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Improving Health Care Providers' Knowledge, Attitudes, And Practices In Reproductive Health In Rural Romania, Elaine Claire Himelfarb Jan 2004

Improving Health Care Providers' Knowledge, Attitudes, And Practices In Reproductive Health In Rural Romania, Elaine Claire Himelfarb

Reproductive Health

To support new health reform initiatives undertaken by the Romanian Ministry of Health and Family, and in support of the USAID Romania strategy for improving women’s reproductive health, Project Concern International/Romania (PCI/R) was awarded a two-year grant to implement a reproductive healthcare project, Healthy Parents-Healthy Children (HP-HC). This project trained family physicians and nurses in rural dispensaries in techniques to improve pre- and postnatal care, including training on modern contraception, cervical and breast cancer screening, treating menopause and its symptoms, and the encouragement of healthy lifestyles. The goal of this OR project was to test the efficacy of interventions to …


Willingness To Pay Surveys For Setting Prices For Reproductive Health Products And Services: A User's Manual, Karen G. Fleischman Foreit, James R. Foreit Jan 2004

Willingness To Pay Surveys For Setting Prices For Reproductive Health Products And Services: A User's Manual, Karen G. Fleischman Foreit, James R. Foreit

Reproductive Health

Social programs need to balance volume (coverage) and revenue (sustainability). The law of demand says that we cannot get both coverage and sustainability at the same time—as prices go up, demand will come down. Client loss with increasing prices is inevitable, except in those cases where starting prices are so low or demand is so high that demand is insensitive to price changes. Willingness to pay surveys allow program managers to simulate price-related changes in demand without actually changing prices, giving them a way to make pricing decisions based on empirical information. In making pricing decisions, managers of social programs …


Integration Of Reproductive Health Services For Men In Health And Family Welfare Centers In Bangladesh, Ubaidur Rob, Sharif M.I. Hossain, M.E. Khan, Ahmed Al-Sabir, Mohammed Ahsanul Alam Jan 2004

Integration Of Reproductive Health Services For Men In Health And Family Welfare Centers In Bangladesh, Ubaidur Rob, Sharif M.I. Hossain, M.E. Khan, Ahmed Al-Sabir, Mohammed Ahsanul Alam

Reproductive Health

Since the mid-1970s, the Bangladesh national family planning program primarily focused on motivating women to use modern contraceptive methods and encouraging them to seek services from clinics. In addition, female field workers were recruited to deliver contraceptive methods at homes. The program design facilitated women’s access to information and medical care through clinics and home visits. In the process, however, the medical needs of males were marginalized. Men generally seek services from pharmacies, private practitioners, and district hospitals, and often ignore preventive steps and postpone seeking medical care for chronic health conditions. In cases of acute illness, they often resort …


Promoting Young People's Sexual And Reproductive Health: Stigma, Discrimination And Human Rights, Kate Wood, Peter Aggleton Jan 2004

Promoting Young People's Sexual And Reproductive Health: Stigma, Discrimination And Human Rights, Kate Wood, Peter Aggleton

Reproductive Health

Sponsored jointly by the DFID-supported Safe Passages to Adulthood program, John Snow International, YouthNet/Family Health International, and the Population Council, the international knowledge synthesis meeting on Promoting Young People’s Sexual and Reproductive Health: Stigma, Discrimination and Human Rights took place in Brighton, England, June 5–7, 2003. Participants from a wide variety of countries were invited to describe their experiences of working to challenge stigma and discrimination and promote human rights as they relate to young people’s sexual and reproductive health. The meeting brought together program leaders from a variety of countries to discuss stigma, discrimination, and human rights in relation …


Formal And Informal Abortion Services In Rajasthan, India: Results Of A Situation Analysis, Sandhya Barge, Hillary J. Bracken, Batya Elul, Nayan Kumar, Wajahat U. Khan, Shalini Verma, Carol Camlin Jan 2004

Formal And Informal Abortion Services In Rajasthan, India: Results Of A Situation Analysis, Sandhya Barge, Hillary J. Bracken, Batya Elul, Nayan Kumar, Wajahat U. Khan, Shalini Verma, Carol Camlin

Reproductive Health

As part of a Population Council program of research on unwanted pregnancy and induced abortion in Rajasthan, the Population Council and the Centre for Operations Research and Training conducted a situation analysis of abortion services in both the formal and informal sectors in six districts. This report offers insights into the availability and organization of abortion services in the sampled areas in Rajasthan. The report also documents a vast array of informal providers who offer services for delayed menstruation or unwanted pregnancy. Informal providers appear particularly accessible to women because they are far more prevalent in rural areas than formal …


Determining An Effective And Replicable Communication-Based Mechanisms For Improving Young Couples' Access To And Use Of Reproductive Health Information And Services In Nepal—An Operations Research Study, Center For Research On Environment Health And Population Activities (Crehpa) Jan 2004

Determining An Effective And Replicable Communication-Based Mechanisms For Improving Young Couples' Access To And Use Of Reproductive Health Information And Services In Nepal—An Operations Research Study, Center For Research On Environment Health And Population Activities (Crehpa)

Reproductive Health

This operations research study sought to determine an effective communication-based model for increasing the involvement of community-based groups in improving access to and use of reproductive health services and information by young married couples. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with two experimental and two nonequivalent control groups in the Udaypur district of Nepal. As stated in this report, this OR study clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of communication-based models such as the formation and reactivation of Youth Communication Action Groups and Mother’s groups, basic and refresher training, group interaction and mobilization, and social events in creating an enabling environment for …


Understanding Induced Abortion: Findings From A Programme Of Research In Rajasthan, India, Population Council Jan 2004

Understanding Induced Abortion: Findings From A Programme Of Research In Rajasthan, India, Population Council

Reproductive Health

In India, abortion has been legal for over 30 years, following the enactment of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in 1971. While the MTP Act permits abortion for a broad range of social and medical reasons, it also includes provisions regarding delivery of services that have proved to constrain access to safe and legal abortion for the great majority of women in India. Due in part to these constraints, up to 90 percent of the six million induced abortions estimated to occur annually in India are illegal—provided in uncertified settings and/or by uncertified providers. Many are unsafe and …


Improving Adolescent Reproductive Health In Bangladesh, Ismat Bhuiya, Ubaidur Rob, Asiful Haider Chowdhury, Laila Rahman, Nazmul Haque, Susan E. Adamchak, Rick Homan, M.E. Khan Jan 2004

Improving Adolescent Reproductive Health In Bangladesh, Ismat Bhuiya, Ubaidur Rob, Asiful Haider Chowdhury, Laila Rahman, Nazmul Haque, Susan E. Adamchak, Rick Homan, M.E. Khan

Reproductive Health

An operations research project was launched in northwestern Bangladesh with the objective of preventing adverse outcomes and promoting healthy lifestyles among adolescents by providing reproductive health education and services. The Population Council, in collaboration with the Urban Family Health Partnership and its three nongovernmental service delivery partners, worked in three urban areas of the country. On the basis of its findings, the study first recommends implementation of a combination of reproductive health interventions at the school, community, and health-facility levels, accompanied by community sensitization, to effectively respond to adolescent reproductive health needs. Second, information providers such as teachers and facilitators …


Community Involvement In Reproductive Health: Findings From Research In Karnataka, India, Foundation For Research In Health Systems Jan 2004

Community Involvement In Reproductive Health: Findings From Research In Karnataka, India, Foundation For Research In Health Systems

Reproductive Health

In 1996, the government of India decided to provide a package of reproductive and child health services through the existing family welfare program, adopting a community needs assessment approach (CNAA). To implement this approach, the government abolished its practice of setting contraceptive targets centrally and introduced a decentralized planning strategy whereby health workers assessed the reproductive health needs of women in their respective areas and prepared local plans to meet those needs. They also involved community leaders to promote community participation in the reproductive and child health program. Since 1998, several evaluation studies have assessed the impact of CNAA on …


A Multi-Sectoral Approach To Providing Reproductive Health Information And Services To Young People In Western Kenya: The Kenya Adolescent Reproductive Health Project, Ian Askew, Jane Chege, Carolyne Njue, Samson Radeny Jan 2004

A Multi-Sectoral Approach To Providing Reproductive Health Information And Services To Young People In Western Kenya: The Kenya Adolescent Reproductive Health Project, Ian Askew, Jane Chege, Carolyne Njue, Samson Radeny

Reproductive Health

Informing adolescents about appropriate and acceptable behaviors, and ways to protect themselves against unwanted and unprotected sex, has proved problematic in Kenya. Education programs for in- and out-of-school adolescents are lacking, there is controversy about providing services to sexually active adolescents, and a pervasive concern that sexuality education and contraceptive services leads to promiscuity. Unbiased and accurate information and services are needed if adolescents are to delay becoming sexually active, to resist pressures to engage in nonconsensual sex, and to protect themselves against unwanted pregnancies and infections if they do have sex. Moreover, strategies for providing such information and services …


Testing The Effectiveness Of Integrating Community-Based Approaches For Encouraging Abandonment Of Female Genital Cutting Into Care's Reproductive Health Programs In Ethiopia And Kenya, Jane Chege, Ian Askew, Susan Igras, Jacinta Muteshi-Strachan Jan 2004

Testing The Effectiveness Of Integrating Community-Based Approaches For Encouraging Abandonment Of Female Genital Cutting Into Care's Reproductive Health Programs In Ethiopia And Kenya, Jane Chege, Ian Askew, Susan Igras, Jacinta Muteshi-Strachan

Reproductive Health

CARE International, with technical support from the Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program completed a study in Ethiopia and Kenya designed to test the effectiveness of education activities using behavior change communication (BCC) approaches and advocacy activities by religious and other key leaders to abandon female genital cutting (FGC). In Ethiopia, the increased knowledge of harmful FGC effects and human rights issues translated to a positive attitude in support of FGC abandonment and an intention not to cut their daughters in the future. In Kenya, the analysis indicated mixed results in attitude and intended behavior change.


Making Motherhood Safer In Egypt, Karima Khalil, Farzaneh Roudi-Fahimi Jan 2004

Making Motherhood Safer In Egypt, Karima Khalil, Farzaneh Roudi-Fahimi

Reproductive Health

Fewer Egyptian women die of maternal causes today than they did 10 or 15 years ago, due in large part to the national safe motherhood program. Nevertheless, maternal mortality is still relatively high, and the country faces challenges in reducing it further. Many of these challenges involve addressing the delays women face when they need essential obstetric care. In Egypt and other countries, most maternal deaths could be avoided if women had timely access to high-quality emergency obstetric services. Although Egypt’s level of maternal mortality is relatively high by international standards, recent evidence suggests that a woman’s lifetime risk of …


Testing A Community-Based Distribution Approach To Reproductive Health Service Delivery In Senegal (A Study Of Community Agents In Kébémer), Diouratie Sanogo, Mady Cisse, Adama Ndoye, Laty G. Ndoye, Ousmane Faye, Balla Mbacke Mboup Jan 2004

Testing A Community-Based Distribution Approach To Reproductive Health Service Delivery In Senegal (A Study Of Community Agents In Kébémer), Diouratie Sanogo, Mady Cisse, Adama Ndoye, Laty G. Ndoye, Ousmane Faye, Balla Mbacke Mboup

Reproductive Health

The Division of Reproductive Health (DSR) of the Senegal Ministry of Health and Social Action, in partnership with the Population Council’s FRONTIERS in Reproductive Health program and Management Sciences for Health (MSH), conducted a study to test and compare three ways of providing reproductive health services to rural communities in the Kébémer district of Senegal in terms of their effectiveness, cost, and cost-effectiveness. FRONTIERS and MSH collaborated with the DSR to design the interventions, MSH supported the DSR in implementing the interventions, and FRONTIERS undertook the evaluation. This study, funded by USAID, responded to the recommendations of a 1999 workshop, …


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 Jan 2004

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 …


New Findings From Intervention Research: Youth Reproductive Health And Hiv Prevention, Family Health International Jan 2004

New Findings From Intervention Research: Youth Reproductive Health And Hiv Prevention, Family Health International

Reproductive Health

On September 9, 2003, FRONTIERS/Population Council, Horizons/Population Council, and YouthNet/Family Health International co-sponsored a technical meeting in Washington, DC, “New Findings from Intervention Research: Youth Reproductive Health and HIV Prevention.” Approximately 150 HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, and youth development experts from a diversity of organizations and backgrounds participated. The purpose of the meeting was to disseminate newly available research findings on how to change youth reproductive health/HIV knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in developing countries. The meeting also sought to stimulate discussion on lessons learned, best practices, and recommendations for future youth programs and research. This meeting report summarizes the presentations and …


Opiniones Y Respuestas: Resultados De Una Encuesta De Opinión A Médicos Mexicanos Sobre El Aborto, Diana K. Lara, Lisa Goldman, Michelle Firestone Jan 2004

Opiniones Y Respuestas: Resultados De Una Encuesta De Opinión A Médicos Mexicanos Sobre El Aborto, Diana K. Lara, Lisa Goldman, Michelle Firestone

Reproductive Health

En México es incuestionable el papel crucial que los médicos juegan en la oferta de servicios seguros de aborto legal y en la atención a las mujeres con abortos en evolución, espontáneos o inducidos, y abortos complicados. Sin embargo, ningún estudio dirigido a personal de salud, y específicamente a médicos, se había realizado con una muestra representativa a nivel nacional. Una brecha de ese tipo en la literatura científica justificó la realización, entre julio y agosto de 2002, de una encuesta nacional en la cual se recopiló información sobre los conocimientos y las opiniones de médicos gíneco-obstetras, médicos familiares y …


Unwanted Pregnancy And Induced Abortion In Rajasthan, India: A Qualitative Exploration, Batya Elul, Hillary J. Bracken, Shalini Verma, Rajani Ved, Rajesh Singhi, Karin Lockwood Jan 2004

Unwanted Pregnancy And Induced Abortion In Rajasthan, India: A Qualitative Exploration, Batya Elul, Hillary J. Bracken, Shalini Verma, Rajani Ved, Rajesh Singhi, Karin Lockwood

Reproductive Health

As part of a Population Council program of research on unwanted pregnancy and induced abortion in Rajasthan, the Council and Ibtada conducted a qualitative exploration of attitudes and behaviors regarding unwanted pregnancy and induced abortion in Alwar district. The study was intended to lay the groundwork for two quantitative studies on abortion undertaken subsequently in six districts of Rajasthan. The qualitative exploration shows that women, particularly those who are poor, turn to largely untrained community-level providers for abortion services. Additionally, women use home remedies in an often unsuccessful attempt to terminate unwanted pregnancies. Women with greater financial means obtain surgical …


Unwanted Pregnancy And Induced Abortion: Data From Men And Women In Rajasthan, India, Batya Elul, Sandhya Barge, Shalini Verma, Nayan Kumar, Hillary J. Bracken, Hemlata Sadhwani Jan 2004

Unwanted Pregnancy And Induced Abortion: Data From Men And Women In Rajasthan, India, Batya Elul, Sandhya Barge, Shalini Verma, Nayan Kumar, Hillary J. Bracken, Hemlata Sadhwani

Reproductive Health

This report is the result of a collaborative project between the Population Council and the Centre for Operations Research and Training, conducted as part of a Council program of research on unwanted pregnancy and induced abortion in Rajasthan, India. Designed as a complement to service-delivery activities being undertaken in Rajasthan by the Indian nongovernmental reproductive health service provider Parivar Seva Sanstha, the program of research aimed to provide a multifaceted picture of the on-the-ground realities related to unwanted pregnancy and abortion in six districts of Rajasthan. Detailed pregnancy histories yielded data on levels of unwanted pregnancy and induced abortion in …