Seeking womenʹs voices: Setting the context for womenʹs health interventions in two rural counties in Yunnan, China

If interventions to improve health are truly to benefit women, they must be developed from the start with a critical understanding of womenʹs own perceptions of their health problems and needs, and how these concerns are linked to other facets of womenʹs lives. To obtain such understanding, it is crucial for health planners to seek out women in the communities where they live, to encourage them to speak in their own voices about their health and lives, and to be genuinely committed to listening to what the women have to say. This paper presents results of focus group discussions with village women in two rural counties in Yunnan, China. The data are derived from 28 focus group discussions conducted by the Womenʹs Reproductive Health and Development Program in Yunnan as part of a comprehensive assessment of reproductive health needs in poorer, more remote areas of the two counties. The discussions were held to ascertain what village women themselves feel to be their most pressing health problems, and how these relate to work, family, social status and their use of health services.