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Family, Life Course, and Society

Maternal/Newborn/Child Health

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Providing Maternal And Newborn Health Services: Experiences Of Auxiliary Nurse Midwives In Rajasthan, K.G. Santhya, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy Jan 2012

Providing Maternal And Newborn Health Services: Experiences Of Auxiliary Nurse Midwives In Rajasthan, K.G. Santhya, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

To better understand the experiences of auxiliary nurse-midwives (ANMs) in providing maternal and newborn health services and to obtain their perspectives on Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), the Population Council undertook an exploratory study of ANMs in two districts of the north-western state of Rajasthan, India. Findings show that the vast majority of the ANMs were aware of best practices related to the immediate care of the newborn. Nevertheless, the findings also suggested a number of priority areas for action, including increased investment in training, encouraging provision of services on a more regular basis, making special efforts to enable ANMs to …


Making Pregnancy Safe For Women In Rajasthan: Targeting The Most Vulnerable, K.G. Santhya Jan 2009

Making Pregnancy Safe For Women In Rajasthan: Targeting The Most Vulnerable, K.G. Santhya

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

As recently as 2005–06, almost two out of three women in Rajasthan, India were married before age 18 years (of those aged 20–24). Moreover, half of currently married girls aged 15–19 years in the state had already begun childbearing. The dangers of childbearing among adolescent girls, whose bodies have not physically matured, are widely acknowledged, as are the links between poverty and unsafe pregnancy. Yet, less is known about whether morbidity and mortality experiences vary within the subgroup of adolescent girls, whether such experiences differ between adolescent and adult women of similar parity, and whether treatment-seeking behaviors and the delays …


Understanding Pregnancy-Related Morbidity And Mortality Among Young Women In Rajasthan, K.G. Santhya Jan 2009

Understanding Pregnancy-Related Morbidity And Mortality Among Young Women In Rajasthan, K.G. Santhya

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Pregnancy and childbearing continue to occur in adolescence for considerable proportions of women in India. The dangers of childbearing for adolescent girls, whose bodies have not physically matured, are widely acknowledged. Yet, little is known about whether morbidity and mortality experiences vary within the subgroup of adolescent girls, whether such experiences differ between adolescent and adult women of similar parity, and whether treatment-seeking behaviors and the delays experienced in seeking treatment differ between adolescent and adult mothers. To begin to fill this gap, the Population Council undertook an exploratory study of the pregnancy-related morbidity and mortality experiences of women who …


Itinéraires Thérapeutiques Des Adolescentes Pendant La Grossesse, L'Accouchement Et La Période Post-Partum Dans La Zone D'Intervention Du Projet, Gisele Kaboré, Aicha Tamboura/Diawara, Assita Nacanabo Diallo, Abdoulaye Karama Jan 2009

Itinéraires Thérapeutiques Des Adolescentes Pendant La Grossesse, L'Accouchement Et La Période Post-Partum Dans La Zone D'Intervention Du Projet, Gisele Kaboré, Aicha Tamboura/Diawara, Assita Nacanabo Diallo, Abdoulaye Karama

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Le Population Council a réalisé une étude sur « les itinéraires thérapeutiques des adolescentes pendant la grossesse, l’accouchement et la période post-partum » dans cinq régions du Burkina Faso. Il s’agissait d’une étude qualitative, exploratoire qui a permis d’identifier et de décrire les itinéraires thérapeutiques des adolescentes en grossesse et post-partum en vue de déceler les obstacles liés à la fréquentation des centres de santé dans le suivi de la grossesse, de l’accouchement assisté et des soins aux nouveau-nés. Les résultats de l’étude montrent que, d’une manière générale, les adolescentes mariées ou non ont recours aux soins traditionnels à domicile …


Empowering Young Mothers In India: Results Of The First-Time Parents Project, K.G. Santhya, Nicole Haberland Jan 2007

Empowering Young Mothers In India: Results Of The First-Time Parents Project, K.G. Santhya, Nicole Haberland

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In India, sexual activity among girls and young women typically takes place within marriage. Nationally, as many as 30 percent of adolescent girls aged 15–19 are married, presumably sexually active, and under pressure to bear a first child early in the marriage. While sexual activity for the majority of adolescent Indian girls occurs within the socially sanctioned institution of marriage, marital sex is not inherently safe, voluntary, or pleasurable. Promoting Healthy, Safe, and Productive Transitions to Adulthood Brief No. 8 describes the Population Council’s efforts to support married adolescent girls. The Council, in partnership with the Child in Need Institute …


Ethnic Differentials In Parental Health Seeking For Childhood Illness In Vietnam, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, James F. Phillips Jan 2007

Ethnic Differentials In Parental Health Seeking For Childhood Illness In Vietnam, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, James F. Phillips

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The recent introduction of user fees for Vietnam’s primary healthcare services has generated concern that economic policies may adversely affect health-seeking behavior and health outcomes of the poor, particularly among impoverished families who are members of socially marginalized minority groups. This Population Council working paper examines this debate by analyzing parental recall of illness and care-seeking for sick children under age 5 recorded by the 2001–02 Vietnam National Health Survey. Ethnic differentials are evident in all geographic and income levels, although adverse effects of minority status are most pronounced among poor households in remote areas. Results suggest that social equity …


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 Jan 2006

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 …


The Impact Of Childhood Mortality On Fertility In Six Rural Thanas Of Bangladesh, Mian Bazle Hossain, James F. Phillips, Thomas K. Legrand Jan 2005

The Impact Of Childhood Mortality On Fertility In Six Rural Thanas Of Bangladesh, Mian Bazle Hossain, James F. Phillips, Thomas K. Legrand

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This Population Council working paper examines the causal structure of the relationship between child mortality events and subsequent fertility during a time of rapid decline in fertility in Bangladesh. Results lend support to the hypothesis of an insurance effect, while demonstrating that its demographic significance is likely to be less prominent than that of replacement behavior. Findings indicate that the insurance motive remains intact even after total fertility declined to fewer than three children per woman. The well-documented role of gender bias as a determinant of child health and survival is also a factor in child-replacement decisionmaking. Although the rapid …


The Effect Of Community Nurses And Health Volunteers On Child Mortality: The Navrongo Community Health And Family Planning Project, Brian Wells Pence, Philomena Nyarko, James F. Phillips, Cornelius Debpuur Jan 2005

The Effect Of Community Nurses And Health Volunteers On Child Mortality: The Navrongo Community Health And Family Planning Project, Brian Wells Pence, Philomena Nyarko, James F. Phillips, Cornelius Debpuur

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This report presents the child mortality impact of a trial of primary health-care service-delivery strategies in rural Ghana. After adjustment for sociodemographic factors, under-five mortality in areas with village-based community-nurse services fell by 16 percent during the five years of program implementation compared with mortality before the intervention. Reductions were observed in infant (6 percent), early child (20 percent), and late child (41 percent) mortality. Community involvement and training of a local health volunteer were associated with an 11 percent increase in mortality, primarily driven by a 124 percent increase in early child mortality. Areas with both nurses and volunteers …


Urban Poverty And Health In Developing Countries: Household And Neighborhood Effects [Arabic], Mark R. Montgomery, Paul C. Hewett Jan 2004

Urban Poverty And Health In Developing Countries: Household And Neighborhood Effects [Arabic], Mark R. Montgomery, Paul C. Hewett

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In the United States and other high-income countries, where most people live in cities, there is intense scholarly and program interest in the effects of household and neighborhood living standards on health. Yet very few studies of developing-country cities have examined these issues. This paper investigates whether in these cities the health of women and young children is influenced by both household and neighborhood standards of living. Using data from the urban samples of 85 Demographic and Health Surveys, and modeling living standards using factor-analytic MIMIC methods, we find, first, that the neighborhoods of poor households are more heterogeneous than …


Too Young To Be A Mother: A Description Of The Lives Of Married Adolescent Girls In Egypt, Omaima El-Gibaly, Susan M. Lee Jan 2004

Too Young To Be A Mother: A Description Of The Lives Of Married Adolescent Girls In Egypt, Omaima El-Gibaly, Susan M. Lee

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Improving the status and health of women is high on the agenda of the Ministry of Health and Population in Egypt. Investing in the lives of women who marry in their teens has long-term benefits for these girls and their children. Valid information is needed, however, to address these girls’ special needs. Adolescent health is currently one of the major concerns of the Ministry of Health and Population, as is delaying early marriage and addressing the reproductive and other health needs of married girls. The Ministry was a fieldwork partner with the Population Council, providing data collection from primary health …


Immunization Status And Child Survival In Rural Ghana, Philomena Nyarko, Brian Wells Pence, Cornelius Debpuur Jan 2001

Immunization Status And Child Survival In Rural Ghana, Philomena Nyarko, Brian Wells Pence, Cornelius Debpuur

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

For three decades, the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) has been promoted as one of the key child health interventions in developing countries. Vaccines for six childhood diseases (diphtheria, measles, pertussis, poliomyelitis, tetanus, and tuberculosis) have been shown to be efficacious in preventing disease-specific morbidity and mortality, yet not all commentators are convinced that the EPI reduces all-cause child mortality. Numerous studies have found that measles vaccination programs substantially reduce all-cause child mortality, but recent findings from Guinea-Bissau suggest that diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT) vaccine may increase all-cause child mortality. The present study uses five years of data from …


Adolescent Pregnancy And Parenthood In South Africa, Carol E. Kaufman, Thea De Wet, Jonathan Stadler Jan 2000

Adolescent Pregnancy And Parenthood In South Africa, Carol E. Kaufman, Thea De Wet, Jonathan Stadler

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

South Africa’s total fertility rate is estimated to be one of the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa, less than 3.0 births per woman nationally and declining. At the same time, adolescent childbearing levels remain high more than 30 percent of 19-year-old girls are reported to have given birth at least once. Using evidence from focus groups conducted in urban and rural areas in South Africa with young black women and men, and with the parents of teenage mothers, we consider the experience of early parenthood. Specifically, the analysis explores four aspects of teenage childbearing as it relates to key transitions into …


Greater Investments In Children Through Women's Empowerment: A Key To Demographic Change In Pakistan?, Valerie L. Durrant, Zeba Sathar Jan 2000

Greater Investments In Children Through Women's Empowerment: A Key To Demographic Change In Pakistan?, Valerie L. Durrant, Zeba Sathar

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Women’s status has received considerable attention as a significant factor in demographic behavior and outcomes in South Asia however, little research has addressed the links between women’s status and their investments in children. In this paper, we empirically investigate how women’s status on multiple levels is associated with demographic outcomes. Using data from the Pakistan Status of Women and Fertility Survey in rural Punjab, we confirm that empowered women, or those with higher status, are better able to make positive investments in their children, thus increasing their children’s chances of survival during infancy and increasing their likelihood of ever attending …


Ethnicity And Child Mortality In Sub-Saharan Africa, Martin Brockerhoff, Paul C. Hewett Jan 1998

Ethnicity And Child Mortality In Sub-Saharan Africa, Martin Brockerhoff, Paul C. Hewett

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Analysis of recent survey data reveals large differentials in child mortality among ethnic groups in countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa. These disparities correspond with the prominence of specific ethnic groups in the national political economy. In many countries where heads of state since independence have come from one or two ethnic groups-as in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Niger-these groups have experienced levels of early child mortality at least one-third lower than those of other groups. In other countries where there have been several transitions in state control, as in Ghana and Uganda, descendants of precolonial kingdoms such as Ashanti and Buganda …


The Impact Of Family Planning Household Service Delivery On Women's Status In Bangladesh, James F. Phillips, Mian Bazle Hossain Jan 1998

The Impact Of Family Planning Household Service Delivery On Women's Status In Bangladesh, James F. Phillips, Mian Bazle Hossain

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Since 1982, the Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning Extension Project has compiled longitudinal panel data on rural women’s contact with household service providers who visit homes to discuss family planning and offer services to women on request. This study tests the hypothesis that home-based services reinforce customs of purdah (female seclusion) by sustaining the dependency and isolation of the women served by the program. Results show that household services improve women’s status. This effect is largely attributable to the impact of outreach on effective fertility regulation. Findings do not support the hypothesis that household service delivery is detrimental …


Study Of Adolescents: Dynamics Of Perception, Attitude, Knowledge And Use Of Reproductive Health Care, Syed Jahangeer Haider, Shamsun Nehar Saleh, Nahid Kamal, Alan Gray Jan 1997

Study Of Adolescents: Dynamics Of Perception, Attitude, Knowledge And Use Of Reproductive Health Care, Syed Jahangeer Haider, Shamsun Nehar Saleh, Nahid Kamal, Alan Gray

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Knowledge, perceptions, and behavior related to reproductive health (RH) and sexual matters underlie all the conditions that family planning/maternal and child health (FP/MCH) programs address, thus these are important issues for FP researchers, population policymakers, and service providers. To achieve significant levels of fertility or mortality declines, participation of adolescents in reproductive health programs, including FP/MCH, is essential. Studies focusing on sexuality and attitudes of adolescents on RH, and the interacting influences of family, community, and the social sector developmental programs (health, FP/MCH, education, women’s development) would give useful revelations. This report presents findings from a study that was designed …


Doing More With Less: The Marie Stopes Clinics In Sierra Leone, Nahid Toubia, Grace Ebun Delano Jan 1995

Doing More With Less: The Marie Stopes Clinics In Sierra Leone, Nahid Toubia, Grace Ebun Delano

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This edition of Quality/Calidad/Qualité reports on the Marie Stopes Sierra Leone (MSSL) organization which pursues its goals with compassion and ambition, despite seemingly insurmountable economic hardships. MSSL has established a service model that many programs in richer countries should try to imitate. Several particularly important lessons emerged, including: creative, skillful management, well-organized and flexible financial administration, and human motivation and perseverance can enable an organization to overcome financial difficulties; family planning is an integral part of people's reproductive and general health concerns and can dovetail with concern for development in useful and practical ways; men appreciate being involved in the …


Family Planning And Child Survival Programs As Assessed In 1991, John A. Ross, W. Parker Mauldin, Steven R. Green, E. Romana Cooke Jan 1992

Family Planning And Child Survival Programs As Assessed In 1991, John A. Ross, W. Parker Mauldin, Steven R. Green, E. Romana Cooke

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This volume continues a tradition initiated at the Population Council nearly 25 years ago when the first edition of “Population and Family Planning Programs” was issued. That factbook began a series of 12 editions produced through 1993. The data in that series were consolidated and updated in another publication, and the present volume is now issued, based partly upon a 1989 questionnaire inquiry to over 100 developing countries. A range of maternal and child survival data were added to the family planning information. The relationships among fertility behavior, infant and child mortality, and maternal health are closely interwoven; moreover, many …


Celebrating Mother And Child On The Fortieth Day: The Sfax Tunisia Postpartum Program, Francine Coeytaux, Beverly Winikoff Jan 1989

Celebrating Mother And Child On The Fortieth Day: The Sfax Tunisia Postpartum Program, Francine Coeytaux, Beverly Winikoff

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This edition of Quality/Calidad/Qualité gives information about a postnatal family planning program in the Sfax Center of the Tunisia Maternity and Newborns Hospital. This program, developed jointly by the national family planning program and the Maternity staff, has had extraordinary success in getting more mothers to return after six weeks for their postnatal visit. During the visit, the period between births is discussed; and family planning services are offered as an important means for achieving both the recovery and good health of the mother, as well as the physical and mental development of the infant. The report describes a few …


Festejando A La Madre Y Al Bebé En El Cuarentavo Día El Programa Post-Parto De Sfax, Tunicia, Francine Coeytaux, Beverly Winikoff Jan 1989

Festejando A La Madre Y Al Bebé En El Cuarentavo Día El Programa Post-Parto De Sfax, Tunicia, Francine Coeytaux, Beverly Winikoff

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

En esta edición de Quality/Calidad/Qualité se da información sobre un programa de planificación familiar postnatal que se lleva a cabo en el Centro Sfax del Hospital de Tunisia para Maternidad y Recién Nacidos. Este programa, desarrollado conjuntamente por el programa nacional de planificación familiar y por el personal de Maternidad, ha tenido extraordinario éxito en lograr que un mayor número de madres regresen después de seis semanas a su visita postnatal. Durante la visita, el período entre nacimientos se discute; y se ofrecen servicios de planificación familiar como medio importante para lograr tanto la recuperación y la buena salud de …