco-labeling and she took an active interest in third world and human rights issues. After her European mandate. she headed the European bureau of a large human rights NGO and in November ’99. she was elected federal secretary of the Francophone greens “Ecolo”.Read More

Dr. Sibai is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. His academic leadership and contributions to research, in the dissection of the hypertensive diseases of pregnancy and other basic problems associated with obstetrics and gynecology, has awarded him national and international recognition in the field of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, particularly in the area of hypertension in pregnancy. His contributions have organized the treatment plans of many physicians. Dr. Sibai’s international notoriety in preeclampsia and eclampsia evolved as a result of his authorship or co-authorship of over 350 peer-reviewed publications in national and internationally circulated publications. Dr. Baha M. Sibai Professor and Chairman Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology University of Cincinnati 231 Albert Sabin Way Cincinnati, OH 45267 E-mail: baha.sibai@uc.eduRead More

Office at the United Nations, New York 2 UN Plaza, DC2-2060 New York, New York 100 17 Tel: 212-963-6387, Fax: 212-371-9454 http://www.ony.unu.edu 7 December 2005 Dear Ms. Luthra, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your letter regarding your e-learning publication dated September 12th 2005 and apologize for not having written you earlier. I read the articles that you sent me with great interest. I will pass them on to my colleague Birgit Poniatowski in Tokyo who responsible for Gender issues with UNU and to Mr. Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis, Programme Director, UNU- WIDER in I-Ielsinki, who is currently developing a projecton ‘Food Security and Gender’ with much attention dedicated to health. I hope this is useful. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any further question that you might have. As you say, let us stay in touch. With kind regards Jean – Marc CoicaudRead More

Neena M. Gupta 6 Sunrise Lane, Scarsdale, NY 10583 Tel: 914-722-1082 Email: Neena@WomensHealthSection.com PERSONAL Date of Birth: June 1, 1959, India Citizenship: United States of America Married; Two children QUALIFICATIONS Problem solver, highly organized, with strong work ethics and interpersonal skills CURRENT EXPERIENCE NGO Representative of Women’s Health and Education Center (WHEC) Many years of valuable experiences include do-it-all mentality. Hands-on experience in decision-making, financial management, crisis management, project management Active participation in school-related events and support organizations — parent-teacher-association, debate club, varsity tennis club, music/choir, international committee Liaison with several non-profit, multicultural organizations to promote children’s learning, participation, and to increase cultural awareness in the community Organized program events, designed/published brochures, reports Manage Investments & Finances for over 15 years including active Stocks/Options trading Independent travel agent for all business and personal travel arrangements Promoter of good health and nutrition PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Computer Systems 1987-1989: Cross & Brown Company, NY (Affiliate, Metropolitan Life), Director, Data Processing 1985-1987: Watt Industries, Inc., Santa Monica, CA, Systems Coordinator & Technical Support, Special Contribution Award, Information Systems 1982-1985: IBM Corporation, Minneapolis, MN, and IBM United Kingdom Limited, London, UK, Systems Engineer EDUCATION 1982 Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 1984-88 Continuing Systems Education – Took various courses in Operating Systems and Data Base Management Systems at UCLA, Los Angeles, and DBMI, New York LANGUAGES Fluent in English, Hindi INTERESTS Photography, videography, tennis, badminton, table tennis, arts/crafts, painting, cooking, gardening, creative teaching of children, hospitality, travelRead More

Welcome to the virtual health library in women’s health care – Guidelines for Women’s Health Partner, Publish & Promote The Journal, WomensHealthSection.com contains a number of innovative and successful best practices from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), participating institutions, their faculty, and UN entities around the world. In this section, institutions, authors and NGOs can view and rate best practices in specific fields of work, network with organizations around the world, and promote their own work to a global audience. Users can also submit papers, manuscripts, photographs representative of their work which will be available for fellow users to browse. The most of our content is generally commissioned, but if you have a great idea for a commentary, editorial, public health review, news story, interview, book review, or public health classic, we would be happy to consider your proposal. We are embarking on a new era in medicine and health care. As you know the information super-highway has much information to offer to the health care providers all over the world. To reach the global community and to serve national and international health care educational needs, we have opened, the Guidelines for Contributors and Submit a Manuscript, for fast, easy electronic submission of your work. Serving all over the world, the Journal, WomensHealthSection.com is most widely read in the specialty. We plan development together. We build partnerships to last. Grants and services provided by Women’s Health and Education Center (WHEC) to the Authors and Editors help us all to build better health care systems in both industrialized and developing countries: Partner, Publish & Promote. What sort of papers/research do we want, publish and fund? The Women’s Health and Education Center (WHEC) publishes papers on matters of women’s health and health development with a special focus on Millennium Development Goal # 5 (Improve Maternal Health). This is a very broad field, and we consider a very wide range of papers, but the ones that survive peer review and are accepted for publication have some common features: The work described has some implications beyond where it was done. We learned something from the paper. We think that our readers would learn something, or find the contents useful to them in their work. The work is novel, relevant and valid, and has been conducted in an ethical manner. WHEC provides grants for the research/publications for the accepted paper for the translations in six languages to be included in WomensHealthSection.com and dissemination of the work worldwide to millions of our readers in health care and policy-makers. Authors of accepted papers are also invited to participate in Continuing Medical Education (CME) discussions and forums on WHEC Global Health Line. Unsolicited manuscripts: For the sections – Research, Policy & Practice, and Lessons From The Field manuscripts must be accompanied by two paragraphs indicating what they add to the literature:– A brief explanation of what was already known about the topic concerned;– A brief outline of what we know as a result of your manuscript. The Women’s Health and Education Center (WHEC)’s policy on competing interests: Competing interests arise when authors, reviewer, or editors have personal, commercial, political, academic or financial interests that are not fully apparent and that may influence their professional judgment on a paper’s content or suitability for publication. The WHEC recognizes that the desirable expertise of authors, writers and reviewers also makes them prone to acquiring competing interests in their subject area. The WHEC also requires authors, editors and reviewers to disclose their competing interests, upon submission or review of a paper for any section of the journal. Authors’ competing interests statements will be taken into consideration when a final decision is made to accept or reject a paper, but will not stand as the only criterion for rejection without the editors first seeking further clarification from the authors. The WHEC asks reviewers to decline the invitation to review a paper if they feel that they may have a conflict of interest that would impede their objectivity, and to declare any potential competing interests when accepting the invitation to review. The editors and editorial advisers are obliged to declare any competing interests to WHEC, and preclude themselves from handling papers in such interests collide. The WHEC’s usual time span on conflict of interests is for three years preceding the disclosure, but authors, reviewers and editors are asked to declare any relevant competing interests that they may have outside of this period. In addition, The WHEC requires that authors explicitly state all sources of funding for research or writing activities. This information should be included in the acknowledgements section of the paper, and the methods section of the paper should include the role of the funding source as regards the design, execution, and analysis of the study, and the decision to submit the paper for publication. Submitting and Publishing Clinical Trials on WomensHealthSection.com: The registration of all interventional trials is a scientific, ethical and moral responsibility. This will improve research transparency and will ultimately strengthen the validity and value of the scientific evidence base. Clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical companies should follow specific guidelines; available at: http://www.gpp-guidelines.org . All human trials that are phase 2a and above must be registered with a clinical trial registry of World Health Organization (WHO); available at: http://www.who.int/ictrp/en or National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States; available at: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ Authors should provide the name of the trial registry, the registry URL, and the trial registration number at the end of the abstract. Please note: Submit your contributions in a Microsoft Word compatible format (*.doc) and in English only. Thank you. License for publication Inquires at:Editorial OfficeWomen’s Health and Education Center (WHEC)Springfield, MA, USAe-mail: Editor@WomensHealthSection.comRead More

As principal of International Solutions for the past six years, Irving Stolberg has served as a democracy advisor to numerous governments around the world, principally in Central and Eastern Europe. He has done work in more than 90 countries throughout the world. His work has encompassed parliamentary structure and process, rules and multi-party staffing, governmental decentralization, ethics, environment, conflict resolution, Constitution revision, and election monitoring. In 1995. he was appointed by President Clinton to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of American Heritage Abroad. On the Commission, he has had the lead responsibility for relations with Slovakia, Moldova, and Ukraine. He was re-appointed to the Commission in 1998 and in 2002 by President Bush. He has consulted in Bulgaria on numerous occasions. Under the auspices of Bulgarian Television and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences he has participated in sessions on political and economic reform. He has served as an election monitor there with the National Democratic Institute. He has also monitored elections in East Germany, Slovakia and Nicaragua. In the early 1990’s he consulted with Polish leaders on political transition and human rights. In the Czech Republic he has participated in sessions on participitory democracy and was invited by the Czech government as a special guest for the 50th Anniversary celebrations of VE Day. For AID he has done training sessions for Mayors and other local government leaders in Slovakia. Since 1999 he has worked extensively in China, developing training programs for public officials and leading delegations to China on behalf of the United Nations Association. He is the president of the Connecticut Division of the United Nations Association. In early 1998, there were four chapters within the Connecticut Division. Energizing the division’s outreach, Stolberg has generated four active new chapters, to make Connecticut a dynamic Division of the UNA-USA. In 1999 he was elected to the UNA national Board of Directors. Stolberg served for 22 years in the Connecticut House of Representatives, including two terms as Speaker of the House and one as House Minority Leader. He served on all major committees of the General Assembly, and chaired several of them, including Human Services, Intern, Legislative Management and Finance. He also served on the State Bond Commission. As president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, he held the highest state legislative office in the land. Mr. Stolberg has a B.A. in International Relations from UCLA; an M.A. and completed course work and exams for a Ph.D. in Geography and African Studies from Boston University; and a Juris. Dr. Hon. from the University of Hartford. He has written articles for the Encyclopaedia Britannica and other publications. He has received scores of awards and honors and is cited in Who’s Who in America and other publications. Stolberg has been a delegate to six democratic National Conventions and for several years was a member of the Democratic National Committee.Read More