Maternal and Child Health Commons^™

South Africa: Youth Centers: A Costly Way To Provide Reproductive Health Services, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

Numerous reproductive health programs sponsor youth centers, which provide recreation and job-skills training as a means of attracting young people to seek reproductive health services or information. However, the productivity, cost, and cost-effectiveness of this approach are not clearly documented. In 2000, FRONTIERS conducted a cost analysis as part of a larger study on the effectiveness of three different youth center models in South Africa. The study focused on 8 of the 12 centers included in the larger study, chosen to be representative of each model. All the selected centers offered clinical services, seven also offered reproductive health information or …

Hiv/Aids Programming And Sexuality Of Young People Perinatally Infected With Hiv, Harriet Birungi

Reproductive Health

These conference proceedings draw on preliminary data from an ongoing project implemented by TASO Uganda and the Population Council that contributes to the promotion of sexual and reproductive health rights of young people aged 10–19 years perinatally infected with HIV. The key argument is that HIV/AIDS programming in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa will need to acknowledge that the population of young people perinatally infected with HIV is growing and to specifically target that population. HIV/AIDS programming will also address the sexual desires of young people perinatally infected with HIV by providing them with information and practical support to understand …

Senegal: Mainstreaming Adolescent Health: Building On Local Support Systems, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

In 1999, FRONTIERS began a three-year collaboration with the World Health Organization, the Center for Research and Training, the Population Training Group, and the Ministries of Health, Education, and Youth to test the feasibility, effectiveness, and cost of school-, clinic-, and community-based interventions to improve the reproductive health of youth aged 10–19. This adolescent reproductive health (ARH) study showed that the multisectoral, multidisciplinary approach increased knowledge about youth reproductive health among young people, the community, schools, and health-care providers. As noted in this brief, one of the guiding principles of the ARH study was to build sustainability through existing institutions, …

Orphans And Vulnerable Youth In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe: An Exploratory Study Of Psychosocial Well-Being And Psychosocial Support, Laelia Gilborn, Louis Apicella, Jonathan Brakarsh, Linda Dube, Kyle Jemison, Mark Kluckow, Tricia Smith, Leslie M. Snider

HIV and AIDS

This Population Council Horizons report presents findings from an exploratory study by the Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative and Catholic Relief Services’ Support to Replicable, Innovative Village/Community-level Efforts Program of vulnerable youth living in and around Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. It describes their demographic characteristics, exposure to stress and trauma, and psychosocial well-being. The report also highlights the relationships between psychosocial well-being outcomes and exposure to stress and trauma, and the differences in psychosocial well-being between males and females, orphaned and nonorphaned youth, and younger and older adolescents. The report concludes with program and research implications.

Exploring Current Practices In Pediatric Arv Rollout And Integration With Early Childhood Programs In South Africa: A Rapid Situation Analysis, Desiree Michaels, Brian Eley, Lewis Ndhlovu, Naomi Rutenberg

HIV and AIDS

This Horizons program report describes the status of pediatric HIV treatment in selected sites in South Africa, identifies gaps in service delivery, and proposes recommendations for strengthening services and expanding children’s access to treatment. The study provides much needed information on critical issues of pediatric HIV care, especially regarding health service and contextual issues surrounding the expansion of access to treatment for HIV-infected children, and key factors that facilitate sustainability of treatment by young children. The aims of the study were to identify successful program strategies in pediatric HIV treatment in South Africa and to determine priority knowledge gaps to …

Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 1: Project Overview, Gul Rashida, Peter C. Miller

Reproductive Health

Maternal mortality in Pakistan is believed to be quite high, at about 350–500 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Reducing maternal mortality is one of the major objectives of the Government of Pakistan. Interventions required to address maternal mortality include safe motherhood, which means a woman’s ability to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project was an operations research project designed to develop and test interventions to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality in a predominantly rural district of Pakistan. The vast majority of maternal deaths are attributed to delays in …

The Impact Of Immunization On The Association Between Poverty And Child Survival: Evidence From Kassena-Nankana District Of Northern Ghana, Ayaga A. Bawah, James F. Phillips, Martin Adjuik, Maya Vaughan-Smith, Bruce Macleod, Fred N. Binka

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Research conducted in Africa has demonstrated consistently that parental poverty and low educational attainment adversely affect child survival. Relative poverty has a pronounced effect on the survival of children, even in a setting where nearly all families are poor. Results from the research presented in the working paper lend strong support to the United Nations’ goal of reducing excess childhood mortality among the poor by directing a particular focus on immunization. Findings in this working paper show that the adverse effects of poverty disappear and that the effects of educational attainment are reduced in survival models that control for immunization …

Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 2: The Interventions, Abdul Wajid, Zakir Hussain Shah, Ashfa Hashmi, Zeba Tasneem, Lubna Shireen

Reproductive Health

The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project, an operations research project designed to develop and test interventions to reduce maternal, perinatal, and neonatal mortality and morbidity in predominantly rural districts of Pakistan, was a three-year project (2003 to 2006) funded by the European Union. The study area was in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan; the control area was in the district of Layyah. The project focused on three areas to accomplish its goals: empowering women to seek appropriate and timely general, maternal, and newborn care; supporting methods that encourage men to play a positive and active role …

Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 3: Changes In Knowledge And Behavior Of Women And Families, Muhammad Shafique Arif, Peter C. Miller, Nayyer Munir, Irfan Masood

Reproductive Health

The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project was conceived as an operations research project designed to test the effectiveness of two different strategies for improving maternal and neonatal health in Pakistan. To evaluate the results of this test, several types of evaluative research were conducted, including qualitative studies of various types, health systems assessments, evaluations of specific components, and household surveys. The household surveys are the subject of this report, which is Report 3 (Changes in knowledge and behavior of women and families) in a series of six. The surveys are two types: a large-scale, before-after household survey …

Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 4: Knowledge And Behaviour Of Service Providers, Zakir Hussain Shah, Saima Pervaiz

Reproductive Health

The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project was an operations research project designed to develop and test interventions to reduce maternal, perinatal, and neonatal mortality and morbidity in predominantly rural districts of Pakistan. The study area was in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan; the control area was in the district of Layyah. The project focused on three areas: empowering women to seek appropriate and timely general, maternal, and newborn care; supporting methods that encourage men to play a positive and active role in decision-making and seeking care for their families in matters relating to maternal and newborn …

Review Of Field Experiences: Integration Of Family Planning And Pmtct Services, Naomi Rutenberg, Carolyn Baek

HIV and AIDS

The Population Council and its research partners have been addressing several key questions about prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) services and how well they function in field settings. The World Health Organization asked the Population Council to provide a review of field experiences regarding the integration of family planning and PMTCT services. This report provides conclusions and recommendations as input into a WHO/UNFPA-sponsored consultative meeting on "The linkages between reproductive health and HIV/AIDS: Family planning and prevention of mother-to-child transmission."

Succession Planning In Uganda: Early Outreach For Aids-Affected Children And Their Families, Horizons Program, Makerere University Department Of Sociology, Plan Uganda

HIV and AIDS

This publication reports on an intervention study that evaluated the effectiveness of a succession planning (SP) program in Uganda. Unlike most other programs for AIDS-affected children, succession planning reaches children and their families while their HIV-positive parents are still living and in a position to plan for their children’s long-term well-being. Research carried out by the Department of Sociology at Makerere University (Kampala) and the Population Council Horizons program suggests that succession planning is a promising approach: despite AIDS-related stigma and cultural resistance to acknowledging illness and death, qualitative research indicates that the approach met with a high degree of …

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.

Empowering Communities To Respond To Hiv/Aids: Ndola Demonstration Project On Maternal And Child Health: Operations Research Final Report, Hope Humana, Linkages, National Food And Nutrition Commission, Ndola District Health Management Team, Horizons Program, Zambia Integrated Health Project

HIV and AIDS

A pre–post intervention study conducted in Zambia by Horizons and local NGOs and governmental organizations demonstrated that HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) and infant feeding counseling (IFC) to mothers attending maternal and child health (MCH) clinics are vital components of any mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) reduction strategy, whether or not antiretrovirals (ARVs) are available. These interventions enable mothers to make informed and healthy decisions. Data from the Ndola Demonstration Project yielded encouraging results from efforts to improve the capacity of mothers to make informed decisions about their own health and the health of their infant. The interventions succeeded in raising …

An Analysis Of The Changing Forces Behind Health Insurance Coverage Of Homebirth, Christina Anne Gasbarro

Dissertations and Theses

The expansion of managed care, which is premised on containing costs while maintaining market share, represents a radical transformation of the U.S. health care system. A central question for medical sociologists is to determine how the changes brought by managed care influence health insurance and health care options. In evaluating the impacts of managed care, obstetrics is a particularly important site of study. Part of this agenda involves gathering baseline data on a specific transformation in obstetrics practice new to the managed care scene: the emergence of health insurance coverage for the option of home birth. The research project detailed …

La Familia En La Mira: Nuevas Perspectivas Sobre Madres, Padres E Hijos, Judith Bruce, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Ann Leonard, Patrice L. Engle, Niev Duffy

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

A pesar de la retórica de los últimos años que lamenta la pérdida de la "familia tradicional," las familias jamás se han podido encajonar en modelo único. "Familia" puede referirse a la gente que se ha vinculado entre sí por matrimonio o parentesco, o a los que pretenden descender de antecesores comunes. Las personas pueden formar y extender familias, ya sea mediante la adoptación o crianza de niños, o definiendo como familiares a gente no emparentada o mediante el establecimiento de sociedades consensuales. Las familias son tan adaptables como diversas, pues se reconfiguran a sí mismas en el transcurso de …

Families In Focus: New Perspectives On Mothers, Fathers, And Children, Judith Bruce, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Ann Leonard, Patrice L. Engle, Niev Duffy

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Despite the rhetoric of recent years lamenting the loss of the "traditional family," families have never fit nicely into any single model. "Family" may refer to people linked by marriage or kinship or to people claiming descent from common ancestors. People may form and extend families by adopting or fostering children, defining nonrelatives as family, or establishing consensual partnerships. Families are as adaptable as they are diverse, reconfiguring themselves over their life cycles and evolving to accommodate the myriad pressures of the external world. This book focuses on families with dependent children specifically—on the roles of mothers, fathers, and children, …

What Is The Health Impact Of Day Care Attendance On Infants And Preschoolers?, Ruth L. Berkelman, Mary Guinan, Phen B. Thacker

School of Public Health Faculty Research

The impact of various child care arrangements on the health of infants and preschool children is not known in any systematic way, yet by 1990 more than 10 million of these children may be receiving their care in day care facilities (1). Concerns over the health of these children and health practices within day care facilities have already led some States to place regulation of day care facilities under the jurisdiction of the department of health (2,3), and others are presently considering such legislation. In addition, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recently published "Health in Day Care," a manual …

Ua68/10/1 Sociological Symposium No. 8 – Childbirth & Infancy Life Cycle Series, Wku Sociology

WKU Administration Documents

Table of Contents:

• Hernandez, Pedro F. Catholic Church & Birth Control in Latin America
• Kovit, Leonard. Labor is Hard Work: Notes on the Social Organization of Childbirth
• McNurlen, Lewis J. Childbirth: A Family Affair
• Miller, Rita Seiden & Ron Miller. Social Values Supporting Pregnancy: Dilemma for Population Control
• Newman, John F. & William L. Graves. Neo-Natal Mortality & Socio-Economic Status
• Newman, Lucille F. The Anthropology of Birth
• Rutzen, S. Robert. Urban Life & Breast Feeding: A Sociological Analysis
• Schulz, Barbara & Richard Schulz. Family Size Preferences & Sex Composition
• Steinhoff, Patricia G., Roy G. Smith & Milton Diamond. Characteristics & …