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Articles 1 - 23 of 23
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Empowering Young Mothers In India: Results Of The First-Time Parents Project, K.G. Santhya, Nicole Haberland
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 …
Girls Left Behind: Redirecting Hiv Interventions Toward The Most Vulnerable, Judith Bruce
Girls Left Behind: Redirecting Hiv Interventions Toward The Most Vulnerable, Judith Bruce
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
As we enter the third decade of the HIV pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa, young women—often adolescent girls—are the new face of the disease. In particular, HIV/AIDS is threatening those girls and young women with limited social and economic assets—those who are unable to avoid, manage, or leave unsafe sexual relationships inside and outside of marriage. Girls at risk of sexual exploitation are not a small minority; they are counted in the hundreds of millions. Promoting Healthy, Safe, and Productive Transitions to Adulthood Brief No. 23 explores: structural determinants of risk, failure to reach the most vulnerable, moving ahead with the …
Leave No Woman Behind, Ethiopia: Baseline Report, Annabel Erulkar, Tekle-Ab Mekbib, Helen Amdemikael, Garry Conille
Leave No Woman Behind, Ethiopia: Baseline Report, Annabel Erulkar, Tekle-Ab Mekbib, Helen Amdemikael, Garry Conille
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
“Leave No Woman Behind, Ethiopia” is an experimental project being implemented in rural areas of Ethiopia’s Amhara region. The project uses the mobilization of women into groups and adult literacy as an entry point for reproductive health education and referrals. Measurement of the program’s impact is being undertaken using a quasi-experimental research design including baseline and endline surveys in six Kebele Associations in rural Amhara. This report presents findings from the baseline survey conducted among more than 3,000 girls and women aged 10–45 in rural Amhara region. The results cover a broad range of topics including education, work, livelihoods, social …
Ethnic Differentials In Parental Health Seeking For Childhood Illness In Vietnam, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, James F. Phillips
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 …
Reducing The Social Exclusion Of Girls, Kelly Hallman, Eva Roca
Reducing The Social Exclusion Of Girls, Kelly Hallman, Eva Roca
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Across the globe, girls are systematically excluded from participation in social, economic, and political life. The absence of girls in these arenas has implications not only for the young women themselves but also for society as a whole, exacerbating poverty and perpetuating disparities in health, education, and economic achievement. Internationally, this marginalization makes it difficult or impossible for some countries to achieve society-wide goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals identified by the United Nations as benchmarks to reduce poverty. For a number of years, the Population Council has been studying the causes and effects of girls’ social exclusion in …
The Experience Of Married Adolescent Girls In Northern Nigeria, Annabel Erulkar, Mairo Bello
The Experience Of Married Adolescent Girls In Northern Nigeria, Annabel Erulkar, Mairo Bello
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Programs for young people in sub-Saharan Africa have been directed largely toward unmarried adolescents, neglecting the fact that a large proportion of adolescents—especially girls—are married in some settings. Early marriage is a common feature of girls’ adolescence in Northern Nigeria, yet few programs are in place to support this sizable and vulnerable group. To suggest directions for future programming, Adolescent Health and Information Projects (AHIP) and the Population Council examined the lives of married and unmarried girls in two geopolitical regions of Nigeria, North West and North East. The study, as described in this report, consisted of secondary analysis of …
Towards Messages That Matter: Understanding And Addressing Hiv And Srh Risks Among Married Young People In India, Armin Jamshedji-Neogi, Renu Kapoor, Jayashree Kumar, Ashwini Bhalerao Gandhi, Lakshmi Murthy, K.G. Santhya, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, Saswata Ghosh, Vijaya Nidadavolu, Nicole Haberland, Komal Saxena, M.A. Jose
Towards Messages That Matter: Understanding And Addressing Hiv And Srh Risks Among Married Young People In India, Armin Jamshedji-Neogi, Renu Kapoor, Jayashree Kumar, Ashwini Bhalerao Gandhi, Lakshmi Murthy, K.G. Santhya, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, Saswata Ghosh, Vijaya Nidadavolu, Nicole Haberland, Komal Saxena, M.A. Jose
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Although there is increasing interest in young people's sexual and reproductive health (SRH) situations and needs in India, married young people have received little attention as a vulnerable group with distinct needs because marriage is assumed to be safe and because married youth are assumed to face none of the stigma that their unmarried counterparts experience in accessing SRH services. However, emerging evidence shows that within this subpopulation, married young women and men constitute groups with distinct risks of HIV and other poor SRH outcomes. There remains a need to better understand their unique vulnerabilities and to design programs that …
Addressing The Sexual And Reproductive Health Needs Of Young People: Perspectives And Experiences Of Stakeholders From The Health And Non-Health Sectors, K.G. Santhya, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, Saswata Ghosh, Nicole Haberland
Addressing The Sexual And Reproductive Health Needs Of Young People: Perspectives And Experiences Of Stakeholders From The Health And Non-Health Sectors, K.G. Santhya, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, Saswata Ghosh, Nicole Haberland
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
In India, recent policies have underscored the right of adolescents and youth to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) counseling and services. Despite recent policies and programs, little information is available on the extent to which policy recommendations and program strategies have been implemented, and the extent to which services serve the disparate needs of married and unmarried young women and men. Also, there is limited evidence about the extent to which health-care providers at different levels of service delivery and stakeholders from other sectors are involved in providing SRH and HIV/AIDS-related information and services to young people, or their perceptions …
Teacher Absence As A Factor In Gender Inequalities In Access To Primary Schooling In Rural Pakistan, Sharon Ghuman, Cynthia B. Lloyd
Teacher Absence As A Factor In Gender Inequalities In Access To Primary Schooling In Rural Pakistan, Sharon Ghuman, Cynthia B. Lloyd
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
This paper examines the case of Pakistan, where primary school enrollment among girls in rural areas is substantially lower than among children in urban areas and boys in rural areas, owing to lack of access to government girls’ schools. The focus is on teacher absence as a further barrier to schooling for girls. Using data from a panel study of primary schooling in rural Punjab and NWFP in 1997 and 2004, the report examines trends in teacher absence, examine the factors correlated with teacher absence in the government and private sector, and assesses the implications of these absence levels for …
Girls' Adolescence In Burkina Faso: A Pivot Point For Social Change, Martha Brady, Lydia Saloucou, Erica Chong
Girls' Adolescence In Burkina Faso: A Pivot Point For Social Change, Martha Brady, Lydia Saloucou, Erica Chong
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
As closer attention is paid to the lives of adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, girls are found to be clearly disadvantaged, compared with their male counterparts. Burkinabé girls are frequently married at a young age, and more than one-third of married girls find themselves in polygamous unions as second or third wives, married to much older men. Understanding and recognizing girls’ realities is an important first step in planning appropriate and meaningful interventions for them. Girls who are unmarried, “promised,” engaged, or married face different constraints and merit different program approaches. This report by the Population Council aims to fill gaps …
Child Marriage In The Context Of The Hiv Epidemic, Judith Bruce
Child Marriage In The Context Of The Hiv Epidemic, Judith Bruce
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
As the HIV epidemic has matured, in many settings it has become a disease of young women. In sub-Saharan Africa, 75 percent of the 6.2 million young people aged 15–24 living with HIV are female. At the same time, child marriage, though on the decline, persists. In parts of Africa, large numbers of girls are at risk of child marriage, and many millions of young wives were married as children. To better understand these twin phenomena—child marriage and the HIV epidemic—the Population Council adopted a multilevel approach. One level of investigation examines the effect of child marriage on the epidemic, …
Influencing Girls’ Lives: Acceptability And Effectiveness Of A Livelihoods Skill Building Intervention In Gujarat, Shveta Kalyanwala
Influencing Girls’ Lives: Acceptability And Effectiveness Of A Livelihoods Skill Building Intervention In Gujarat, Shveta Kalyanwala
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
There are 66 million adolescent females aged 13–19 in India. Their lives are characterized by limited education, lack of economic and social opportunities, early marriage and childbearing, and limited influence on decisions affecting their lives. Although programs in India have aimed to empower adolescent girls, they have largely focused on enhancing life skills and awareness. Programs to address women’s social and economic disadvantages have focused exclusively on adult women. To respond to the absence of programs devoted specifically to the social and economic empowerment of adolescent girls and young women, the Population Council partnered with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) …
Sexuality And Hiv Education: Time For A Paradigm Shift, Nicole Haberland, Deborah Rogow
Sexuality And Hiv Education: Time For A Paradigm Shift, Nicole Haberland, Deborah Rogow
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
For decades, curriculum-based sexuality education has been a cornerstone of school- and community-based efforts to improve young people’s sexual and reproductive health, and more recently to prevent HIV infection. Unfortunately, public discourse about sex education has been mired in polarizing debates that distract attention from determining how sex and HIV education programs might best achieve the shared goals of many different constituencies. A recent comprehensive review of the impact of school-based sexuality and HIV education programs in developed and developing countries found that two-thirds of the programs reduced the risk associated with one or more reported sexual behaviors. This finding …
The Changing Context Of Sexual Initiation In Sub-Saharan Africa, Barbara Mensch
The Changing Context Of Sexual Initiation In Sub-Saharan Africa, Barbara Mensch
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
The magnitude of the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa puts young women at particularly high risk for HIV infection and calls for a better understanding of reproductive behavior, including sexual initiation and premarital sex. An increase in premarital sex is an inevitable consequence of later marriage in the developing world, if for no other reason than that the period during which girls are sexually mature and unmarried is prolonged when marriage is postponed. A recent Population Council project investigated the links between changing age at marriage and premarital sexual behavior in 27 sub-Saharan African countries. After documenting the decline in …
Obtaining More Accurate And Reliable Information From Adolescents Regarding Sti/Hiv Risk Behaviors, Barbara Mensch, Paul C. Hewett
Obtaining More Accurate And Reliable Information From Adolescents Regarding Sti/Hiv Risk Behaviors, Barbara Mensch, Paul C. Hewett
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
To investigate the quality of self-reported data on sexual behavior, Population Council researchers conducted a study in a rural district of Malawi. They implemented a randomized experiment to assess whether audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) produces more valid data on sexual behavior than face-to-face interviews. The Malawi study builds on an experiment conducted as part of a household-based survey of Kenyan adolescents. In Kenya and Malawi, there is clear evidence that mode of interviewing and probing of various sexual partnerships affect the reporting of sexual activity. According to Promoting Healthy, Safe, and Productive Transitions to Adulthood Brief No. 25, ACASI is …
Assessing The Multiple Disadvantages Of Mayan Girls: The Effects Of Gender, Ethnicity, Poverty, And Residence On Education In Guatemala, Kelly Hallman, Sara Peracca, Jennifer Catino, Marta Julia Ruiz
Assessing The Multiple Disadvantages Of Mayan Girls: The Effects Of Gender, Ethnicity, Poverty, And Residence On Education In Guatemala, Kelly Hallman, Sara Peracca, Jennifer Catino, Marta Julia Ruiz
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Although access to primary education in Guatemala has increased in recent years, particularly in rural areas, rates of primary-school completion and literacy for young people remain among the lowest in Latin America, and problems such as late entry, grade repetition, and early dropout persist. Adult literacy is estimated to be 85 percent in Latin America as a whole, compared with 70 percent in Guatemala. Although indigenous peoples in Latin America generally have less schooling than nonindigenous peoples, ethnic differences are greatest in Guatemala, where indigenous (Mayan) adults have less than half the level of schooling of nonindigenous (Ladino) adults. Recent …
Premarital Sex And Schooling Transitions In Four Sub-Saharan African Countries, Ann E. Biddlecom, Richard Gregory, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Barbara Mensch
Premarital Sex And Schooling Transitions In Four Sub-Saharan African Countries, Ann E. Biddlecom, Richard Gregory, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Barbara Mensch
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Using data from the 2004 National Survey of Adolescents conducted in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda, this Population Council working paper investigates the timing of two key transitions in adolescence—school exit and premarital sex—among those who remain enrolled in school at the beginning of adolescence (age 12). Girls appear more vulnerable to dropout once they become sexually mature and once they engage in premarital sex. While girls were found to be less likely than boys, at any given age and controlling for other covariates, to have had premarital sex (except in Ghana), school enrollment and the timing of school …
Providing New Opportunities To Adolescent Girls In Socially Conservative Settings: The Ishraq Program In Rural Upper Egypt—Full Report, Martha Brady, Ragui Assaad, Barbara L. Ibrahim, Abeer Salem, Rania Salem, Nadia Zibani
Providing New Opportunities To Adolescent Girls In Socially Conservative Settings: The Ishraq Program In Rural Upper Egypt—Full Report, Martha Brady, Ragui Assaad, Barbara L. Ibrahim, Abeer Salem, Rania Salem, Nadia Zibani
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Adolescent girls in the poorest villages of Upper Egypt, who were kept from school by poverty and other obstacles, face a bleak future that will replicate the poverty and disadvantage of their own families. This stark picture of vulnerability encouraged four long-standing nongovernmental organizations working in Egypt—Caritas, CEDPA (Centre for Development and Population Activities), the Population Council, and Save the Children—to create a multidimensional program for 13–15-year-old out-of-school girls. The pilot intervention, known locally as Ishraq, sought to transform girls’ lives by changing gender norms and community perceptions about girls’ roles in society while bringing them safely and confidently into …
Adolescence In The Kibera Slums Of Nairobi, Kenya, Annabel Erulkar, James K. Matheka
Adolescence In The Kibera Slums Of Nairobi, Kenya, Annabel Erulkar, James K. Matheka
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Rates of urbanization in Kenya are among the highest in the world and young people form a large proportion of those moving from rural to urban areas of the country. For many young people, the first point of entry into urban areas are the slums. Adolescents and young people make up a significant proportion of the slum-dwelling population, yet little is known about their experiences growing up in these poor urban environments. This population-based study of adolescents took place in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2006. The study explores the adolescent experience in one of Africa’s largest slum …
Changing Transitions To Adulthood In Vietnam's Remote Northern Uplands: A Focus On Ethnic Minority Youth And Their Families, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Hac Van Vinh, Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan
Changing Transitions To Adulthood In Vietnam's Remote Northern Uplands: A Focus On Ethnic Minority Youth And Their Families, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Hac Van Vinh, Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Ethnic minorities, who tend to live in remote mountainous areas, account for 15 percent of Vietnam’s 84 million total population and, according to a recent estimate, 61 percent of them are poor. Evidence suggests that despite recent efforts by the Government of Vietnam to promote poverty reduction in remote areas, a majority of ethnic minorities have not yet experienced positive change, contrary to their Kinh (ethnic Vietnamese) neighbors who have enjoyed substantial improvement in living standards. To identify program interventions that promote healthy human development and, in turn, positively affect Vietnam’s economic growth, it is crucial to have a comprehensive …
Support By Migrants To Their Elderly Parents In Rural Cambodia And Thailand: A Comparative Study, Zachary Zimmer, Kim Korinek, John Knodel, Napaporn Chayovan
Support By Migrants To Their Elderly Parents In Rural Cambodia And Thailand: A Comparative Study, Zachary Zimmer, Kim Korinek, John Knodel, Napaporn Chayovan
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Internal migration in Southeast Asia raises questions about strains upon traditional systems of support for older adults. While remittances to parents’ households play a role in rural household economies, uncertainty remains regarding whether and under what circumstances children interact with their elderly parents. This paper focuses on the adult children of older persons living in rural Cambodia and Thailand and examines the determinants of personal visits, monetary remittances, and more general forms of household support. Analyses consider ways in which geographically distant children support parents, the extent to which characteristics of parents, children, and households enhance or detract from these …
Poverty And Fertility: Evidence And Agenda, Sajeda Amin, John B. Casterline, Laura Spess
Poverty And Fertility: Evidence And Agenda, Sajeda Amin, John B. Casterline, Laura Spess
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
This paper explores how poverty affects childbearing patterns in the contemporary developing world. In considering the association between poverty and fertility, we explore one measure of economic status, household asset holdings, in Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 51 countries since 1990. The results show that the association between poverty and fertility differs according to the measure of fertility considered. We conclude there is much to be gained from distinguishing between the impact of poverty on fertility aspirations and the implementation of those aspirations.
The Role Of Schools In Promoting Sexual And Reproductive Health Among Adolescents In Developing Countries, Cynthia B. Lloyd
The Role Of Schools In Promoting Sexual And Reproductive Health Among Adolescents In Developing Countries, Cynthia B. Lloyd
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
This Population Council working paper reviews the state of knowledge about relationships between schooling and adolescent reproductive health. With the spread of mass schooling and the growing share of adolescents who attend school, the opportunities for synergies between health and education policies and programs are growing. Data on cross-country variations in health conditions on the one hand, and variations in attendance and attainment patterns and school systems on the other hand, provide a framework for assessing alternative approaches to the promotion of adolescent sexual and reproductive health in different contexts. Disappointing findings from recent school-based reproductive health interventions in poor …