Women's Health Commons^™

Testing Alternative Channels For Providing Emergency Contraception To Young Women, John P. Skibiak, Mangala Chambeshi-Moyo, Yusuf Ahmed

Reproductive Health

In September 1997, the Population Council and Lusaka’s University Teaching Hospital (UTH) launched a 15-month study to identify and explore the range of issues relating to the introduction of emergency contraception (EC) within a developing country context. The study allowed clinic-based family planning providers to accumulate enough first-hand experience to be able to identify strategies for overcoming difficulties associated with the introduction or delivery of EC services. One issue on most participants’ minds was the need to expand the delivery of EC services toward young women, especially out-of-school women, who are harder to reach. Participants recommended that future research activities …

Strengthening Social Science Research On Women's Health: Lessons Learned From A Capacity Building Programme, M.E. Khan, Bella C. Patel, John Townsend

Reproductive Health

The International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 led to an upsurge in interest in implementing reproductive health (RH) programs worldwide. The urgency to act has led to the development of disparate activities in several developing countries including India. While programs have been growing in numbers, their quality is in question. A fundamental problem has been lack of capacity at all levels of the health service system to respond to the paradigm shift articulated by the advocates of the reproductive health and rights agenda. To redesign programs, considerable research must be undertaken to understand the health needs and sociocultural …

Center-Based Prevalence Of Anxiety And Depression In Women Of The Northern Areas Of Pakistan, Sunita Dodani, Rukhsana Wamiq Zuberi

Department for Educational Development

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of anxiety and depression in women of the Northern areas. Methods: A cross-sectional center-based study was conducted at Singal Medical Center (SNIC), Gilgit, in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

Results: One hundred and twenty women, between the ages of 16 and 60, attended the SMC over a two month period and were included in the study. Using HADS, it was found that 50% of the women had anxiety and/or depression; 25% suffered only from anxiety, 8% from depression and 17% had features of both.

Conclusion: This study …

A Participatory Evaluation Of The Life-Skills Training Programme In Myanmar, Unicef, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In 1993 UNICEF/Myanmar launched an innovative project aimed at preventing the further spread of HIV/AIDS through the promotion of reproductive health. One of the activities undertaken was life-skills training for women and youth, conducted in collaboration with the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) and the Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association (MMCWA). The objective of the training activities was to encourage and promote informed decision-making and care-seeking behavior among youth and women. The training aims to provide detailed and accurate information concerning sexuality, birth spacing, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV/AIDS, and to provide skills for youth and women to enable …

Alone You Are Nobody, Together We Float: The Manuela Ramos Movement, Judith Bruce, Debbie Rogow

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Quality/Calidad/Qualité, a publication of the Population Council, highlights examples of clinical and educational programs which bring a strong commitment, as well as innovative and thoughtful approaches, to the issue of quality care in sexual and reproductive health. The series is based on the philosophy that women and their partners have a fundamental right to respectful treatment, information, choice, and follow-up from reproductive health care providers. This issue discusses improving women’s health and well being through a range of empowerment strategies in rural Peru.

Integrating A Reproductive Health Framework Within Primary Care Services: The Experience Of The Reproductive Health Intervention Study, Karima Khalil, Abdel Moneim Farag, Assem Anwar, Dina Galal, Olfia Kamal, Karraze Shorbagi, Miral Breebaart, Hind Khattab, Nabil Younis, Huda Zurayk

Reproductive Health

This paper is part of the Policy Series in Reproductive Health, which shares research undertaken by the Reproductive Health Working Group (RHWG). It describes the Reproductive Health Intervention Study, which designed and tested a model of essential reproductive health (RH) services. RHWG was established in 1988 as part of a special program on the health of women and children within the context of the family and community initiated by the Population Council’s Regional Office for the West Asia and North Africa region. The paper identifies a framework of basic service components that address RH and shows that their delivery is …

Implementing A Reproductive Health Agenda In India: The Beginning, Saroj Pachauri

Reproductive Health

At the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, the nations of the world agreed to give special attention to girls’ education, women’s health, infant survival, and women’s empowerment, and to provide comprehensive reproductive health (RH) services to enable couples to achieve their reproductive goals. The government of India launched a reproductive and child health program in October 1997. This book begins a review of the processes underway to operationalize the program. It brings together several important initiatives at various stages of development and examines key policy and program issues based on empirical research and field experience. The …

The Impact Of Monetary Crisis And Natural Disasters On Women's Health And Nutrition, Meiwita B. Iskandar

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This paper analyzes the short-term effects of the monetary crisis and natural disasters in Indonesia on women's health and nutritional status, and activities to monitor and address these problems. The monetary crisis which was announced in January 1998 hit the highest monthly inflation rate of 13 percent in February. Natural disasters that have plagued Indonesia since early 1997, including droughts and forest fires, have been projected to cause famines and an increased likelihood of infant and adult mortality. The economic crisis also directly impacts millions of workforce members threatened by the downsizing of thousands of businesses and factories, in the …

Integrating Rti Service With Primary Health Care, Population Council

Reproductive Health

The reproductive health (RH) movement worldwide has brought reproductive tract infections (RTIs) under sharp focus as an urgent health need of women. While RTIs are preventable or treatable, they are often the cause of infertility, ectopic pregnancy, cervical cancer, fetal loss, low birth-weight infants, infant blindness, and neonatal pneumonia. The adverse health effects of RTIs, particularly STIs, is much higher for women than men. Recent research has demonstrated that RTIs are closely linked to other areas of health care like family planning (FP), safe motherhood, child survival, and HIV prevention. Hence, each could significantly contribute to the reduction and control …

Postabortion Care Services In Kenya: Baseline Findings Of An Operations Research Study, Julie Solo, Deborah L. Billings

Reproductive Health

In Kenya, as throughout the world, the health consequences of unsafe abortion for women of reproductive age are significant. Hospital-based studies in Nairobi have shown that unsafely induced abortion accounts for as much as 35 percent of pregnancy-related mortality and at least 50 percent of hospitals’ gynecological admissions. The concept of postabortion care (emergency treatment, postabortion family planning counseling and services, links between emergency abortion treatment services and comprehensive reproductive health care) has gained wide acceptance as one model of providing comprehensive care to women suffering from abortion complications. Integration of these three components is rarely found in public health …

Integrating Rti Services In Primary Health Care System: Observations From An Operations Research In Uttar Pradesh, India, M.E. Khan, Saumya Ramarao, R.B. Gupta, Bella C. Patel, Leila Caleb-Varkey, Jayanti Tuladhar, Sanjeev Kumar, John Townsend

Reproductive Health

Evidence from community studies indicates that significant proportions of Indian women (30 percent) may have reproductive tract infections (RTIs). Given that women are in general asymptomatic and that even symptomatic women may not seek care, the estimates are the minimum levels of prevalence. Most women do not seek treatment for RTIs for such reasons as lack of awareness, acceptance that RTIs are part of women's lives, and lack of treatment facilities. On the supply side, in the public sector the treatment for RTIs is limited with most services provided through STD clinics in urban areas. Seeking treatment at STD clinics …

Emergency Contraception As An Element In The Care Of Rape Victims, Ricardo Vernon, Raffaela Schiavon, Silvia Elena Llaguno

Reproductive Health

In most states in Mexico, abortion is excluded as a crime in pregnancies resulting from rape. However, legislation does not specify the norms by which women can obtain a legal abortion, which makes it difficult to choose this alternative. A partial solution to unwanted pregnancies from rape would be to provide emergency contraception (EC). Psychologists were trained to provide information on EC to women who reported a rape at four public ministry agencies specialized in sexual crime. In addition, 11 medical backup referral centers were established. To scale up the strategy, workshops were provided to representatives from State Attorney General …

Living On A Fault Line: Political Violence Against Women In Algeria, Leila Hessini

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This study raises three questions to better comprehend the crisis women face in Algeria today: how are the state and the opposition groups addressing and defining women’s contemporary status, what is the link between women’s status and violence against them, and what are the tactics both of resistance and accommodation that Algerian women are using to survive in such a context? Throughout this study, the term “Islamic Fundamentalists” refers to movements and people in Algeria who use the “recovery” of early principles of the Ideal Muslim Community to develop their idea of a future Islamic “social order,” with the ultimate …

Women's Perceptions Of Sexuality In Rural Giza, Hind Khattab

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This study on sexuality among women in rural Giza, Egypt, is part of a broader project on women's health and reproductive morbidity conducted by the Population Council’s Reproductive Health Working Group. Reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and other ailments associated with reproduction among women in the rural community surveyed suggest that a heavy burden of disease is being borne by women living in underprivileged areas in this region. This research on sexuality has been conducted within a conceptual framework that uses a socio-cultural approach to health and illness. The investigation is an assessment of women's perception of and knowledge about sexuality …

Update - July 1995, Loma Linda University Center For Christian Bioethics

Update

In this issue:

-- Gender Discrimination in the Medical Community

[ Responses to the American Medical Association of the Use of Anencephalic Neonates as Organ Donors ]
-- Maintain the "Dead Donor Rule"
-- Stairway to Hell
-- Let Parents Choose
-- Revisiting the Issues

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 …

Improving The Counseling And Medical Care Of Postabortion Patients In Egypt, Population Council, Egyptian Fertility Care Society

Reproductive Health

This pilot study conducted in Cairo and Minya examined the effects of improving the medical care and counseling of post-abortion patients in Egypt. A pre-test/post-test, no control group study design was used to measure the effects of an intervention that upgraded physicians' clinical and interpersonal communication skills for the care of post-abortion patients, including counseling and family planning (FP). The study's surveys utilized direct interviews with staff working in the OB/GYN wards, structured observations of treatment procedures and counseling of post-abortion patients, and interviews with patients prior to discharge. Changes in the clinical management of post-abortion patients were introduced through …

Follow-Up Study Among Iud Acceptors Of Java, R. Hasan M. Hoesni, M. Hasan, Anthony Tan, Jayanti Tuladhar, Jusuf S. Effendi, Bantuk Hadijanto, Pudjo Hartono

Reproductive Health

As of April 1993, an estimated 5.3 million women in Indonesia were using IUDs. In 1991, the IUD was the second most commonly used family planning method in Indonesia (13.4 percent). According to the Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey, in 1994 it became the third most commonly used method among currently married women (10.3 percent), primarily on the islands of Java and Bali. The National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN), in collaboration with the Faculties of Medicine, Diponegoro University in Semarang, Airlangga University in Surabaya, and BKS-Penfin in Bandung, conducted a "Follow-up Study Among IUD Acceptors of Java,” from November …

Arab Women: A Profile Of Diversity And Change, Nahid Toubia, Amira Bahyeldin, Nadia Hijab, Heba Abdel Latif

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The status of Arab women is the subject of much speculation, generalization, and stereotyping by those inside and outside the region. The paucity of objective, accessible information makes Arab women one of the least understood social groups. The aim of this book is to help correct misconceptions about Arab women by introducing systematic information for 21 Arab countries. Widely published international statistical data, mostly from the United Nations and the World Bank, were used for the comparisons. These datasets are compiled from country reports, national surveys, and aggregated smaller studies. They are by no means comprehensive or devoid of inaccuracies, …

Arab Women: A Profile Of Diversity And Change [Arabic], Nahid Toubia, Amira Bahyeldin, Nadia Hijab, Heba Abdel Latif

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The status of Arab women is the subject of much speculation, generalization, and stereotyping by those inside and outside the region. The scarcity of objective, accessible information makes Arab women one of the least understood social groups. The aim of this book is to help correct misconceptions about Arab women by introducing systematic information for 21 Arab countries. Widely published international statistical data, mostly from the United Nations and the World Bank, were used for the comparisons. These datasets are compiled from country reports, national surveys, and aggregated smaller studies. They are by no means comprehensive or devoid of inaccuracies, …

Learning About The Gynecological Health Of Women [Arabic], Nabil Younis, Karima Khalil, Huda Zurayk, Hind Khattab

Reproductive Health

No abstract provided.

The Silent Endurance: Social Conditions Of Women's Reproductive Health In Rural Egypt [Arabic], Hind Khattab

Reproductive Health

No abstract provided.

Professional Experience Programme Report: Women's Health Promotion, An International Perspective, Lynne Hunt

Research outputs pre 2011

Between August 1988 and January 1989 I visited niQe countries in the Western Pacific, North America and Europe to survey women's health promotion from the perspective of the women's health movement. The experience was facilitated by study leave (Professional Experience Programme) from the Western Australian College of Advanced Education (now Edith Cowan University).

The main purpose of the study was to exchange ideas with selected academics and experts in women's health. The information acquired will be applied in courses in women's health offered by Edith Cowan University and in the ongoing development of a series of videotape productions on women's …

Prostitution And Hiv Infection: Women, Aids, & Activism, Polly Thistlethwaite, Zoe Leonard

Publications and Research

This "Prostitution and HIV Infection" chapter of the ACT UP/NY Women & AIDS Book Group's Women, AIDS & Activism reflects the scientific, feminist, gay, lesbian, HIV-community work that informed ACT UP/NY's activism and analysis on women and HIV infection up to 1990. Book Group members: Marion Banzhaf, Cynthia Chris, Kim Christensen, Alexis Danzig, Risa Denenberg, Zoe Leonard, Deb Levine, Samuel Lurie, Monica Pearl, Catherine Gund, Polly Thistlethwaite, Judith Walker, and Brigitte Weil. Additional members of the original Women and AIDS Handbook Group included Jamie Bauer, Heidi Dorow, Maria Maggenti, Ellen Neipris, Ann Northrop, Sydney Pokorney, Karen Ramspacher, Maxine Wolfe, and …

Reconceptualizing Health Care, Cynthia Nelson

Faculty Book Chapters

The seminar from which these papers flow was the product of many minds, multiple energies and much co-operation during the many months prior to its final implementation. The idea of a women's seminar oriented to the issues and concerns of contemporary Egyptian society was initially put forth in the fal I of 1974 to coincide with efforts that were developing on a national level in Egypt to commemorate 1975 as International Women's Year. It is with deepest gratitude that I extend special appreciation to Mrs. Marlene Michel Anawati, then a Post Master's Fellow in the Department of Sociology­Anthropology and Psychology. …

Nutrition: Facts, Fallacies And Implications For Women Concerned With Development, Anne M.S. Coles

Faculty Book Chapters

The seminar from which these papers flow was the product of many minds, multiple energies and much co-operation during the many months prior to its final implementation. The idea of a women's seminar oriented to the issues and concerns of contemporary Egyptian society was initially put forth in the fal I of 1974 to coincide with efforts that were developing on a national level in Egypt to commemorate 1975 as International Women's Year. It is with deepest gratitude that I extend special appreciation to Mrs. Marlene Michel Anawati, then a Post Master's Fellow in the Department of Sociology­Anthropology and Psychology. …

Health, Development And Women, Earl L. (Tim) Sullivan

Faculty Book Chapters

The seminar from which these papers flow was the product of many minds, multiple energies and much co-operation during the many months prior to its final implementation. The idea of a women's seminar oriented to the issues and concerns of contemporary Egyptian society was initially put forth in the fal I of 1974 to coincide with efforts that were developing on a national level in Egypt to commemorate 1975 as International Women's Year. It is with deepest gratitude that I extend special appreciation to Mrs. Marlene Michel Anawati, then a Post Master's Fellow in the Department of Sociology­Anthropology and Psychology. …

Discourse Is Not Enough: A Challenge From The Seminar, Cynthia Nelson

Faculty Book Chapters

The seminar from which these papers flow was the product of many minds, multiple energies and much co-operation during the many months prior to its final implementation. The idea of a women's seminar oriented to the issues and concerns of contemporary Egyptian society was initially put forth in the fal I of 1974 to coincide with efforts that were developing on a national level in Egypt to commemorate 1975 as International Women's Year. It is with deepest gratitude that I extend special appreciation to Mrs. Marlene Michel Anawati, then a Post Master's Fellow in the Department of Sociology­Anthropology and Psychology. …

Styles And Sources Of Social Change: Women's Movements As Critiques Of Health Care Systems, Virginia Olesen

Faculty Book Chapters

The seminar from which these papers flow was the product of many minds, multiple energies and much co-operation during the many months prior to its final implementation. The idea of a women's seminar oriented to the issues and concerns of contemporary Egyptian society was initially put forth in the fal I of 1974 to coincide with efforts that were developing on a national level in Egypt to commemorate 1975 as International Women's Year. It is with deepest gratitude that I extend special appreciation to Mrs. Marlene Michel Anawati, then a Post Master's Fellow in the Department of Sociology­Anthropology and Psychology. …

Current Problems In Gynecology And Obstetrics And Their Effects On Patient Attutudes, Samira El-Mallah

Faculty Book Chapters

The seminar from which these papers flow was the product of many minds, multiple energies and much co-operation during the many months prior to its final implementation. The idea of a women's seminar oriented to the issues and concerns of contemporary Egyptian society was initially put forth in the fal I of 1974 to coincide with efforts that were developing on a national level in Egypt to commemorate 1975 as International Women's Year. It is with deepest gratitude that I extend special appreciation to Mrs. Marlene Michel Anawati, then a Post Master's Fellow in the Department of Sociology­Anthropology and Psychology. …