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Taking Critical Services To The Home: Scaling-Up Home-Based Maternal And Postnatal Care, Including Family Planning, Through Community Midwifery In Kenya, Annie Mwangi, Charlotte E. Warren
Taking Critical Services To The Home: Scaling-Up Home-Based Maternal And Postnatal Care, Including Family Planning, Through Community Midwifery In Kenya, Annie Mwangi, Charlotte E. Warren
Reproductive Health
With support from USAID, the Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS) project supported the scaling up of a community-based model in Kenya that enabled women to give birth safely at home or be referred to a hospital when attended by a self-employed skilled midwife living in the community. To strengthen the sustainability of this approach FRONTIERS engaged a microfinance NGO to develop a training curriculum on basic business skills and financial literacy, and encouraged the community midwives (CMs) to form clusters or informal associations so that they could be trained in business skills. Following these interventions, CMs proved more …
Promoting Healthy Timing And Spacing Of Births In India Through A Community-Based Approach, M.E. Khan, Mary Philip Sebastian, Usha Sharma, Rukma Idnani, Kaushal Kumari, Bharati Maheshwari, Shahid Ashraf
Promoting Healthy Timing And Spacing Of Births In India Through A Community-Based Approach, M.E. Khan, Mary Philip Sebastian, Usha Sharma, Rukma Idnani, Kaushal Kumari, Bharati Maheshwari, Shahid Ashraf
Reproductive Health
The Indian Family Welfare Program, though successful in increasing contraceptive use among couples who have achieved their desired family size, has failed in educating people about the importance and need of using contraceptive methods for spacing births. With its Indian collaborators, the Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS) program undertook a study to test a model to increase use of postpartum contraception among young pregnant women with a parity of 0 or 1. The study showed that the Behavior Change Communication (BCC) model developed to promote Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancy (HTSP) was effective in promoting the lactational …
Manual For Building Capacity Of Trainers And Program Managers In Emergency Contraception, Sharif M.I. Hossain, M.E. Khan, Mary Philip Sebastian, Sohini Roychowdhury
Manual For Building Capacity Of Trainers And Program Managers In Emergency Contraception, Sharif M.I. Hossain, M.E. Khan, Mary Philip Sebastian, Sohini Roychowdhury
Reproductive Health
This manual equips trainers with appropriate knowledge on emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs). Emergency contraception (EC) refers to any method of contraception that can be used by a woman to prevent an unwanted pregnancy within three days of unprotected intercourse or a contraceptive accident such as condom leakage. This manual discusses ECPs and the provision of related services. After a day’s training, trainers have the knowledge and skills necessary to train service providers and workers on ECPs. The manual is divided into four sessions. The first provides an overview of the demographic and reproductive health (RH) situation in South and South …
Family Planning And Comprehensive Abortion Care Handbook For Medical Students And House Officers, Population Council
Family Planning And Comprehensive Abortion Care Handbook For Medical Students And House Officers, Population Council
Reproductive Health
The persistently high maternal mortality and morbidity in Ghana is partly due to high rates of unwanted fertility, unsafe abortion, and relatively low use of modern contraception. In 2006, a consortium of agencies, including the Population Council, initiated the Reducing Maternal Mortality and Morbidity program. The program provides financial and technical resources that will enable the government to significantly expand women's access to modern family planning, contraception, and comprehensive abortion care (CAC) to reduce maternal mortality in Ghana. This handbook on FP and CAC was developed as part of the program. It updates a previous document produced more than ten …
From Pilots To Regional Programs: Expanding Contraceptive Choice And Improving Quality Of Care In Zambia's Copperbelt, Jill Keesbury
From Pilots To Regional Programs: Expanding Contraceptive Choice And Improving Quality Of Care In Zambia's Copperbelt, Jill Keesbury
Reproductive Health
Between 2002 and 2005, the Pilots to Regional Programs (PRP) initiative was implemented in eight rural and periurban districts of Zambia’s Copperbelt region. Implemented by the Zambian Ministry of Health/Central Board of Health in collaboration with the Copperbelt Provincial Health Office and with technical assistance from the Population Council, the PRP initiative had two objectives: to expand contraceptive choice and increase the availability of high-quality reproductive health services, and to field-test a model for scaling up reproductive health interventions. The resulting project was structured around three activities: (1) expanding the method mix, (2) training healthcare workers, and (3) linking the …
Management Of Complications, Pregnancy, Childbirth And The Postpartum Period In The Presence Of Fgm/C, Kenya Ministry Of Health
Management Of Complications, Pregnancy, Childbirth And The Postpartum Period In The Presence Of Fgm/C, Kenya Ministry Of Health
Reproductive Health
This reference manual is intended for health-care providers in Kenya working among communities that have a high prevalence of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and those who encounter women and/or girls who have undergone the practice. It was designed particularly for use by nonspecialist clinicians, including nurses/midwives, clinical officers, district medical officers, postgraduate medical officers, and medical students. It is also a resource for medical and other health-service providers at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, particularly those working in areas with a high prevalence of FGM/C. Since the evidence base for effective clinical practice is constantly evolving, readers are encouraged to …
Preparedness Of Kenyan Health Workers To Deliver Hiv/Aids Services, National Aids And Std Control Programme, Ministry Of Health Kenya, Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, Horizons Program
Preparedness Of Kenyan Health Workers To Deliver Hiv/Aids Services, National Aids And Std Control Programme, Ministry Of Health Kenya, Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, Horizons Program
HIV and AIDS
Most Kenyan adults do not know their HIV status. Patients who present to a health facility can learn their status as part of a diagnostic assessment, enabling health-care personnel to provide a more accurate clinical evaluation and accelerate access to comprehensive care. This is particularly relevant in Kenya because up to 60 percent of all medical ward hospital beds are occupied by HIV-infected patients. Therefore provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling, which includes diagnostic testing and counseling (DTC), provides an opportunity to interrupt the cycle of HIV transmission to patients’ partners and children. In 2004, the Kenya Ministry of Health launched …
Female Genital Mutilation In Kenya: Evidence Links Health Workers To Fgm, Population Council, Gtz
Female Genital Mutilation In Kenya: Evidence Links Health Workers To Fgm, Population Council, Gtz
Reproductive Health
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a traditional practice that affects women and girls in several African countries. It is practiced in a variety of ways, classified by WHO into four broad types all found in Kenya. In some communities it is associated with passage into maturity; in others, it is considered a symbol of ethnic identity, a religious obligation, or a necessary prerequisite for marriage, either through symbolizing attainment of womanhood or as a means of preserving and demonstrating virginity. FGM is considered a harmful traditional practice because it may be associated with a variety of short- and long-term health …
Cross-Cultural Adaptation Of Reproductive Health Services In Bolivia, Fernando Gonzales Salguero, Antonieta Martin, Rosario Perez Mendoza, Ricardo Vernon
Cross-Cultural Adaptation Of Reproductive Health Services In Bolivia, Fernando Gonzales Salguero, Antonieta Martin, Rosario Perez Mendoza, Ricardo Vernon
Reproductive Health
The Bolivian Ministry of Health and Sports and the Integral Health Project, with the technical assistance of the Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program (FRONTIERS), tested several strategies to make health services in Bolivia more culturally appropriate for the country’s indigenous peoples. The goal of the project was to increase women’s access to, use of, and satisfaction with health services in general, and reproductive health services in particular, through: a) enhanced understanding and acceptance of the “other” culture; b) improving communication skills; c) facilitating and promoting use of the Quechua language in clinics; d) systematically screening clients’ health service …
The Effect Of Community Nurses And Health Volunteers On Child Mortality: The Navrongo Community Health And Family Planning Project, Brian Wells Pence, Philomena Nyarko, James F. Phillips, Cornelius Debpuur
The Effect Of Community Nurses And Health Volunteers On Child Mortality: The Navrongo Community Health And Family Planning Project, Brian Wells Pence, Philomena Nyarko, James F. Phillips, Cornelius Debpuur
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
This report presents the child mortality impact of a trial of primary health-care service-delivery strategies in rural Ghana. After adjustment for sociodemographic factors, under-five mortality in areas with village-based community-nurse services fell by 16 percent during the five years of program implementation compared with mortality before the intervention. Reductions were observed in infant (6 percent), early child (20 percent), and late child (41 percent) mortality. Community involvement and training of a local health volunteer were associated with an 11 percent increase in mortality, primarily driven by a 124 percent increase in early child mortality. Areas with both nurses and volunteers …
Bridging The Gap Between Evidence-Based Innovation And National Health-Sector Reform In Ghana, John Koku Awoonor-Williams, Ellie S. Feinglass, Rachel Tobey, Maya Vaughan-Smith, Frank K. Nyonator, Tanya C. Jones, James F. Phillips
Bridging The Gap Between Evidence-Based Innovation And National Health-Sector Reform In Ghana, John Koku Awoonor-Williams, Ellie S. Feinglass, Rachel Tobey, Maya Vaughan-Smith, Frank K. Nyonator, Tanya C. Jones, James F. Phillips
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Although experimental trials often identify optimal strategies for improving community health, transferring operational innovation from well-funded research programs to resource-constrained settings often languishes. Because research initiatives are based in institutions equipped with unique resources and staff capabilities, results are often dismissed by decisionmakers as irrelevant to large-scale operations and national health policy. This article describes an initiative undertaken in Nkwanta District, Ghana, focusing on this problem. The Nkwanta District initiative is a critical link between the experimental study conducted in Navrongo, Ghana, and a national effort to scale up the innovations developed in that study. A 2002 Nkwanta district-level survey …
Linking Reproductive Health To Social Power: Community Health Workers In Belize And Pakistan, Susana Galdos, Lucella Campbell, Patricia Mohammed, Debbie Rogow, Saumya Ramarao, Ali M. Mir, Nicole Haberland
Linking Reproductive Health To Social Power: Community Health Workers In Belize And Pakistan, Susana Galdos, Lucella Campbell, Patricia Mohammed, Debbie Rogow, Saumya Ramarao, Ali M. Mir, Nicole Haberland
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
This issue of Quality/Calidad/Qualité focuses on two traditional family planning programs that undertook projects to help women enlarge their zone of influence in both the private and public spheres. The first case study focuses on the Belize Family Life Association (BFLA), a nongovernmental organization in a small Caribbean country. The second case study recounts the experience of the Pakistani government, which has an enormous, but entrenched, target-oriented family planning program. Both programs began by recognizing that women’s lack of social power is a major obstacle to their being able to protect their own health. Both trained village workers to regard …
Improving Postpartum Care Among Low Parity Mothers In Palestine, Center For Development In Primary Health Care (Cdphc)
Improving Postpartum Care Among Low Parity Mothers In Palestine, Center For Development In Primary Health Care (Cdphc)
Reproductive Health
In an effort to improve the health status of Palestinian women and their children in the West Bank and Gaza, USAID, in collaboration with the Palestinian Ministry of Health and a number of NGOs, designed and funded a 28-month pilot activity, the Pilot Health Project (PHP), that was expected to have a positive impact on the health of women and children. This report describes the results of the intervention designed to measure the effectiveness of a second home visit on low-parity women in 1) improving their knowledge and practices regarding their own health as well as the health of their …
Assessment Of Pilot Health Project Outcome Indicators: West Bank/Gaza, Laila Nawar, Dale Huntington, Ibrahim Kharboush, Nancy Ali, Mahmoud Shaheen
Assessment Of Pilot Health Project Outcome Indicators: West Bank/Gaza, Laila Nawar, Dale Huntington, Ibrahim Kharboush, Nancy Ali, Mahmoud Shaheen
Reproductive Health
The Pilot Health Project (PHP) was designed to address Palestinian women’s most pressing reproductive health needs. This report presents results from a single cross-sectional study that was conducted by the Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute (HDIP) between May and August 2000 in order to determine the baseline measures for the PHP’s key outcome indicators among healthcare providers and clients in the PHP clinics. Based on the findings reflected by the study, a number of recommendations were made that need to be followed up and implemented by the Improved Village and Community Health Services Project. These include the need for …
Creation Of A Unified Management Information System For Three Ngos In The West Bank And Gaza, Health, Development, Information And Policy Institute
Creation Of A Unified Management Information System For Three Ngos In The West Bank And Gaza, Health, Development, Information And Policy Institute
Reproductive Health
The goal of the Pilot Health Project (PHP) has been to improve the health status of Palestinian women and children. To further this goal, the Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute (HDIP) was given the responsibility to develop a management information system (MIS) for the collection, storage, processing, and dissemination of information for PHP clinics. In cooperation with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH) and various healthcare providers and MIS professionals, HDIP worked through a carefully organized and highly participatory process to design and develop the MIS for the PHP. This report reviews that process and presents the features of …
The Ghana Community-Based Health Planning And Services Initiative: Fostering Evidence-Based Organizational Change And Development In A Resource-Constrained Setting, Frank K. Nyonator, John Koku Awoonor-Williams, James F. Phillips, Tanya C. Jones, Robert A. Miller
The Ghana Community-Based Health Planning And Services Initiative: Fostering Evidence-Based Organizational Change And Development In A Resource-Constrained Setting, Frank K. Nyonator, John Koku Awoonor-Williams, James F. Phillips, Tanya C. Jones, Robert A. Miller
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Research projects demonstrating ways to improve health services often fail to have an impact on what national health programs actually do. An approach to evidence-based policy development has been launched in Ghana that bridges the gap between research and program implementation. The Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) initiative employs strategies tested in the successful Navrongo experiment to guide national health reforms that mobilize volunteers, resources, and cultural institutions to support community-based primary health care. Over the 1999 to 2002 period, 100 out of the 110 districts in Ghana adopted a CHPS initiative. This paper reviews features of the initiative …
Evidence-Based Development Of Health And Family Planning Programs In Bangladesh And Ghana, James F. Phillips, Tanya C. Jones, Frank K. Nyonator, Shruti Ravikumar
Evidence-Based Development Of Health And Family Planning Programs In Bangladesh And Ghana, James F. Phillips, Tanya C. Jones, Frank K. Nyonator, Shruti Ravikumar
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
This paper describes two initiatives that have used experimental studies to guide the development of community-based health and family planning programs. In Bangladesh and Ghana, factorial experiments were implemented in stages. An exploratory phase developed a service system for community-based health care; an experimental phase assessed the demographic impact of the system; a replication phase examined the transferability of the experimental program to a non-research setting; and a scaling-up phase facilitated the extension of the new system to the national health care program. All stages were guided by research, with questions, mechanisms, and outcomes shifting as the process developed. Large-scale …
Institutional Support For A Program Of Activities Within The Pilot Health Project In The West Bank And Gaza, Health, Development, Information And Policy Institute
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 …
Upgrading The Capacity And Skills Of Service Providers Of The West Bank/Gaza Pilot Health Project, Nancy Ali, Laila Nawar, Dale Huntington, Tawhida Khalil
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 …
Community-Based Aids Prevention And Care In Africa: Results Of Four Action-Research Interventions In East And Southern Africa, Ann Leonard, Esther Muia
Community-Based Aids Prevention And Care In Africa: Results Of Four Action-Research Interventions In East And Southern Africa, Ann Leonard, Esther Muia
HIV and AIDS
The Community Counseling Aides (CCA) project operating with support from the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) in Uganda, is a government initiative being carried out in collaboration with local communities. As the Ministry of Health seeks to develop local capacity to support and operate these efforts at the community level, it has identified the need to improve the skills of local project staff so that they may begin to assume the responsibility for monitoring and evaluating their own program performance. This is part of an overall strategy on the part of the Ugandan Government to decentralize control and allocation of …
Development Of Approaches To Community Based Family Planning Outreach In Egypt: Assessment Of Raidats Rifiats Program, Population Council
Development Of Approaches To Community Based Family Planning Outreach In Egypt: Assessment Of Raidats Rifiats Program, Population Council
Reproductive Health
Egypt’s family planning program officially began in 1965. Impressive gains in contraceptive use have been made since 1980, and the contraceptive prevalence rate increased from 24 percent in 1980 to 47 percent in 1992. Egypt’s National Population Policy addresses the nation’s population growth through multiple interventions designed to reduce fertility, including family planning (FP) services. FP accessibility is promoted through a network of public and NG0 FP clinics. A number of years ago, the Egyptian Family Planning Program began using the Raidats Rifiats program to extend services into rural communities. There is concern regarding the program’s ability to recruit women …