Author of health handbook for developing nations to make presentations at UW next week

Jane Maxwell, project coordinator and co-author of Where Women Have No Doctor, a book intended for use in developing countries, will be in Seattle next week and will make two presentations at the UW Health Sciences Center.

The book is published by the Hesperian Foundation of Berkeley, Calif., which also publishes Where There Is No Doctor, known as the most widely used health care handbook in the developing world.

Maxwell, who also oversaw the most recent revision of Where There Is No Doctor, will give Public Health Grand Rounds at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 7, in room T-739 of the Health Sciences Center. Her topic is "The Impact of Gender on Women's Access to Health Care." This presentation is also a World Health Day event. World Health Day, celebrated each year, has "Safe Motherhood" as this year's theme.

Maxwell will also give a seminar for the International Health Program at 12:30 p.m., Friday, April 10, in I-132, near the Rotunda. Her topic then will be "The Making of Where Women Have No Doctor: The Rationale for Using a Participatory Process."

In addition to graduate training in medical anthropology and journalism, Maxwell has extensive experience as a lay practitioner in women's health care in inner city clinics in the United States and experience in women's health and health education in Ghana, the Central African Republic, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil and China.

The book is designed to help women make decisions about their health when their resources are limited and to make lifesaving information accessible to women with little or no formal education. Medical information is combined with an understanding of how provety, discrimination and culture affect women's health and access to health care. It was reviewed and field-tested by women's health groups in 40 countries.

While in Seattle, she will also be part of a panel for Public Health Week (see accompanying story) and do a reading at the Elliott Bay Bookstore on Monday, April 6. For more information on her visit, call Liz Mogford at the International Health Program in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, 543-6714. ¶