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Training Service Providers On Emergency Contraception: Lessons Learned From An Or Study, M.E. Khan, Sharif M.I. Hossain Jan 2002

Training Service Providers On Emergency Contraception: Lessons Learned From An Or Study, M.E. Khan, Sharif M.I. Hossain

Reproductive Health

The Bangladesh Directorate of Family Planning in collaboration with the Population Council, Pathfinder International, and John Snow, Inc. is conducting an operations research project to test the feasibility of introducing emergency contraceptive pills (ECP) in the national family planning (FP) program and to answer operational questions on implementing the use of ECP efficiently. In Bangladesh, 1.2 million births are unplanned and the number of menstrual regulation/abortions is increasing. ECP could be a good reproductive health intervention for women since it gives them a chance to avoid unwanted pregnancy. ECP does not induce abortion. In fact, it helps in reducing the …


Institutional Support For A Program Of Activities Within The Pilot Health Project In The West Bank And Gaza, Health, Development, Information And Policy Institute Jan 2002

Institutional Support For A Program Of Activities Within The Pilot Health Project In The West Bank And Gaza, Health, Development, Information And Policy Institute

Reproductive Health

This document contains reports on three activities undertaken by the Pilot Health Project (PHP) in order to upgrade antenatal and postpartum services for Palestinian women. Specifically, it includes results of a survey and a comprehensive assessment of the antenatal and postpartum care services, including family planning, that are currently provided at the project clinics. The findings show that the shortage of care provided to women during the perinatal period could be partially overcome by conducting home visits to provide information on many reproductive health issues, to help women and their families make decisions regarding their future fertility, and to provide …


Peer Education As A Strategy To Increase Contraceptive Prevalence And Reduce The Rate Of Stis/Hiv Among Adolescents In Cameroon, Institut De Recherche Et Des Etudes Des Comportements (Iresco) Jan 2002

Peer Education As A Strategy To Increase Contraceptive Prevalence And Reduce The Rate Of Stis/Hiv Among Adolescents In Cameroon, Institut De Recherche Et Des Etudes Des Comportements (Iresco)

Reproductive Health

The Institute for Behavioral Studies and Research completed an operations research project entitled “Among Youth” targeting adolescents in the Mokolo neighborhood of Yaoundé, Cameroon. The results presented in this report show that adolescents in Mokolo, more often than their counterparts in the control site, adopted behavioral changes to prevent STI/HIV transmission and unwanted pregnancies as a result of the intervention. The report concludes that peer education combined with mass media campaigns form an important strategy for targeting youth with reproductive health and family planning messages and can help adolescents translate knowledge into healthy lifestyles. Integration of reproductive health messages into …


Sustainability Of Postabortion Care In Peru, Janie Benson, Victor Huapaya Jan 2002

Sustainability Of Postabortion Care In Peru, Janie Benson, Victor Huapaya

Reproductive Health

The goal of this study was to determine the sustainability of the postabortion care (PAC) training and service delivery intervention introduced in the Hospital Nacional Daniel Alcides Carrión in Lima, Peru, and the extent to which the outcomes of the intervention have continued. The objectives of the study were to assess changes over time in the following outcomes: the use of manual vacuum aspiration for incomplete abortion, provision of family planning information to postabortion patients, acceptance of contraception by postabortion patients prior to discharge, provision of medical care information to patients, length of hospital stay, and resources used by the …


Upgrading The Capacity And Skills Of Service Providers Of The West Bank/Gaza Pilot Health Project, Nancy Ali, Laila Nawar, Dale Huntington, Tawhida Khalil Jan 2002

Upgrading The Capacity And Skills Of Service Providers Of The West Bank/Gaza Pilot Health Project, Nancy Ali, Laila Nawar, Dale Huntington, Tawhida Khalil

Reproductive Health

The Center for Development in Primary Health Care (CDPHC), in collaboration with the Population Council’s FRONTIERS program, developed a 19-month training program to strengthen and improve existing maternal and children’s health and family planning services and to promote the establishment of the standardized basic package of services at Pilot Health Project (PHP) clinic sites in the West Bank and Gaza. There were four key start-up activities, including: 1) an assessment of standards of care provided at PHP clinics; 2) a review of formative research; 3) the development of clinical training manuals and curricula; and 4) the development of behavior change …


Best Practices In Cbd Programs In Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons Learned From Research And Evaluation, Frontiers In Reproductive Health, Family Health International, Advance Africa Jan 2002

Best Practices In Cbd Programs In Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons Learned From Research And Evaluation, Frontiers In Reproductive Health, Family Health International, Advance Africa

Reproductive Health

Community-based distribution (CBD) is the use of nonprofessional local distributors or agents to provide family planning (FP) methods—typically condoms, pills, and spermicides—and referral for other services. FP programs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America have implemented CBD programs for the past 30 years. There is a large body of evidence on the effectiveness, cost, and sustainability of CBD models. Most evidence supports using CBD where appropriate conditions exist. However, major changes have taken place in the context in which programs operate, including the onset of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, enhanced access to FP services, and increased demand for related reproductive health …


Men In Maternity Study: Men Matter, Anjana Das, Leila Caleb-Varkey, Anurag Mishra, Emma Ottolenghi, Dale Huntington Jan 2002

Men In Maternity Study: Men Matter, Anjana Das, Leila Caleb-Varkey, Anurag Mishra, Emma Ottolenghi, Dale Huntington

Reproductive Health

The Population Council and the Employees’ State Insurance Company are collaborating in a Men in Maternity (MiM) study in India to test a model of antenatal and postnatal services designed to help thousands of couples, especially men, redefine their roles in reproductive health and improve birth outcomes and maternal health. This is part of a global study that will assess the impact of male partnership in improving pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health, primarily by reducing the prevalence of STIs and increasing postpartum family planning use. Studies suggest that the lack of men’s participation in reproductive health actually undermines women’s health. …


Men In Maternity Study: A Summary Of The Findings From Pre-Intervention Interviews With Women And Their Husbands Attending Antenatal Clinics At Esic Facilities In Delhi, Anurag Mishra, Leila Caleb-Varkey, Anjana Das, Emma Ottolenghi, Dale Huntington, Susan E. Adamchak, Shahina Begum Jan 2002

Men In Maternity Study: A Summary Of The Findings From Pre-Intervention Interviews With Women And Their Husbands Attending Antenatal Clinics At Esic Facilities In Delhi, Anurag Mishra, Leila Caleb-Varkey, Anjana Das, Emma Ottolenghi, Dale Huntington, Susan E. Adamchak, Shahina Begum

Reproductive Health

The Frontiers in Reproductive Health program, a USAID-funded project of the Population Council is conducting an operations research (OR) study that investigates the effects of male participation in a new model of maternity care that is gender sensitive and provided at the primary-care level. The immediate objectives are to increase the use of family planning methods in the postpartum period and to promote STI primary preventive practices in men and women. The three-year study called Men in Maternity (MiM) is being conducted in South Africa and India. In India, the project is collaborating with the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). …


Using Men As Community-Based Distributors Of Condoms, Cynthia P. Green, Stephanie Joyce, James R. Foreit Jan 2002

Using Men As Community-Based Distributors Of Condoms, Cynthia P. Green, Stephanie Joyce, James R. Foreit

Reproductive Health

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has led program managers to seek approaches to family planning (FP) that will also help combat HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). These approaches include use of simplified STI diagnosis and treatment protocols and promotion of male and female condoms. One aspect of condom promotion that is receiving increased attention is the idea of adding men to community-based distribution (CBD) programs. The male latex condom is the only contraceptive method that, when used correctly and consistently, provides protection against STIs, including HIV/AIDS. Currently, an estimated 6 to 9 billion male condoms are used worldwide annually. However, …


Zimbabwe: Cbd Roles Modified To Address Zimbabwe's Hiv/Aids Crisis, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2002

Zimbabwe: Cbd Roles Modified To Address Zimbabwe's Hiv/Aids Crisis, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

In September 1999, the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) and the Population Council initiated a one-year study to assess the performance of ZNFPC’s community-based distribution (CBD) program. A continual decline in the program’s productivity, combined with the expanding HIV/AIDS epidemic, indicated a need to reconsider ZNFPC’s objectives and revise the roles and responsibilities of its full-time, salaried CBD agents. The study examined the productivity, costs, and potential sustainability of the CBD program. Researchers gathered information by reviewing program documents through 1999. They also interviewed program managers, district and community nurses, and community leaders and CBD agents from eight regions. …


Baseline Survey Results: Integrating Adolescent Livelihood Activities Within A Reproductive Health Program For Urban Slum Dwellers In India, Mary Philip Sebastian, Dale Huntington, Wesley H. Clark, Barbara Mensch, Bela Patel Uttekar Jan 2002

Baseline Survey Results: Integrating Adolescent Livelihood Activities Within A Reproductive Health Program For Urban Slum Dwellers In India, Mary Philip Sebastian, Dale Huntington, Wesley H. Clark, Barbara Mensch, Bela Patel Uttekar

Reproductive Health

The Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program and Policy Research Division, in collaboration with CARE India, is conducting an operations research study of an intervention designed to improve the lives and prospects of young women in several urban slum areas of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. The project aims to take a preexisting reproductive health program for adolescents and test the feasibility and impact of adding four additional components to it: 1) counseling about savings formation and livelihoods, 2) training in vocational skills, 3) assistance in opening savings accounts, and 4) follow-up support. CARE India is managing the larger adolescent reproductive …


Men In Maternity Study: Results From The Pre-Intervention Survey Of Pregnant Women And Their Husbands At The Three Interventions, And Of Only Women At Three Control Employees' State Insurance Corporation Dispensaries In Delhi, India: Preliminary Findings, Anurag Mishra, Leila Caleb-Varkey, Emma Ottolenghi, Anjana Das, Dale Huntington, Susan E. Adamchak Jan 2002

Men In Maternity Study: Results From The Pre-Intervention Survey Of Pregnant Women And Their Husbands At The Three Interventions, And Of Only Women At Three Control Employees' State Insurance Corporation Dispensaries In Delhi, India: Preliminary Findings, Anurag Mishra, Leila Caleb-Varkey, Emma Ottolenghi, Anjana Das, Dale Huntington, Susan E. Adamchak

Reproductive Health

The Frontiers in Reproductive Health program, a USAID-funded project of the Population Council, is conducting an operations research (OR) study that investigates the effects of male participation in a new model of maternity care that is gender sensitive and provided at the primary-care level. The immediate objectives are to increase the use of family planning methods in the postpartum period and to promote STI primary preventive practices in men and women. The three-year study called Men in Maternity (MiM) is being conducted in South Africa and India. In India, the project is collaborating with the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). …


Anti-Trafficking Programs In South Asia: Appropriate Activities, Indicators And Evaluation Methodologies, Dale Huntington Jan 2002

Anti-Trafficking Programs In South Asia: Appropriate Activities, Indicators And Evaluation Methodologies, Dale Huntington

Reproductive Health

Throughout South Asia, men, women, boys, and girls are trafficked within their own countries and across international borders against their wills in what is essentially a clandestine slave trade. The Congressional Research Service and the U.S. State Department estimate that between 1 to 2 million people are trafficked each year worldwide with the majority originating in Asia. Root causes include extreme disparities of wealth, increased awareness of job opportunities far from home, pervasive inequality due to caste, class, and gender bias, lack of transparency in regulations governing labor migration, poor enforcement of internationally agreed-upon human rights standards, and the enormous …


Philippines And Senegal: Services Improve Quality Of Care But Fail To Increase Fp Continuation, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2002

Philippines And Senegal: Services Improve Quality Of Care But Fail To Increase Fp Continuation, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

In 1999, Frontiers in Reproductive Health collaborated on studies on the impact of interventions to improve quality of care in the Philippines and Senegal. The two interventions were part of a multicountry Population Council study (also undertaken in Pakistan and Zambia) to test whether improving quality affects women’s contraceptive continuation. The Philippines study focused on training in family planning (FP), supportive supervision, and refresher courses to improve client-provider interaction. The Senegal study compared the impact of improved quality of care at five newly established “reference centers” with five clinics that served as controls. Data were gathered through analyses of quality …


Reproductive Health Care In The Postnatal Period In Guatemala, Erika Jacobs, Carlos Brambila, Ricardo Vernon Jan 2002

Reproductive Health Care In The Postnatal Period In Guatemala, Erika Jacobs, Carlos Brambila, Ricardo Vernon

Reproductive Health

This operations research study aimed to develop and test a job aid to provide comprehensive care to mothers and children during the first year postpartum; to train physicians, nurses, auxiliary nurses, and social workers in its use; and to develop and test strategies and materials for training community health agents to promote services for new mothers during the first year postpartum. It also collected data to establish if these strategies were effective in improving the quality and comprehensiveness of the care received by mothers and children less than one year of age. Drawing from exit interviews, the intervention appeared to …


Frontiers Capacity Building: An Overview, James R. Foreit Jan 2002

Frontiers Capacity Building: An Overview, James R. Foreit

Reproductive Health

The Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program is a cooperative agreement with USAID to improve family planning and reproductive health service delivery through operations research (OR). Frontiers builds on more than 20 years of research to improve family planning service delivery programs. A major goal of Frontiers is to transfer skills in OR so that public and private agencies in developing countries can conduct OR and apply research findings to reproductive health programs and policies. OR addresses problems in operational effectiveness, access, quality, and efficiency by investigating facets of programs that managers can control and change. As concluded in …


Midline Survey Results: Integrating Adolescent Livelihood Activities Within A Reproductive Health Program For Urban Slum Dwellers In India, Mary Philip Sebastian, Dale Huntington, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark, Shahina Begum, Bela Patel Uttekar, Sohini Roychowdhury Jan 2002

Midline Survey Results: Integrating Adolescent Livelihood Activities Within A Reproductive Health Program For Urban Slum Dwellers In India, Mary Philip Sebastian, Dale Huntington, Barbara Mensch, Wesley H. Clark, Shahina Begum, Bela Patel Uttekar, Sohini Roychowdhury

Reproductive Health

The Population Council in collaboration with CARE India has been conducting an operations research (OR) study to investigate the impact of adding a livelihoods component to the Action for Slum Dwellers' Reproductive Health, Allahabad (ASRHA) Project in Uttar Pradesh run by CARE India. The ASRHA Project selected peer educators from the slums and trained them in providing reproductive health (RH) information, communication skills, and group formation techniques. After the peer educators completed training, they conducted group sessions about livelihoods and savings. RH sessions were held alongside vocational counseling sessions. Population Council staff provided vocational training courses, both in the slums …


Kenya: Community Sensitization Must Precede Alternative Coming-Of-Age Rite, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2002

Kenya: Community Sensitization Must Precede Alternative Coming-Of-Age Rite, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

Female genital cutting (FGC) is practiced as a rite of passage in over half of Kenya’s districts. Kenyan nongovernmental agency Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (MYWO) has long conducted community sensitization focused on discouraging this practice. In 1996, MYWO began implementing the “alternative rite” (AR) intervention in sensitized communities. Girls participating in AR receive family life education in seclusion, followed by a public graduation ceremony recognizing them as adults. They are not cut as part of the ceremony. In 2000, the Population Council carried out an assessment of the AR program that sought to identify the impact of MYWO’s activities on knowledge …


Kenia: Sensibilizar A Comunidades Para Que Realicen Ritos Alternativos De Iniciación Con Las Niños, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2002

Kenia: Sensibilizar A Comunidades Para Que Realicen Ritos Alternativos De Iniciación Con Las Niños, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

La mutilación genital femenina (MGF) se practica como rito de transición en más de la mitad de los distritos de Kenia. Desde hace tiempo, la ONG Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (MYWO) ha sensibilizado a las comunidades de este país con el fin de promover el abandono de esta práctica. En 1996, la MYWO implementó una intervención para realizar un “Rito Alternativo” (RA) en las comunidades sensibilizadas. Las niñas que participan en estos RA reciben educación sobre la vida familiar durante un retiro y posteriormente participan en una ceremonia pública en la que se les reconoce como adultas. Lo más importante es …


Increasing Client Participation In Family Planning Consultations: "Smart Patient" Coaching In Indonesia, Young Mi Ki, Fitri Putjuk, Endang Basuki, Adrienne Kols Jan 2002

Increasing Client Participation In Family Planning Consultations: "Smart Patient" Coaching In Indonesia, Young Mi Ki, Fitri Putjuk, Endang Basuki, Adrienne Kols

Reproductive Health

In Indonesia, paternalistic models of health care, social distance between clients and service providers, and cultural norms discourage family planning clients from playing an active role in consultations. This report discusses the interventions needed to encourage clients to communicate more openly and more vigorously with providers. The study confirmed that educational interventions directed to family planning clients can help them become effective partners in their own care, assuming they meet with receptive providers. Communication interventions like Smart Patient complement and reinforce provider interpersonal communication and counseling training by giving clients the confidence and the skills to take advantage of increased …


Using Operations Research To Strengthen Programmes For Encouraging Abandonment Of Female Genital Cutting. Report Of A Consultative Meeting On Methodological Issues For Fgc Research, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2002

Using Operations Research To Strengthen Programmes For Encouraging Abandonment Of Female Genital Cutting. Report Of A Consultative Meeting On Methodological Issues For Fgc Research, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

The Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health program, with funding from USAID, organized a consultative meeting on the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in Nairobi, Kenya in April 2002. The meeting brought together a small group of researchers and program managers who are actively undertaking operations research and systematic program evaluations to review the state of the art concerning intervention research design and measurement issues. The deliberations at this workshop should stimulate interest both in undertaking operations research more routinely when programming anti-FGC activities and in furthering the development and application of research methods appropriate for this subject. Several …


Strategic Assessment Of Reproductive Health In The Dominican Republic, Suellen Miller, Argelia Tejada, Patricio Murgueytio Jan 2002

Strategic Assessment Of Reproductive Health In The Dominican Republic, Suellen Miller, Argelia Tejada, Patricio Murgueytio

Reproductive Health

This report documents the findings of a strategic assessment of reproductive health in the Dominican Republic (DR), carried out by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (SESPAS) and the Dominican Social Security Institute with support from the Population Council’s Expanding Contraceptive Choice (ECC) program and its Latin American and Caribbean regional offices, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The USAID/DR has been working closely with SESPAS to understand the major reproductive health problems in the DR. To better assist SESPAS and to plan the country’s Reproductive Health Strategy for 2002–2007, USAID asked the Population Council’s ECC …