Mahmoud Fahmy Fathalla

Assiut University · Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Religions continue to be a strong moral, even political, force in the world. They are often seen to be in conflict with women's health; we argue that this should not continue to be the case. The conflict can be traced back to when religions had their birth and early development in patriarchal communities in which women were marginalized to the edge...

This recording is a presentation to the Policy and Coordination Committee of the WHO/ UN/ World Bank Programme of Human Reproduction in Geneva on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the programme. As Director of the Programme, I reflect on two decades of progress and the challenges ahead for global reproductive health.

This recording is a conference presentation at a meeting of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London in 1990 on safe motherhood. It outlines the challenges to make motherhood safer for all women, and the responsibility of world obstetricians to meet these challenges.

It is now more than 50 years since the World Health Assembly recognized abortion as a serious public health problem. The challenge still stands. Addressing the problem of unsafe abortion is a national and global public health imperative, dictated by the magnitude of the problem and its impact on individuals and society, inequity of the burden of di...

Efforts by the health and scientific community have focused on providing women with the means to control and regulate their fertility. We paid less attention to the reality of women achieving their reproductive revolution while burdened with a reproductive system that evolved to fit the life of our ancestor hunter–gatherers, where women were destin...

There is an ethical imperative to take public health action to eliminate the global problem of unsafe abortion. The moral obligation is dictated by the magnitude of the problem, the health inequities and social injustices that result from lack of access to safe abortion, the voices of women calling for action, and an international consensus recogni...

Pang T, Fathalla M, Whitworth J, Cuervo LG. Time for WHO to renew its commitment to health research. The Lancet. 16 Dec 2017. 390(10113): 2623-2624. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)33111-2

A global overview of sexual and reproductive health provides reasons for public health, development, and human rights concern. Improving the situation, alleviating the burden, and addressing the glaring inequity have been on the international and national agendas for many years now. Although progress has been made, it has been uneven, and major par...

Ovarian cancer is a silent killer. There is a need to intensify research efforts on prevention strategies. The causative role of incessant ovulation has been supported by the protective effect of oral hormonal contraceptives. The released follicular fluid in the process of ovulation bathes not only the surface of the ovary but also the fimbrial end...

Evidence has been accumulating recently about a tubal origin for the most lethal of ovarian cancers, high-grade serous carcinoma. A tumor originating in the fallopian tube may only fulfill its potential for growth when it is received in the hospitable ovarian environment. Recent studies shed light on the impact of ovulation on the tubal epithelium....

Women carry a heavy and disproportionate burden in human reproduction. Biological, medical and social determinants account for this burden. An evolutionary perspective can shed additional light. For the evolution of our brain, the human female took major risks to her health and life, to nourish and develop this spectacular brain in utero, to delive...

At the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994, the international community agreed to make reproductive health care universally available no later than 2015. After a 5-year review of progress towards implementation of the Cairo programme of action, that commitment was extended to include sexual, as wel...

Female circumcision (otherwise called as female genital mutilation or female genital cutting) refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. More than 125 million girls and women alive today have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa...

The beautiful dream of a world where no woman is denied her right to health and life is yet to be fulfilled. Progress has been made, but we still fall far too short. I would like to share briefly with you ten messages, that may get us nearer to the fulfillment of this dream.

Maternal and child morbidity and mortality are a major public health, development and human rights challenge globally and in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. The Region is diverse, with high-, middle- and low- income countries, many suffering from political instability, conflicts and other complex development challenges. Although progress has...

The reason I wanted to share with you Fred Sai’s dream of a world where no woman is denied her right to health and life is that this beautiful dream is yet to be fulfilled. Progress has been made, but we still fall far too short. I would like to share briefly with you ten messages, that may get us nearer to the fulfillment of this dream.

Few years ago, I wrote my book “Issues in women‟s health and rights- International, Arab Regional and Egyptian Perspectives” published by IPPF Arab World Region. Since then, I continued to be troubled by claims that religion stands in the way of women‟s human rights. I find it difficult to believe that the great GOD we worship in our different reli...

منذ بضع سنوات أصدرت كتابي عن "قضايا صحة المرأة وحقوقها من المنظور الدولي والعربي والمصري" الذي نشرته المنطقة العربية للاتحاد الدولي لتنظيم الوالدية" (IPPF). ومنذ ذلك الوقت بقيت منشغلاً بما يقال من أن الدين يقف حائلاً دون المرأة وحقوق الإنسان. ومن الصعب في رأيي الاعتقاد بأن الله جل جلاله، الذي نتعبد إليه في مختلف الأديان، يمكن أن يميز ضد المرأة أو ي...

The evolution of the large and complex brain was a big advantage to early humans in their social interactions and encounters with unfamiliar habitats. But it was not without a high cost to women’s sexual and reproductive health. The developing fetal brain needs and consumes a lot of energy. To meet this need, a more intensely invasive placenta evol...

Ovarian cancer continues to be a silent killer. Most women have advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. Intensive efforts to develop effective screening strategies have not so far met with success. There is a need to re-visit the potential of prevention strategies. In 1971, the author submitted a hypothesis for a possible relationship between in...

As our great conference comes to a close, and while we are still in this beloved country, dubbed the Cradle of Mankind, I want on behalf of all of us to send a message, a message from the heart, to the lady of Laetoli, our mother of mothers, and through her to all mothers past and present. The message is in three parts: First, we thank and we appre...

I plan to share with you, for your consideration, ten propositions for a world where no woman is denied access to her right to health and life

I submit, for consideration, ten propositions on how we can make our healthcare system friendly to women. These propositions are partly about what the system has to learn, but also what the system has to unlearn: Women are ends and not means; a woman is not a womb; a woman has a womb;maternity is not a disease; don’t over-medicalize; medicine shoul...

Let me start by making a disclaimer. The title of these remarks, including the word " wisdom " in it, was selected by the organizers, not by me. I think there is a popular misconception to equate " ageing " with " wisdom ". I do not want to discourage this misconception. I only wish it was true. I want to use the few minutes kindly allocated to me...

I hope in this presentation to leave you with three take- home messages: Violence against Women (VAW) is a Health Problem AND is a Human Rights Issue; VAW is a Public Health Problem in view of its prevalence and in view of its health Consequences; VAW, as a Public Health Problem needs more than the medical science and the healthcare profession; it...

A global overview of sexual and reproductive health provides reasons for public health, development, and human rights concern. Improving the situation, alleviating the burden, and addressing the glaring inequity have been on the international and national agendas for many years now. Although progress has been made, it has been uneven, and major par...

This book is not about diseases of women, and what the health profession can do, on its own, to manage and treat them. It is about issues in women’s health that need more than the medical science and the healthcare profession. They are issues which need societal action that has for long been overdue, to correct injustices to women. The book provide...

P Guía práctica de investigación en salud Esta guía integral para la investigación en salud trata de llegar a un amplio espectro de personas: los estudiantes que desean aprender los principios básicos de la investigación en salud y cómo llevarla a cabo, los investigadores del campo y los responsables de enseñar las metodologías de investigación en...

At the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994, the international community agreed to make reproductive health care universally available no later than 2015. After a 5-year review of progress towards implementation of the Cairo programme of action, that commitment was extended to include sexual, as wel...

What does the future hold for women’s right to life and health? I look at my oriental crystal ball. On one side, I see challenges. I turn my crystal ball around. On the other side, I see great opportunities and I see signals of hope. I see these signals coming from three different directions: from the international commitment, from the women’s move...

Maternal deaths in developing countries are often the ultimate tragic outcome of the cumulative denial of women's human rights. Women are not dying because of untreatable diseases. They are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving. Maternity is a social function and not a disease. When women are riskin...

The objective of this paper is inform the religious discourse. The objective is not to provide a technical account of the technologies but to highlight issues that can be a source for moral concern. The paper is not judgmental. The aim is simply to provide an evidence base for making appropriate moral judgments. The thrust of the paper is that the...

Reproductive health has been receiving increasing recognition and attention. Its elements are included as 3 of the 8 Millennium Development Goals adopted by the world government community, and it is considered essential for reaching the other goals. Reproductive health problems still account for a major share of the burden of disease, particularly...

Those of us who have long been involved in research concerning health problems in developing countries can look back with a sense of satisfaction on the progress made. Advocacy efforts have put the issue on the global agenda; we need to continue to advocate for increased investment and for further strengthening of the capacity that already exists i...

In 1997, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ernst Schering Research Foundation (a subsidiary of Schering AG, Germany, on a non-profit basis) mounted a multi-year global collaborative effort, involving a network of top-level research institutions to intensify research on the regulation of the male reproductive system with special emphasis on post-te...

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." Article 1. Universal declaration of human rights.1948 Human rights have been in the hearts of many people throughout history. But we can feel proud to belong to the first generat...

We have attempted in this guide to cover the broad spectrum of the research process. The research process is not simply about the methodology of research design. Before considering research design, researchers need to know how to define and refine the research question. After settling on research design, they need to be able to write a research pro...

Synopsis: For maternity care systems to function, there is a need for a n appropriate balance between inputs for physical capital, human capital and consumables, Motivation is key to proper performance.

Advancing reproductive health, much more than other fields of health, requires inputs from health care providers, health policy makers, legislators, lawyers, human rights activists, women’s groups and the society at large. Health professionals tend to be relatively uninformed of how the laws by which they are bound have developed, and of the range...

The practice better described as female genital cutting (FGC) is of long standing in some communities, and has spread to non-traditional countries by immigration. It is of varying degrees of invasiveness, often including clitoridectomy, but all raise health-related concerns, which can be of considerable physical and/or psychological severity, and c...

The Cairo ICPD consensus was not an easy accomplishment. It was an uphill struggle for a long time preceding the Conference. In recent years, opposition forces, also in Europe, have gathered momentum and are trying to derail the course. For those who uphold sexual and reproductive rights this is no time for complacency.

The explosion of technologies in the past few decades provides great opportunities in reproductive health care. The assessment of these technologies presents major challenges to health care providers, health policy makers, consumers, and the society at large. For a reproductive health technology to be appropriate, it has first to be evidence-based...

With all the advances in assisted reproduction, challenges are still to be faced. There are challenges which scientists have to deal with. There are challenges to the health services. There are challenges for which the health profession, as a group, has to take responsibility. And last but not least, society has to cope with new challenges brought...

The solemn commitment that was made in Cairo in 1994 to make reproductive health care universally available was a culmination of efforts made by the United Nations Population Fund (LINFPA) and all those concerned about a people-centred and human rights approach to population issues. The commitment posed important challenges to national governments...

The neglected tragedy of maternal mortality is a health scandal of our time. Motherhood can be made safe for all women and obstetricians have a global social responsibility to make it happen. Ten propositions are outlined: safe motherhood is to be recognized as a woman's human right; a woman's life is to be considered worth saving; life-saving emer...

The neglected tragedy of maternal mortality is a health scandal of our time. Motherhood can be made safe for all women and obstetricians have a global social responsibility to help make it happen. Ten propositions are outlined: safe motherhood is to be recognized as a woman's human right; a woman's life is to be considered worth saving; life-saving...