Women's Health Commons^™

Increasing Women's Use Of The Iud For Family Planning, Ricardo Vernon

Reproductive Health

The intrauterine device (IUD) is highly effective, easy to use, and has few side effects. The device costs the provider about US$2 and offers a duration of protection that makes it the most cost-effective of the temporary methods if used for two years or more. The IUD's many advantages also make it a good alternative for reducing unmet need for long-term contraception around the world. Between 5 and 17 percent of all married women of reproductive age in 53 less developed countries do not want to have more children but are not using a contraceptive method. Because the IUD can …

Assessing Integration Methodology (Aim): A Handbook For Measuring And Assessing The Integration Of Family Planning And Other Reproductive Health Services, M. Estela Rivero-Fuentes, Saumya Ramarao, Ricardo Estrada, Charlotte E. Warren, Saiqa Mullick, Ian Askew, Harriet Birungi, John Townsend, Susana Medina

Reproductive Health

Several international statements over the past two decades have endorsed the integration of family planning (FP) services with other reproductive health (RH) services as a means of expanding availability and access for potential users. Many rationales underlie the move toward integrating FP with other services. First is that it provides benefits to the client and the program. Moreover, there is the expectation that the costs to the health system of configuring two or more services will cost less than providing them independently. However, there is still little empirical evidence available about integration of services. Over time, a number of methodologies …

Financial Capacity Building For Ngo Sustainability, John H. Bratt, Rick Homan, Barbara Janowitz, James R. Foreit

Reproductive Health

While demand for family planning and reproductive health services is increasing worldwide, a number of recent trends threaten the financial sustainability of donor-supported NGOs that provide these services. First, the U.S. Agency for International Development has seen its funding for population assistance decline since 1995. A second reason is the growth of government-funded programs that provide these services for low-income clients, which reduced the need for NGOs to focus programs entirely on the poor. Health-sector reform has created opportunities for NGOs via public–private partnerships in some countries, but sustained public-sector support is unlikely given limited economic growth in domestic economies …

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 …

Dissocier Les Mutilations Génitales Féminines De L'Islam, Ibrahim Lethome Asmani, Maryam Sheikh Abdi

Reproductive Health

Les mutilations ou excisions génitales féminines (MGF/E) sont pratiquées dans au moins 28 pays d'Afrique subsaharienne, quelques pays du Moyen-Orient et d'Asie, et parmi les populations immigrées de ces pays en Europe, en Amérique du Nord et en Australie. Dans le monde, on estime que 100 à 140 millions de filles et de femmes ont subi cette pratique, et au moins trois millions de filles sont à risque chaque année. La communauté ethnique somalienne au Kenya ainsi qu'en Somalie, à Djibouti et en Éthiopie pratique l'excision depuis des siècles et la pratique semble être restée largement inchangée. Le programme FRONTIERS …

Africa Regional Sexual And Gender-Based Violence Network Consultation: Technical Exchange And Planning Meeting, Population Council

Reproductive Health

In March 2008, the Population Council brought together members of the Africa Regional Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) Network for a South-South technical exchange meeting. The objectives were to identify best practices from existing programs, provide an evidence base for new programming, and develop mechanisms for South-South technical assistance. As detailed in this report, discussions covered the medical, legal, and psychosocial issues associated with SGBV prevention and response activities. Participants identified the following: Protocols and guidance documents are essential for ensuring comprehensive, quality response at all levels. Enabling access and utilization of the full range of medical services remains …

Study Of Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Urban Men In Pakistan: Identifying The Bridging Population, Ali M. Mir, Laura Reichenbach, Abdul Wajid, Mumraiz Khan

Reproductive Health

Pakistan currently has low levels of HIV infection, however the country is considered at high potential risk for an HIV epidemic. In major cities there are large concentrations of individuals whose behaviors make them extremely vulnerable to the rapid spread of HIV and of classical sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including male and female sex workers, men who have sex with men, and injecting drug users. HIV can spread to the general population through individuals who have contact with both high-risk groups and the general heterosexual population (the “bridging population”). Identifying the bridging population and bridging behaviors among urban men and …

Assessment Of Knowledge And Attitudes Of Married Women On Maternal And Newborn Health (Mnh) In Selected Union Councils Of Project Districts, Pakistan Initiative For Mothers And Newborns (Paiman)

Reproductive Health

The World Health Organization estimates that 585,000 women die from pregnancy-related conditions each year. Pregnancy-related conditions, including dysfunctional labor, hemorrhage, infection, toxemia, and unsafe abortion, are the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age in many developing countries. The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) is a five-year project funded by USAID. Its goal is to reduce maternal and newborn mortality in Pakistan, through viable initiatives and capacity building of existing programs and structures within health systems and communities to ensure improvements and supportive linkages in the continuum of health care for women from the home to …

Assessing Routine Health Information System In Selected Paiman Districts By Using Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (Lqas) Technique, Pakistan Initiative For Mothers And Newborns (Paiman)

Reproductive Health

The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) is a five-year project funded by USAID. Its goal is to reduce maternal and newborn mortality in Pakistan through viable initiatives and capacity building of existing programs and structures within health systems and communities to ensure improvements and supportive linkages in the continuum of health care for women from the home to the hospital. PAIMAN is compiling data from three data sources and making efforts to improve the functioning of these Health Information Systems (HISs) for efficient management of health services at the district level through generation of quality data and their …

Crude Birth Rates And Contraceptive Use By Racial/Ethnic Group In The U.S., 1990-2000, Victoria Stone

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report analyzes crude birth rates and contraceptive use among women in the three primary racial/ethnic groups, White, Black, and Latina, and further examines birth rates by age-specific groups in the United States between 1990 and 2000.

Methods: The data examined here was derived from the NYC Vital Statistics 2002 Report and the Census 2000 SF4 table on Sex by Age by race and Latino nationality. The birth rates were calculated by dividing live birth numbers (Vital Statistics report) by total population count by age and racial/ethnic group (Census 2000 data) and multiplying this number by 1000.

Results: In …

Kenya: Integrating Services For Fp And Hiv Improves Quality And Hiv Testing, Population Council

Reproductive Health

The Kenyan government’s reproductive health policy highlights service integration and quality of care. While integrating counseling and testing (C&T) for HIV into family planning (FP) can potentially increase the range of services to clients at risk from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV, few studies have documented the feasibility, effects, or costs of such integration. From 2005–07, the Population Council worked with the Kenyan Ministry of Health to test the feasibility of two models for integrating C&T into existing FP services. Both models featured client education on HIV prevention during FP visits. Providers were trained to routinely use the Balanced …

Profile Of Abortion Seekers In Ghana And Their Decision-Making Processes, Philomena Nyarko, Cletus Adohinzin, Saumya Ramarao, Placide Tapsoba, Ayorinde Ajayi

Reproductive Health

In 2006, a consortium of agencies, including the Population Council, came together to provide technical and financial support to the Government of Ghana in the rollout of comprehensive abortion care (CAC) services. The consortium collaborated with the government in expanding women’s access to modern family planning and CAC. The consortium’s program, Reducing Maternal Mortality and Morbidity (R3M), aims to reduce unwanted pregnancy and severe complications and deaths caused by unsafe abortion. The formative research in this report was undertaken to provide a profile of beneficiaries, their needs for information and services, their decision-making process in seeking care, and the quality …

Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting From Islam, Ibrahim Lethome Asmani, Maryam Sheikh Abdi

Reproductive Health

Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) is practiced in at least 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, a few countries in the Middle East and Asia, and among immigrant populations from these countries in Europe, North America, and Australia. Worldwide, an estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women have undergone the practice, and at least three million girls are at risk each year. The Somali ethnic community in Kenya as well in Somalia, Djibouti, and Ethiopia, has practiced female genital cutting for centuries and the practice appears to have remained largely unchanged. The Population Council’s FRONTIERS program carried out two …

Introduction Of Quality Of Care And A Gender Perspective In Reproductive Health Service Organizations In Latin America And The Caribbean, Patricia Riveros, Antonieta Martin, Ricardo Vernon

Reproductive Health

In 2005 and with the technical assistance of the Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS) Program, the Integrated Health Coordination Program (PROCOSI), a Bolivian network of 33 nongovernmental organizations, designed and tested a set of four guidelines to help organizations deliver high-quality reproductive health services with a gender perspective. The guidelines were: 1) to present a strategy to certify organizations as “gender sensitive” healthcare providers; 2) to present the knowledge staff members should know to be certified; 3) to describe procedures to collect and analyze the data to evaluate implementation of the strategy; and 4) to describe how to assess strategy …

Familialism, Social Support, And Stress: Positive Implications For Pregnant Latinas, Belinda Campos, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Cleopatra M. Abdou, Calvin J. Hobel, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

This study examined the association of familialism, a cultural value that emphasizes close family relationships, with social Support, stress, pregnancy anxiety, and infant birth weight. Foreign-born Latina (n = 31), U.S.-born Latina (n = 68), and European American (n = 166) women living in the United States participated in a prospective study of pregnancy in which they completed measures of familialism, social support, stress, and pregnancy anxiety during their second trimester. As expected, Latinas scored higher on familialism than European Americans. Familialism was positively correlated with social support and negatively correlated with stress and pregnancy anxiety in the overall sample. …

Stress And Blood Pressure During Pregnancy: Racial Differences And Associations With Birthweight, Clayton J. Hilmert, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Tyan Parker Dominguez, Cleopatra M. Abdou, Calvin J. Hobel, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

OBJECTIVE: To extend findings that African American women report greater stress during pregnancy, have higher blood pressure (BP), and are twice as likely to have low birthweight infants relative to white women. This study examines a) racial differences in associations between stress and BP during pregnancy, and b) the combined effects of stress and BP on infant birthweight in a sample of 170 African American and white women.

METHODS: A prospective, longitudinal study of pregnant women was conducted in which measures of BP, stress, and other relevant variables were collected. Multiple measures of systolic and diastolic BP were taken at …