This is in answer to Azam Baheiraei's query about health promotion for women in a developing country.

I was lucky enough to work with an organisation in Pakistan which was actively involved in community development in the rural Punjab and NWFP provinces.

The organisation preferred a long introduction phase which allowed for a getting to know each other period for both the community and the organisation. This allowed for all the suspicion and distrust to be worked through and realtionships to be forged. This introduction was the foundation of all subsequent work. The men's fears were allayed as to any inappropriate association with their womenfolk and the women were encouraged to be equal partners. So not only was there equity but even a slight gender bias towards women to offset the cultural and social discrimination and oppression.

After this the women were encouraged to take on active roles in various developmental committees like for health and education, parallelling the men's involvement and adult literacy classes were held. Education for school age girls was also given great priority. Ultimately certain women were selected to become community health workers. This improved their status through training and earning capciaty and they could take ownership of the health of their own community.

So women were involved in health, education, earning, decision making and design of projects and all of this worked together to promote health both directly and indirectly. This model worked well with adaptations from region to region and village to village and ensured empowerment of the women involved.

Yasmin Hadi