Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 20 of 20
Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Prevalence Of Unintended Pregnancy And Needs For Family Planning Among Married Adolescent Girls Living In Urban Slums Of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Fauzia Akhter Huda, Sabiha Chowdhuri, Bidhan Krishna Sarker, Noushin Islam, Anisuddin Ahmed
Prevalence Of Unintended Pregnancy And Needs For Family Planning Among Married Adolescent Girls Living In Urban Slums Of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Fauzia Akhter Huda, Sabiha Chowdhuri, Bidhan Krishna Sarker, Noushin Islam, Anisuddin Ahmed
Reproductive Health
This STEP UP research report examined the prevalence and basic underlying factors of unintended pregnancy among married adolescent girls in five urban slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The specific objectives of the study were to: 1) document the prevalence of unintended pregnancy among married adolescent girls aged 15–19 years living in urban slums of Dhaka; 2) identify the factors associated with or which contribute to unintended pregnancy among urban married adolescent girls; 3) estimate the proportion of married adolescent girls who have an unmet need for family planning (FP) services; and 4) explore the barriers to access and effective use of …
Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Gender And Rights, Population Council
Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Gender And Rights, Population Council
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Data presented in this Bangladeshi Association for Life Skills, Income, and Knowledge for Adolescents (BALIKA) fact sheet, “Highlight on Gender and Rights,” reveal that attitudes about gender equitability differ across domains and by the background characteristics of respondents in terms of education, marital status, and age. Those who are married, less educated, and young are less aware of gender equality and rights including domestic violence, autonomy, and confidence. The data suggest specific areas where interventions may produce positive outcomes. The BALIKA survey included a number of questions to measure the values held about gender equality in terms of marriage expectations, …
Adolescent Girls Empowerment Programme: Research And Evaluation Baseline Technical Report, Paul C. Hewett, Karen Austrian, Erica Soler-Hampejsek, Jere R. Behrman, Christine A. Kelly, Dela Kusi-Appouh, Fiammetta Bozzani, Barbara Mensch, Minyoi Maimbolwa
Adolescent Girls Empowerment Programme: Research And Evaluation Baseline Technical Report, Paul C. Hewett, Karen Austrian, Erica Soler-Hampejsek, Jere R. Behrman, Christine A. Kelly, Dela Kusi-Appouh, Fiammetta Bozzani, Barbara Mensch, Minyoi Maimbolwa
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
The theory of change behind the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (AGEP) posits that adolescent girls are empowered by acquiring social, health, and economic assets. Girls can draw on these assets to reduce vulnerabilities and expand opportunities, thereby increasing their likelihood of completing school, delaying sexual debut, and reducing the risk of early marriage, unintended pregnancy, acquisition of HIV, and so on. AGEP serves vulnerable adolescent girls in Zambia aged 10–19 in two age cohorts: 10–14-year-olds and 15–19-year-olds. AGEP operates in ten “master sites,” five urban and five rural, in four provinces of Zambia. The three core components of AGEP in …
Trafficking Of Minor Girls For Commercial Sexual Exploitation In India: A Synthesis Of Available Evidence, K.G. Santhya, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, Sharmistha Basu
Trafficking Of Minor Girls For Commercial Sexual Exploitation In India: A Synthesis Of Available Evidence, K.G. Santhya, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, Sharmistha Basu
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Understanding factors that place minor girls at risk of being trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and the consequences of trafficking for their health and life-course trajectories is limited by the scattered evidence available on these issues. The role of various stakeholders in trafficking, namely, families, traffickers, and brothel owners, and the role of law enforcement agencies in preventing it are also poorly understood. Further, adequate data consolidating the responses of government and nongovernmental organizations to issues related to CSE of minor girls are lacking. There is a need, therefore, to consolidate this scattered body of evidence and to identify …
Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Girls' Social Lives, Population Council
Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Girls' Social Lives, Population Council
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
In Bangladesh, in addition to schooling, work opportunities, and family-building patterns, social networks, mobility, and civic participation are important dimensions of young people’s lives. Previous studies have suggested ways in which the seclusion of Bangladeshi women by purdah exerts a strong influence on girls’ lives. This Bangladeshi Association for Life Skills, Income, and Knowledge for Adolescents (BALIKA) fact sheet, “Highlight on Girls’ Social Lives,” concludes that school enrollment plays a positive role by affording girls greater mobility and access to clubs and institutions, and by promoting social interactions. Adolescent girls in rural Bangladesh are usually socially isolated, and have restricted …
Supporting Girls In Their Transition To Secondary Education: An Exploratory Study Of The Family, School And Community Environments Of Adolescent Girls In Gujarat, K.G. Santhya, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, A.J. Francis Zavier, Rajib Acharya, Neeta Shah
Supporting Girls In Their Transition To Secondary Education: An Exploratory Study Of The Family, School And Community Environments Of Adolescent Girls In Gujarat, K.G. Santhya, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, A.J. Francis Zavier, Rajib Acharya, Neeta Shah
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Despite government commitment to universal secondary education in India, few adolescents transition to and successfully complete secondary education. In India, limited efforts have been directed at parents to promote positive attitudes toward education and school completion. Recognizing the need for identifying effective intervention strategies to engage parents and communities to promote secondary education for girls, the Population Council and partners are pilot-testing an intervention to support adolescent girls’ transition to and retention in secondary education. Located in the state of Gujarat, the intervention focuses on girls in the last year of primary school and first year of secondary school and …
From Evidence To Action: Results From The 2013 Baseline Survey For The Balika Project, Sajeda Amin, Sigma Ainul, Farhana Akter, Mohammad Masudul Alam, Md. Irfan Hossain, Johana Ahmed, Ubaidur Rob
From Evidence To Action: Results From The 2013 Baseline Survey For The Balika Project, Sajeda Amin, Sigma Ainul, Farhana Akter, Mohammad Masudul Alam, Md. Irfan Hossain, Johana Ahmed, Ubaidur Rob
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
The Population Council and partners are working on a program to generate evidence on what works to prevent child marriage in Bangladesh. This report is an integral part of the program and presents evidence from a baseline study conducted in three districts in southern Bangladesh. The study documents data from a survey conducted in 96 villages on education, livelihoods, sexual and reproductive health, and social life. The program, which offers skills development for girls who are at highest risk and live in impoverished areas of the country with the highest child marriage prevalence, explores the potential benefits of investing in …
Adolescents In Rajasthan 2012: Changing Situation And Needs, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, Rajib Acharya
Adolescents In Rajasthan 2012: Changing Situation And Needs, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, Rajib Acharya
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Several national policies and programs formulated since 2000 have underscored India’s commitment to addressing the multiple needs of youth. The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) program launched in 2014 helped provide the framework for services for young people’s health in general, and their sexual and reproductive health, mental health, and prevention and care of noncommunicable diseases, in particular. The earlier Youth in India: Situation and Needs 2006–2007 study was the first-ever subnationally representative study conducted to identify key transitions experienced by married and unmarried youth in India. Data have now become available from a repeated survey conducted in 2012 in …
Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Marriage, Population Council
Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Marriage, Population Council
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Early marriage deprives girls of the opportunity for personal development and their rights to full reproductive health and well-being, education, and participation in civil life. Bangladesh stands out in international comparisons as having an extraordinarily early age at marriage for girls and a considerable average age difference in marriage between girls and their husbands. This Bangladeshi Association for Life Skills, Income, and Knowledge for Adolescents (BALIKA) fact sheet, “Highlight on Marriage,” concludes: In Bangladesh, marriage remains early by most standards and the majority of girls still get married before reaching the legal age of 18 years. By age 19, more …
Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Schooling, Population Council
Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Schooling, Population Council
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
School attendance is universal in the Bangladeshi Association for Life Skills, Income, and Knowledge for Adolescents (BALIKA) study area, but the persistence of early and child marriage leads to high dropout rates among girls. Compulsory primary education is free in Bangladesh, and policies to improve access to schooling are generally credited with universal schooling at young ages. Only 1 percent of 12–15-year-olds have never attended school compared to 9 percent among 15–18-year-olds in the study area. The recent expansion of educational opportunity presents new challenges. Bangladesh is unusual by global comparison in the high proportion of girls who are married …
Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Married Adolescents, Population Council
Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Married Adolescents, Population Council
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
In Bangladesh, marriage marks the beginning of sanctioned sexual activity as well as increased social isolation. When girls are not in school, they miss the opportunity to interact with same-age peers and form social networks. They may be less likely to gain skills and knowledge and have less earning power. Married adolescents have poorer sexual and reproductive health knowledge and more unequal gender attitudes. Young girls who are married to much-older men are in a disadvantaged position to negotiate in their marital home. This can have implications for realizing sexual and reproductive choice and health rights. This Bangladeshi Association for …
Evaluation Of Health And Education Impacts Of A Girls’ Safe Spaces Program In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Annabel Erulkar, Girmay Medhin
Evaluation Of Health And Education Impacts Of A Girls’ Safe Spaces Program In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Annabel Erulkar, Girmay Medhin
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Approximately one in eight of the world’s population is a girl or young woman aged 10–24 and attention is increasingly focusing on the central role of adolescent girls in achieving global health and development goals. Areas of focus by the development field include girls’ education, health, child marriage, and the experience of violence. This study analyzes the educational and health impacts of a program for slum-dwelling girls, including child domestic workers and rural-urban migrants. Established in 2006, Biruh Tesfa (Bright Future) aimed to increase social networks and support for the most marginalized girls in the poorest urban areas of Ethiopia. …
Building The Assets To Thrive: Addressing The Hiv-Related Vulnerabilities Of Adolescent Girls In Ethiopia—Policy Brief, Population Council
Building The Assets To Thrive: Addressing The Hiv-Related Vulnerabilities Of Adolescent Girls In Ethiopia—Policy Brief, Population Council
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
In Eastern and Southern Africa, HIV is the leading cause of death among girls aged 15–19. Despite decades of investment and substantial progress against HIV, adolescent girls remain at disproportionate risk of infection. Few programs have sought to take a “whole girl” approach to addressing the multiple vulnerabilities to HIV infection experienced by the most marginalized adolescent girls in the poorest communities in Africa. “Building the Assets to Thrive: Addressing the HIV-related Vulnerabilities of Adolescent Girls in Ethiopia” is a comprehensive review of three programs implemented and evaluated by the Population Council and the Ethiopian government beginning in 2007: Biruh …
Enhancing Livelihood Opportunities For Young Women In Rural Upper Egypt: The Neqdar Nesharek Program, Nada Ramadan, Nahla G. Abdel-Tawab, Khaled El Sayed, Rania Roushdy
Enhancing Livelihood Opportunities For Young Women In Rural Upper Egypt: The Neqdar Nesharek Program, Nada Ramadan, Nahla G. Abdel-Tawab, Khaled El Sayed, Rania Roushdy
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
During the 30+ years that the Population Council has been operating in Egypt, Council researchers have examined many facets of young people’s lives, including conducting nationally representative surveys in 1997, 2009, and 2014. This research has documented the marginalization of Egyptian women in the public sphere, including the labor market, as well as gender inequities in mobility and access to schooling. Neqdar Nesharek is a social and economic empowerment program that evolved in response to this research and from the Council’s experience over the last few years working closely with out-of-school girls in Upper Egypt via the Ishraq program. The …
Promoting Parent-Child Interaction And Communication For Healthy Development Of Adolescents: Lessons From A Pilot Project In Rural Bihar, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, A.J. Francis Zavier, K.G. Santhya, Santosh Kumar Singh, Rajib Acharya, Aparajita Gogoi, Vinita Nathani
Promoting Parent-Child Interaction And Communication For Healthy Development Of Adolescents: Lessons From A Pilot Project In Rural Bihar, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, A.J. Francis Zavier, K.G. Santhya, Santosh Kumar Singh, Rajib Acharya, Aparajita Gogoi, Vinita Nathani
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
There is a recognition in India’s policies and programs of the need to actively engage parents in enabling their adolescent children to make safe and healthy transitions to adulthood. The Population Council, in partnership with CEDPA India, initiated an intervention project for parents of adolescents aimed at developing and testing a program to foster closer relationships between parents and their adolescent children. The project was formulated on the hypothesis that a program intended to build parenting skills would enable parents to develop closer relationships with their adolescent children and communicate more effectively with them on various concerns, particularly those related …
Provision Of Adolescent Reproductive And Sexual Health Services In India: Provider Perspectives, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, K.G. Santhya, Santosh Kumar Singh, Shilpi Rampal, Komal Saxena
Provision Of Adolescent Reproductive And Sexual Health Services In India: Provider Perspectives, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, K.G. Santhya, Santosh Kumar Singh, Shilpi Rampal, Komal Saxena
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
The recently launched Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) program seeks to enable all adolescents and youth to realize their full potential by making informed decisions concerning their health and well-being and by accessing the services and support they need to implement their decisions. To realize this vision, the RKSK framework acknowledges the strengthening of Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics (AFHCs) and providing correct knowledge and information through counseling services as two of its seven critical components. As the government makes an effort to roll out the RKSK program at scale across the country, reviewing the experiences of the AFHCs established under …
Education Sector Response To Early And Unintended Pregnancy (Eup): A Review Of Country Experiences In East And Southern Africa, Harriet Birungi, Chi-Chi Undie, Francis Onyango
Education Sector Response To Early And Unintended Pregnancy (Eup): A Review Of Country Experiences In East And Southern Africa, Harriet Birungi, Chi-Chi Undie, Francis Onyango
Reproductive Health
No abstract provided.
Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Livelihoods, Population Council
Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Livelihoods, Population Council
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
There are few income-earning opportunities for adolescent girls in the Bangladeshi Association for Life Skills, Income, and Knowledge for Adolescents (BALIKA) study area, and livelihoods opportunities vary considerably by economic status and education. The ability to acquire livelihood-relevant skills, networks, and work experience during adolescence can be an important predictor of productive capacity later in life. However, across the study districts, the proportion of adolescent girls who are working is low. Most girls work as tutors or are engaged in the agricultural and poultry sector. Better-educated girls are more likely to be engaged in paid work. This BALIKA “Highlight on …
Formative Research To Develop An Intervention For Addressing Mental Health/Psychosocial Issues And Hiv Vulnerability Of Marginalized Adolescents In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Nrupa Jani, Katie D. Schenk
Formative Research To Develop An Intervention For Addressing Mental Health/Psychosocial Issues And Hiv Vulnerability Of Marginalized Adolescents In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Nrupa Jani, Katie D. Schenk
HIV and AIDS
Children and adolescents who migrate from rural regions to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia often flee their households to escape from abusive families, forced marriages, poverty, lack of economic opportunity and education, and other social problems. They are often met with equally harsh, if not worse, challenges when they arrive in Addis Ababa, including treacherous living situations, abusive working conditions with meager compensation, limited opportunities for education and socialization, and absence of family support. This study conducted a qualitative needs assessment to determine type and extent of mental health and psychological needs among adolescent migrants living in Addis Ababa in order to …
Retention Of Adolescents Living With Hiv In Care, Treatment, And Support Programs In Uganda, Livingstone Ssali, Sam Kalibala, Josephine Birungi, Aggrey Egessa, Jonathan Wangisi, Joanne Lyavala Okullu, Celestin Bakanda, Stephen Okoboi, Francis Obare
Retention Of Adolescents Living With Hiv In Care, Treatment, And Support Programs In Uganda, Livingstone Ssali, Sam Kalibala, Josephine Birungi, Aggrey Egessa, Jonathan Wangisi, Joanne Lyavala Okullu, Celestin Bakanda, Stephen Okoboi, Francis Obare
HIV and AIDS
Understanding the extent to which adolescents aged 10–19 years who are living with HIV are retained in HIV care, treatment, and support is important for informing the design of effective services for this population to better meet their needs across three main areas of HIV and AIDS programming: treatment; care and support; and prevention. Retention in HIV programs is, in turn, important for positive clinical outcomes including viral suppression and survival. In 2013–2014, The AIDS Support Organization and the Population Council undertook a study to generate evidence on factors associated with retention of adolescents in HIV and AIDS programs in …