In the 1980s, a group of visionary women from Colombia put forth a proposal that made history in the health movement. The first Regional Meeting on Women’s Health was inaugurated in Tenza, Boyacá, Colombia, on May 28, 1984, in happy coincidence with the date that would come to be recognized as the International Day of Action for Women’s Health. The Corporación Regional para el Desarrollo Integral de la Mujer y la Familia provided institutional and logistical support for the meeting, which was also sponsored by Colombia’s Ministry of Health, the Pan American Health Organization, the Pathfinder Foundation and the Population Council. Luz Helena Sánchez, from Casa de la Mujer de Bogotá, was responsible for overseeing this tremendous undertaking.
For six days, women from different countries and different backgrounds, who were united by a common interest in promoting women’s comprehensive health from a perspective of human rights and social justice, reflected on a range of concerns: violence against women (including the violence perpetrated by the hegemonic medical system); population control policies; the various methods used to control women’s bodies and sexuality; and many other topics that impacted – and which continue to impact – the lives of the female population.
In this context – a hotbed of daring ideas and proposals for how to confront patriarchal domination – the decision was made to create a regional network to link organizations and individuals committed to human rights and women’s health, strengthening their efforts around a common agenda. This was the beginning of the Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network, LACWHN, whose presence in the region and throughout the world is the legacy of this meeting of the minds in Tenza.
During its first decade of activity, LACWHN's Coordinating Office was located within Isis Internacional in Santiago, Chile. The Network became independent in the second half of 1995. From the beginning, LACWHN has consolidated a network of information and communications through publications – the Women’s Health Journal and the Women’s Health Collection – to share the experiences of Network members from around the world and analyze priority issues in women's health and rights. Today, these publications have expanded to include electronic communications, like the Mujer SaludHable newsletter, and are available online at the Network’s website.
In collaboration with other global, regional and national networks, LACWHN also promotes advocacy campaigns, taking up key issues in women's health, such as the decriminalization of abortion and access to women's health. In particular, LACWHN has promoted and supported regional groups' activities commemorating May 28, International Day of Action for Women’s Health, and November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women.
LACWHN has also incorporated other strategies of action that have become increasingly important. These strategies include the Itinerant University, which offers human resources training in women's comprehensive health with a gender perspective; support for the design of public policy favorable to women through dialogue with pertinent sectors of the government and the legislature; follow-up and monitoring of the implementation of the Programme of Action from the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994) and of agreements from other international meetings; and the strengthening of regional coordination among networks, organizations and individuals who work in women's health.
