Challenges from Cairo.

: The Plan of Action approved at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development seeks to ensure access to reproductive health care services to all couples through a process of female empowerment. However, this goal conflicts with current social and economic policies in many countries as well as with hegemonic international development strategies based on structural adjustment. The full realization of the goals outlined in Cairo and Beijing will depend on the willingness of the international community to ensure the development of broader conceptualizations of human rights as well as the strengthening of community-based initiatives. Critical will be implementation of a multisectoral approach and coordinated networking at the peripheral level. Channels to express needs and demands must be developed in countries burdened with cultural obstacles or disrupted by political strife. If health care systems are to achieve targeted improvements in maternal mortality, they must both demonstrate an interest in mothers as women with needs of their own and seek to involve men in reproductive health decisions. Although the development of a broader range of contraceptive options remains critical, the most important reproductive technology issue concerns improvements in the quality of the user-provider interaction.