Health Care for Muslim Women in the USA, Post Conference News Brief

A conference titled, "Patient-centered Health Care for Muslim Women in the United States," the first of its kind in North
America, was held on March 4 and 5, 2005 at the University of Illinois at Chicago. This event was the first in a series of
activities designed to identify and overcome patient, provider and health services related factors that are barriers to the
provision of high quality, culturally appropriate, patient-centered care for Muslim women. Participation was not limited to
any professional, racial or ethnic group. More than 200 participants from across the country attended the conference.



The conference was sponsored by the Department of Family Medicine of the UIC College of Medicine and funded by the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality, United States Department of Health and Human Services. This collaborative project was
supported by several UIC Colleges and Centers including the National Center of Excellence in Women's Health; Center for
Research on Women and Gender; School of Public Health; College of Nursing; and, the Great Cities Institute. The project also
was supported by the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Society for Teachers of Family Medicine.


Proceedings began with a welcome address by Dr. Patrick Tranmer, Professor of Clinical Family Medicine and Head, Department
of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago. He stressed the importance of addressing health
care needs of diverse populations as a core principle for all health providers and particularly family physicians.


Dr. Memoona Hasnain, Director of Research, Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at
Chicago, principal investigator and conference chair, presented the conference overview, describing the background and
rationale for the project. She touched upon the concepts of patient-centered care and cultural competence. Dr. Hasnain
stated that the religious and cultural beliefs of Muslim women impact their health care needs and they face major barriers
while seeking health care that the rest of the population, particularly health care providers, often are unaware of. The
paucity of research on issues related to health care for Muslim women in the US demands further research in this area. She
also emphasized the importance of keeping in mind that Muslims in America are a diverse group and said that in addition to
the African Americans who are indigenous to this country, immigrant Muslims come from over 150 countries and it would be a
fallacy to lump them all together in one group.


In addition to presentations by national experts, conference highlights included the opportunity for participants to work in
small groups to discuss barriers to culturally appropriate patient-centered health care for Muslim women and develop a
research, action and best practice agenda for future work; as well as to interact with a panel of Muslim women clients who
discussed their health experiences and concerns. Throughout the conference, participants actively engaged in discussions and
voiced strong support for additional conferences on this topic on an ongoing basis.
















Plenary presentations included a variety of topics:


Dr. Asma Barlas, Professor, Department of Politics at Ithaca College, New York, and author of "Believing Women" In Islam:
Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur'an (University of Texas Press, 2002) gave the keynote address, "Women in
Islam: Facts and Perceptions." She focused her talk on health care needs of Muslim women within the context of Islamic
tenets; dispelling misconceptions about gender preferences, the young age of marriage for girls, views of the wife as her
husband's sexual property, and polygamy, stating that of these issues raise practical problems for Muslim women and are
bogged down in misleading stereotypes.


Dr. Rosaly Correa-de-Araujo, Senior Advisor on women's health at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, presented an
interactive lecture on "Patient Centered Care: Relevance to Women's Health." Dr. Correa contextualized Muslim women's health
care within the broader realm of patient-centered care and provided an overview of key research findings from national
studies on minority and underserved women's health.


Dr. Fauzia W. Lodhi, Director, Palliative Care and Hospice Program, Rush University Medical Center and member of the Board of
Directors of the Muslim Community Center in Chicago, gave a presentation on "Culturally Appropriate Health Care for Muslim
Women." Dr. Lodhi's talk emphasized the need for health care providers to respect the customs and beliefs of patients from
every religions and culture.



Dr. Nawal M. Nour, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School and Director, African Women's Health Center, Brigham and
Women's Hospital, presented "Clinical Perspective: Female Genital Cutting," a topic of great interest to clinicians. Dr.
Nour emphasized that this tradition transcends all religions and geographical locations. People continue the practice of FGC
due to a multitude of complex beliefs, fears and societal pressures that we may never completely comprehend. She explained
that by not circumcising their daughters, parents who, believe in female genital cutting, feel they have done them a great
disservice. She also stressed that providers need to continue to help victims of female genital cutting in a manner that
does not make the patient feel guilty.



The presentation "Patient-Physician Communication: the Case of the Muslim Woman Patient," by Dr. Elizabeth A. Burns,
Professor and Chair, Department of Family Medicine, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences,
provided an example of a US physician who has worked successfully with Muslim women patients by closely understanding and
accommodating their religious and cultural needs.


The conference concluded with a wrap-up by Dr. Memoona Hasnain who thanked all the participants for their input and
reemphasized that the purpose of this line of work is to understand, and raise awareness about the health care issues faced
by Muslim women in this country and design interventions to educate both providers and clients to improve outcomes.


Additional information about the conference is available at: uic.edu/depts/ci/mwhconf


UIC ranks among the nation's top 50 universities in federal research funding and is Chicago's largest university with 25,000
students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the
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government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world. For more
information about UIC, please visit uic.edu