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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Social Organization And Reproductive Behavior In Southern Ghana, Dominic K. Agyeman, John B. Casterline Jan 2002

Social Organization And Reproductive Behavior In Southern Ghana, Dominic K. Agyeman, John B. Casterline

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The objective of this research is to examine the association between social organization and reproductive behavior in one setting in sub-Saharan Africa. The particular focus is on the effects of social organization on the diffusion of innovative reproductive ideas and behaviors. Social diffusion is assumed to be strongly affected by patterns of informal social interaction, and these in turn are assumed to be determined in part by the social organization of local communities (gender relations, employment activity, voluntary organizations). The research draws on data collected in six communities in southern Ghana. The analysis reveals a weaker than expected association between …


Changes In Functional Limitations And Survival Among The Elderly In Taiwan: 1993, 1996, And 1999, Zachary Zimmer, Linda G. Martin, Ming-Cheng Chang Jan 2002

Changes In Functional Limitations And Survival Among The Elderly In Taiwan: 1993, 1996, And 1999, Zachary Zimmer, Linda G. Martin, Ming-Cheng Chang

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This paper focuses on changes in the prevalence of functional limitations among nationally representative samples of adults aged 65 and older in Taiwan as measured in 1993, 1996, and 1999. Using data from the Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan, we investigate changes in difficulties walking and climbing stairs, two tasks that represent basic lower body movements that are less likely to be influenced by changes in living environments and social roles than are activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. Results are shown for both unadjusted prevalence rates and rates adjusted …


The Effect Of Gender Differences In Primary School Access, Type, And Quality On The Decision To Enroll In Rural Pakistan, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Cem Mete, Zeba Sathar Jan 2002

The Effect Of Gender Differences In Primary School Access, Type, And Quality On The Decision To Enroll In Rural Pakistan, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Cem Mete, Zeba Sathar

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The paper explores the effect of primary school access, type, and quality on the decision to enroll in rural Pakistan using a 1997 survey especially designed for this purpose. A unique contribution of the paper is the construction of gender-specific dimensions of school accessibility and school quality according to school type (i.e., public vs. private). Within the same village, girls and boys often face starkly different options for schooling in terms of distance, type, and quality. Public primary schools are segregated by sex; private schools, whose numbers have grown rapidly in recent years in response to rising demand and the …


How Long Do We Live?, John Bongaarts, Griffith Feeney Jan 2002

How Long Do We Live?, John Bongaarts, Griffith Feeney

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Period life expectancy is calculated from age-specific death rates using life table methods that are among the oldest and most fundamental tools of demography. These methods are rarely questioned, much less criticized. Yet changing age patterns of adult mortality in contemporary countries with high life expectancy provide a basis for questioning the conventional use of age-specific death rates and life tables. This paper argues that when the mean age at death is rising, period life expectancy at birth as conventionally calculated overestimates life expectancy. Estimates of this upward bias, ranging from 1.6 years for the United States and Sweden to …


How Community Structures Of Time And Opportunity Shape Adolescent Sexual Behavior In South Africa, Carol E. Kaufman, Shelley Clark, Ntsiki Manzini, Julian May Jan 2002

How Community Structures Of Time And Opportunity Shape Adolescent Sexual Behavior In South Africa, Carol E. Kaufman, Shelley Clark, Ntsiki Manzini, Julian May

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Recently, South Africa has led the world in rates of HIV/AIDS infection. Particularly among young adults, the prevalence of HIV has soared, now reaching 25 percent. The statistics suggest a high level of unprotected sex and risky sexual behavior even in the midst of high levels of knowledge. Research has focused on the dynamics of individuals’ and partners’ sexual decisionmaking. Little is known, however, about the larger context in which those decisions are made. What are the everyday experiences that influence risk-taking? Are young people with little to do more likely to engage in risky behavior? Do community opportunities of …


Pregnant Or Positive: Adolescent Childbearing And Hiv Risk In South Africa, Naomi Rutenberg, Carol E. Kaufman, Kate Macintyre, Lisanne Brown, Ali Mehyrar Karim Jan 2002

Pregnant Or Positive: Adolescent Childbearing And Hiv Risk In South Africa, Naomi Rutenberg, Carol E. Kaufman, Kate Macintyre, Lisanne Brown, Ali Mehyrar Karim

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In communities where early age of childbearing is common and HIV prevalence is high, adolescent boys and girls may place themselves at risk of HIV to realize their childbearing preferences. In this paper, we analyze survey data from Kwa-Zulu-Natal province that explores whether an association exists between pregnancy preferences and behavioral and perceptual measures of HIV risk among adolescents in South Africa. Our analysis is based on data from 1,426 sexually active respondents aged 14-22 who participated in wave 1 of the “Transitions to Adulthood in the Context of AIDS in South Africa” study. We use logistic regression to model …


Living Arrangements And Socio-Demographic Conditions Of Older Adults In Cambodia, Zachary Zimmer, Sovan Kiry Kim Jan 2002

Living Arrangements And Socio-Demographic Conditions Of Older Adults In Cambodia, Zachary Zimmer, Sovan Kiry Kim

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Since the takeover of Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge in 1975, analysis of social conditions in the country has been lacking. Only recently has dependable socio-demographic data become available. We use some of these data to examine living arrangements and other socio-demographic conditions among Cambodia’s older population and compare results to those recently found in Thailand and Vietnam. On balance, living arrangements in Cambodia are similar to those in neighboring countries. Older adults are likely to be living with a grown child and in a variety of arrangements involving different family members. To determine gender preference for coresident children we …


Childcare, Mothers' Work, And Earnings: Findings From The Urban Slums Of Guatemala City [Arabic], Kelly Hallman, Agnes R. Quisumbing, Marie T. Ruel, Benedicte De La Briere Jan 2002

Childcare, Mothers' Work, And Earnings: Findings From The Urban Slums Of Guatemala City [Arabic], Kelly Hallman, Agnes R. Quisumbing, Marie T. Ruel, Benedicte De La Briere

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This study investigates the effects of childcare on work and earnings of mothers in the slums of Guatemala City. Recognizing that mother’s work behavior may depend on the availability of childcare, the modeling approach allows participation in the labor force and use of formal daycare to be jointly determined. We also investigate whether a mother’s “status” within her household (as measured by the value of the assets she brought to her marriage) influences her entry into the labor force. Finally, we explore the impact of childcare prices on a mother’s earnings, conditional on her decision to work. The study uses …


'Bus Fare, Please': The Economics Of Sex And Gifts Among Adolescents In Urban South Africa, Carol E. Kaufman, Stavros E. Stavrou Jan 2002

'Bus Fare, Please': The Economics Of Sex And Gifts Among Adolescents In Urban South Africa, Carol E. Kaufman, Stavros E. Stavrou

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Force or coercion are often a part of sexual relationships in South Africa, especially among adolescents. This coercion is also often pinioned by an economic exchange: gifts or favours for sex. Studies have pointed out the negative consequences of the exchanges which are often characterised by large age differences (‘sugar daddies’) or power imbalances. Perhaps more pervasive but largely ignored, gift-giving in same-age relationships also may be associated with sexual leverage, an exchange which somehow entitles one partner physical and sexual rights to the other’s body. The circumstances surrounding gifts and favours may shape young women’s and men’s sexual experiences, …


Are We Not Peasants Too? Land Rights And Women's Claims In India, Bina Agarwal Jan 2002

Are We Not Peasants Too? Land Rights And Women's Claims In India, Bina Agarwal

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This edition of SEEDS explores the critical elements in securing effective and independent land rights for women in South Asia. The author presents a range of cooperative strategies for enabling women to retain and cultivate the land and shows how micro-credit and other programs can be redirected to increase the amount and productivity of land women control. Recognizing that new policies and political will are required to foster and sustain such experiments, the author ends with a summary of how women are organizing to place women’s access to land at the center of national and global agendas.


Responding To Cairo: Case Studies Of Changing Practice In Reproductive Health And Family Planning, Nicole Haberland, Diana Measham Jan 2002

Responding To Cairo: Case Studies Of Changing Practice In Reproductive Health And Family Planning, Nicole Haberland, Diana Measham

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo codified views long advocated by women’s health activists the world over. The conference marked a turning point in the history of the population field—one that brought reproductive health and women’s rights to the forefront of the international population agenda. The 22 case studies in this book document changes in practice in reproductive health and family planning programs within 18 countries. The case studies demonstrate the important strides that were made in the years following the conference and point to many challenges that remain. The abolition or modification of population policies …


What About Us? Bringing Infertility Into Reproductive Health Care, Okonofua Friday, Bishakha Datta Jan 2002

What About Us? Bringing Infertility Into Reproductive Health Care, Okonofua Friday, Bishakha Datta

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Infertility is a major reproductive health problem throughout much of the world. Despite the prevalence and seriousness of infertility, the population and reproductive health field has largely neglected this problem. National policies and international donor organizations have been one-sided in their focus on programs designed to prevent unwanted pregnancies. This issue of Quality/Calidad/Qualité, with clinic-based narratives and case reports from India and Nigeria, illustrates what is involved in trying to address the problem of infertility in developing countries. A possible framework for incorporating limited infertility care into a family planning or reproductive health program includes providing education and counseling, preliminary …


Training And Support Of Developing-Country Population Scientists: A Panel Report—Summary And Recommendations, Jane Menken, Ann K. Blanc, Cynthia B. Lloyd Jan 2002

Training And Support Of Developing-Country Population Scientists: A Panel Report—Summary And Recommendations, Jane Menken, Ann K. Blanc, Cynthia B. Lloyd

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

From its earliest days, the Population Council has recognized the importance and value of training population scientists from developing countries. Since 1952, the Council’s social science fellowship program has sustained a commitment to this goal; approximately 1,500 fellowships have been awarded for pre- and postdoctoral training in population studies. While the demand for population scientists remains strong, the field has changed substantially since those early years and a review of the program was needed. The Mellon Foundation funded a project in 2000 to assess future needs for training and support of population scientists from developing countries and assembled an international …


Universal Sexuality Education In Mongolia: Educating Today To Protect Tomorrow, Delia Barcelona, Laura Laski, Caitlin Gerdts Jan 2002

Universal Sexuality Education In Mongolia: Educating Today To Protect Tomorrow, Delia Barcelona, Laura Laski, Caitlin Gerdts

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This issue of Quality/Calidad/Qualité demonstrates how Mongolia developed a national plan to a provide a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health curriculum and media for adolescents. Among the lessons learned from the Mongolian experience were the following: 1) questions about unwanted sexual relations and sexual roles were the most pressing among adolescents, especially girls; 2) printed media are efficient and inexpensive; and 3) parental opposition was almost nonexistent in certain settings—often they expressed gratitude for this education.


Demographic Factors In East Asian Regional Integration, Geoffrey Mcnicoll Jan 2002

Demographic Factors In East Asian Regional Integration, Geoffrey Mcnicoll

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Remapping Asia project, to which this paper is a contribution, investigates broad spatial changes in the ways that East Asia’s political and social life are organized and economies operate. Such changes are attributable to planned action of governments, firms, and other organized groups and to the unorganized but in some measure predictable behavior of myriad families and individuals. The project’s particular interest is in processes of regionalization-both through the deliberate construction of political institutions and through the largely unplanned emergence of regional affiliations and identities. Demographic factors play a potentially significant part both in promoting and in impeding regional …


The End Of The Fertility Transition In The Developing World, John Bongaarts Jan 2002

The End Of The Fertility Transition In The Developing World, John Bongaarts

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Fertility declines are now underway in many developing countries, and the focus of the debate about future fertility trends is shifting from the early to the later phases of the transition. This study examines patterns and determinants of fertility in the developing world using UN estimates of the total fertility rates for 143 developing countries from 1950 to 2000. The main objective is to identify regularities in the past record that may provide clues to future trends. Three key findings emerge from this analysis. First, the pace of fertility decline decelerates as countries reach the later stages of the transition. …


Premarital Sex In Vietnam: Is The Current Concern With Adolescent Reproductive Health Warranted?, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark, Dang Nguyen Anh Jan 2002

Premarital Sex In Vietnam: Is The Current Concern With Adolescent Reproductive Health Warranted?, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark, Dang Nguyen Anh

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

To the extent that research on Vietnamese adolescents has been conducted, it has been concerned with unprotected and unsanctioned sexual activity and its health consequences, namely abortion and sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV. The question we pose is whether this concern is warranted. Is the population community justified in focusing its attention on early sexual activity and HIV risk? Even if the sexual behavior of young people can be considered problematic, are there perhaps other aspects of young people’s lives that should give us greater pause? The paper reviews the literature on adolescent sexual behavior in Vietnam and analyzes data …


The Elderly And Aids: Coping Strategies And Health Consequences In Rural Tanzania, Julia Dayton, Martha Ainsworth Jan 2002

The Elderly And Aids: Coping Strategies And Health Consequences In Rural Tanzania, Julia Dayton, Martha Ainsworth

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The elderly are often especially likely to be adversely affected by the death from AIDS of prime-aged adults. The authors use a longitudinal survey of households from northwestern Tanzania in 1991-94 to compare the activities and wellbeing of the elderly in households before and after the death of a prime-aged adult with those of the elderly in households that did not experience the death of an adult. A significant proportion of adults suffering from AIDS return to their parents’ home shortly before death. Time spent by the elderly performing household chores rises following an adult’s death, and their participation in …


Childcare, Mothers' Work, And Earnings: Findings From The Urban Slums Of Guatemala City, Kelly Hallman, Agnes R. Quisumbing, Marie T. Ruel, Benedicte De La Briere Jan 2002

Childcare, Mothers' Work, And Earnings: Findings From The Urban Slums Of Guatemala City, Kelly Hallman, Agnes R. Quisumbing, Marie T. Ruel, Benedicte De La Briere

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This study investigates the effects of childcare on work and earnings of mothers in the slums of Guatemala City. Recognizing that mother’s work behavior may depend on the availability of childcare, the modeling approach allows participation in the labor force and use of formal daycare to be jointly determined. We also investigate whether a mother’s “status” within her household (as measured by the value of the assets she brought to her marriage) influences her entry into the labor force. Finally, we explore the impact of childcare prices on a mother’s earnings, conditional on her decision to work. The study uses …


Formation Et Soutien Pour Les Scientifiques Démographiques Des Pays En Développement: Rapport Du Groupe D'Experts—Sommaire Et Recommandations, Jane Menken, Ann K. Blanc, Cynthia B. Lloyd Jan 2002

Formation Et Soutien Pour Les Scientifiques Démographiques Des Pays En Développement: Rapport Du Groupe D'Experts—Sommaire Et Recommandations, Jane Menken, Ann K. Blanc, Cynthia B. Lloyd

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Dès sa fondation, le Population Council a reconnu l’importance et la valeur de former des scientifiques démographiques provenant des pays en développement. Depuis 1952, le programme de bourses d’études en sciences sociales du Council fait foi de son engagement dans ce domaine : environ 1 500 bourses ont été attribuées pour des stages de doctorat et post-doctorat en études démographiques. Les scientifiques démographiques sont toujours aussi en demande mais le domaine a considérablement changé depuis l’avènement du Population Council. Compte tenu de ces développements, la Fondation Mellon a financé, en 2000, un projet visant à évaluer les besoins futurs de …


Capacitación Y Apoyo De Científicos En Población De Países En Desarrollo: Un Informe De Panel—Resumen Y Recomendaciones, Jane Menken, Ann K. Blanc, Cynthia B. Lloyd Jan 2002

Capacitación Y Apoyo De Científicos En Población De Países En Desarrollo: Un Informe De Panel—Resumen Y Recomendaciones, Jane Menken, Ann K. Blanc, Cynthia B. Lloyd

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Desde su inicio, el Population Council ha reconocido la importancia y el valor que tiene la capacitación del científico en población de países en desarrollo. A partir de 1952, el programa de becas en ciencias sociales del Council ha logrado mantener sus objetivos habiéndo otorgado aproximadamente 1500 becas hacia la capacitación pre- y pos-doctoral en estudios de población. Aunque la demanda de científicos en población continúa firme, el campo ha cambiado considerablemente desde aquellos primeros años, de modo que una reevaluación del programa se tornó necesaria. La Fundación Mellon en el año 2000 otorgó fondos para un proyecto de evaluación …