Aims

The Association of Womens Health aims to;

• Promote physiotherapy in all areas of womens health (incontinence, osteoporosis, anti- and postnatal management, mastectomies & preventative medicine) to doctors, other allied health professionals, the public and other physios.

• To promote & increase the availability of physiotherapy services for patients in the field of Womens Health.

• To maintain and further a high standard of physiotherapy treatment by means of discussion groups, lectures, congresses and postgraduate courses.

We Offer

• A newsletter which we send to our members and the training centres 3 times a year. It contains summaries of articles from overseas Journals, book reviews, newspaper clippings, new developments and news of courses and workshops.

• A bi-annual newsletter from International Organization of Physiotherapists in Womens Health whom we joined in 1999.

• Courses and workshops throughout the year.

• A small library from which members can borrow books or obtain photocopies of articles. It is situated at Maj Stuve's home and is linked to the Wits University Library.

History

The Association of Womens Health originated in the early seventies because physiotherapists working in the anti-and postnatal fields were feeling threatened by other professions. It was then known as the Obstetric Association with founder members Audrey MacFarlane, Margie Pretorius and Louise Hack. Brenda Kastell also served on the committee for many years.

The Group went from strength to strength holding workshop & symposiums and giving input to the undergraduate curriculum. It was always hoped that a post graduate course would be established but this has not been possible yet (perhaps in the near future we may get enough people interested!)

Unfortunately interest in this line of work dwindled as it is time consuming and not as profitable as other areas of physio might be, and also because midwives were getting more and more involved in the field. In the last couple of years, since we became more involved in the field of women's health, there has been a growing interest again as more and more physiotherapists are treating patients with incontinence. In 1996 the group changed their name to The Association for Women's Health of the SASP to incorporate all the areas involved with women's health, thus not only the anti-and postnatal fields, but also incontinence and related problems, women with mastectomies, etc. We believe that we can play a very positive role in preventative medicine as well, advising and teaching patients the necessary exercises to prevent problems, as they become older.

Contacts:
Chairman	Hester van Aswegen P.O. Box 6479 Westgate 1734 Tel: (011) 763-6681
Past Chairman	Margie Pretorius Smith Street 175 A Muckleneuk 0002 Tel: (012) 343-2001
Chairman elect	Maj Stuve Verploegh Pomegranate Street 8 Randpark Ridge Ext 41 Tel: (011) 792-5118

A new organisation was formed in 1999: CASA -the Continence Association of South Africa. CASA is a non-profit organization whose main aim is to be a leading source of education, advocacy and support to the public and medical profession about the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of incontinence. They want to create a representative body for all health professionals treating people with incontinence in South Africa, develop a referral base of health care practitioners who have a special interest in the treatment of incontinence and promote clearly defined standards of diagnosis and management of incontinence.

Anyone with a special interest in the treatment of incontinence can become a member of CASA. Currently the membership fees for Allied Health Professionals are R20.00. I think it is worthwhile joining as this gives us physios a wonderful opportunity to spread the word about what we can offer in the management of the incontinent patient and also learn more from the other professions.

If you are interested in joining, please contact CASA's Secretary, Catherine Watters at (011) 444-9046.