Who are we?

Parliamentarians for Women’s Health is a groundbreaking initiative in East and southern Africa to strengthen parliamentarians’ efforts to improve women’s and girls’ access to health services, specifically HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention, care and counseling.

The three-year project (2005 to 2007) works with a group of select parliamentarians in four countries – Botswana, Kenya, Namibia and Tanzania – to:

• Increase communication and links between parliamentarians and civil society, especially with organizations of HIV-positive women.
• Convene national and regional workshops for the purpose of increasing parliamentarians’ awareness of women’s health care needs and the economic and political barriers in their countries.
• Provide technical assistance for capacity building in areas of importance to the parliamentarians, such as working with the media, devising budgets that support women’s health, and researching health-related legislation nationally, regionally and internationally.