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Reproductive Health

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Kenya Update: Frontiers Adolescent Reproductive Health Project, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2001

Kenya Update: Frontiers Adolescent Reproductive Health Project, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

The Kenya Adolescent Reproductive Health Project (KARHP) was launched in October 1999 in Busia and Vihiga districts as a three-year operations research study to determine the feasibility, cost, and effectiveness of implementing systematic interventions that address the reproductive health (RH) needs of adolescents aged 10–19 years. This USAID-funded project is part of the Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program’s global operations research. PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health) is implementing the project, in collaboration with the Ministries of Health, Education, and Home Affairs, Heritage, and Sports. The objective of the study is to establish the effectiveness of interventions …


Reproductive Tract Infections: A Guide For Programme Managers, Sarah Hawkes, Anjali Nayyar, Johannes Van Dam, Kevin R. O'Reilly, Bidia Deperthes, Dinesh Agarwal Jan 2001

Reproductive Tract Infections: A Guide For Programme Managers, Sarah Hawkes, Anjali Nayyar, Johannes Van Dam, Kevin R. O'Reilly, Bidia Deperthes, Dinesh Agarwal

Reproductive Health

Reproductive tract infections (RTIs) including sexually transmitted infections represent a silent worldwide pandemic that adversely impacts the reproductive health (RH) of women and men. Various community- and hospital-based studies in India have provided insights into the magnitude of the problem. The International Conference on Population and Development (1994) emphasized integration of RH services to meet the needs of men and women especially with prevention and management of RTIs/STIs. The emergence of HIV and the identification of STIs as a risk factor for the spread of HIV have further lent a sense of urgency for a programmatic response to address this …


South Africa: Providers Should Encourage Sexually Active Youth To Use Condoms, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2001

South Africa: Providers Should Encourage Sexually Active Youth To Use Condoms, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

To assess the effectiveness of youth centers in reaching adolescents with reproductive health information, life skills, and services, the Reproductive Health Research Unit in KwaZulu Natal and the Population Council conducted an assessment of 12 youth centers and their affiliated peer education programs. The centers were run by the KwaZulu Natal Department of Health, the loveLife program, and the Youth and Adolescent Reproductive Health Program. Researchers also examined young people’s use of condoms as protection against pregnancy and HIV/AIDS. Data sources for this study, conducted in 2000, were an inventory of youth center services, interviews with center staff and clients, …


South Africa: Who Uses Youth Centers And Why?, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2001

South Africa: Who Uses Youth Centers And Why?, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

In 2000, the Reproductive Health Research Unit in KwaZulu Natal and the Population Council conducted an assessment of 12 youth centers and 7 affiliated peer education programs. The 12 centers, located in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas, offer very different services. The two centers of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health focus on providing reproductive health (RH) information and services to adolescents. The six centers of the Youth and Adolescent Reproductive Health Project provide a broader range of youth-friendly RH services, including counseling and life skills education, as well as modest recreational activities. The four centers run by loveLife have large …


Zambia: Peer Educators Can Promote Safer Sex Behaviors, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2001

Zambia: Peer Educators Can Promote Safer Sex Behaviors, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

Zambian adolescents are at high risk of unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and HIV infection due to early sexual initiation, low use of contraceptives and condoms, and other high-risk sexual behaviors. During 1996–1998, CARE Zambia and the Population Council conducted a study to test community-based approaches to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health. CARE Zambia talked to adolescents in four communities outside Lusaka. Using participatory learning and action techniques, researchers identified factors leading to high-risk sexual behaviors, including lack of economic, recreational, and educational opportunities for youth. This information helped to design the study. Two interventions—condom distribution by peer …


Zambia: Los Educadores Juveniles Pueden Promover Comportamientos Sexuales Más Seguros, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2001

Zambia: Los Educadores Juveniles Pueden Promover Comportamientos Sexuales Más Seguros, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

Los adolescentes de Zambia corren un alto riesgo de embarazos no deseados, infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS) e infección por el VIH debido a la iniciación sexual temprana, el bajo uso de anticonceptivos y condones, y otros comportamientos sexuales de alto riesgo. Durante 1996–98, CARE Zambia, con el apoyo del Population Council, realizó un estudio para probar estrategias comunitarias para mejorar la salud sexual y reproductiva de los adolescentes. CARE Zambia habló con los adolescentes de cuatro comunidades ubicadas fuera de Lusaka. Los investigadores identificaron, mediante técnicas de aprendizaje y acción participativos, un gran número de factores que producen comportamientos …


Extending Operations Research To Social Marketing Programs, Teresa De Vargas Jan 2001

Extending Operations Research To Social Marketing Programs, Teresa De Vargas

Reproductive Health

CEMOPLAF of Quito, Ecuador sells reproductive health products to pharmacies and other outlets to contribute to its sustainability. However, the nonprofit agency lacked basic information regarding the program’s profitability, niche, and quality. Operations research was conducted to provide this information, including a financial analysis of the marketing program and two market research studies. Each study included a capacity-building component so that CEMOPLAF could conduct similar research in the future without technical assistance. A regional conference attended by nongovernmental organizations provided an opportunity to share sustainability tools and lessons learned.


Operations Research In Reproductive Health And Family Planning At The Cairo Demographic Center, Magdi A. Ibrahim, James R. Foreit, M.E. Khan Jan 2001

Operations Research In Reproductive Health And Family Planning At The Cairo Demographic Center, Magdi A. Ibrahim, James R. Foreit, M.E. Khan

Reproductive Health

This report evaluates the effectiveness of a two-year training program at the Cairo Demographic Center to increase the number of researchers using operations research (OR), and to help institutionalize the ability of the Center to offer training in operations research in reproductive health. It also provides feedback for OR curriculum development. The project trained researchers with program and policymaking responsibilities and provided participants with the experience of designing an OR project, and built participants’ skills in communicating research results to managers. Participant evaluations showed that, overall, the course met its objectives. The training that the students received in OR has …


An Assessment Of Selected Sub-Systems Of The Egyptian Norplant® Program, Fatma El-Zanaty, Laila Nawar, Ramadan Hamed Jan 2001

An Assessment Of Selected Sub-Systems Of The Egyptian Norplant® Program, Fatma El-Zanaty, Laila Nawar, Ramadan Hamed

Reproductive Health

The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population and FRONTIERS discussed the need for investigating service delivery aspects of the Egyptian NORPLANT® program. This study emerged from those consultations. The study provides a comprehensive assessment of the program: how services are administered and used through the ongoing Introduction Program as it approaches five years of operation. The report lists major findings with program implications and offers recommendations regarding quality of care; tracking and locating NORPLANT® users; program sustainability; and information, education, and communication strategies.


Setting Prices For Reproductive Health Services In A Public Hospital In Guatemala, John H. Bratt, Adrian Valdez, Roberto Molina, Mario Alfaro, Marco Antonio Barrientos, Carlos Brambila, Werner Figueroa Jan 2001

Setting Prices For Reproductive Health Services In A Public Hospital In Guatemala, John H. Bratt, Adrian Valdez, Roberto Molina, Mario Alfaro, Marco Antonio Barrientos, Carlos Brambila, Werner Figueroa

Reproductive Health

The Hospital Roosevelt is Guatemala’s largest hospital, and serves as a referral and training facility for the entire country. Within the Hospital Roosevelt, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology established a Reproductive Health Unit (RHU) to offer family planning information and services to obstetrics inpatients and OB/GYN outpatient clients, and to serve as a training site for medical residents completing their OB/GYN rotations. Hospital administrators requested assistance from the Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS) program to help establish a fee schedule for the RHU, with the goal of paying its own personnel costs after one year of operation. The FRONTIERS …


Expansion Of Postpartum/Postabortion Contraception In Honduras, Ruth Medina, Ricardo Vernon, Irma Mendoza, Claudia Aguilar Jan 2001

Expansion Of Postpartum/Postabortion Contraception In Honduras, Ruth Medina, Ricardo Vernon, Irma Mendoza, Claudia Aguilar

Reproductive Health

The Honduran Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Population Council’s INOPAL III Project tested the acceptability of postpartum/postabortion contraception at the Escuela Hospital, the largest in the country. The project showed that more than 30 percent of the women seen for a delivery or a complication due to abortion, were interested in adopting a contraceptive method prior to discharge from the hospital. Given the success of the project, the MOH asked the Population Council’s FRONTIERS program for technical and financial support to extend those services to five additional hospitals in the country. Important improvements were found for the four indicators …


Promoting Reproductive Health Services In Rural Communities In Honduras, Irma Mendoza, Ricardo Vernon Jan 2001

Promoting Reproductive Health Services In Rural Communities In Honduras, Irma Mendoza, Ricardo Vernon

Reproductive Health

Using the results of a previous operations research study, the Ministry of Health of Honduras recently changed the National Women’s Health Service Delivery Guidelines to explicitly authorize nurse auxiliaries to insert IUDs, deliver Depo-Provera, and take Pap smears. These services are new to the rural communities served by rural health centers (RHCs). The objective of this project was to test whether the demand for these newly introduced services would increase if a promotional brochure was distributed in the surrounding communities by the RHC’s clients among potentially interested friends in these communities. The study found that the intervention that was tested …


An Assessment Of Youth Centres In South Africa, Annabel Erulkar, Mags Beksinska, Queen Cebekhulu Jan 2001

An Assessment Of Youth Centres In South Africa, Annabel Erulkar, Mags Beksinska, Queen Cebekhulu

Reproductive Health

Within South Africa there is much interest in expanding youth center programs, particularly in the nongovernmental sector, in part because of recognition that the HIV/AIDS crisis is disproportionately affecting young South Africans. This study was designed to give implementing agencies and donors a broad view of how the youth centers function, who they reach, and the quality of information and services. The assessment underscored the importance of monitoring the performance of programs and understanding who is being reached with what interventions. Youth centers that focus on providing recreational facilities attract a large number of clients, often boys who are repeat …


An Assessment Of The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council's Community Based Distribution Programme, Baker Ndugga Maggwa, Ian Askew, Caroline S. Marangwanda, Ronika Nyakauru, Barbara Janowitz Jan 2001

An Assessment Of The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council's Community Based Distribution Programme, Baker Ndugga Maggwa, Ian Askew, Caroline S. Marangwanda, Ronika Nyakauru, Barbara Janowitz

Reproductive Health

Since its inception, the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council’s (ZNFPC) community-based distribution (CBD) program has made significant and well-documented contributions to the demand for and use of family planning in Zimbabwe. Data from several studies have shown, however, a steady decline in this contribution and that the CBD agents spend more time resupplying existing clients than recruiting new acceptors. Moreover, the CBD program urgently needs to be able to address the AIDS crisis in the country. ZNFPC has undertaken this review to guide it in making appropriate decisions about the future direction of the program, allowing CBDs to have a …


An Assessment Of The Alternative Rites Approach For Encouraging Abandonment Of Female Genital Mutilation In Kenya, Jane Chege, Ian Askew, Jennifer Liku Jan 2001

An Assessment Of The Alternative Rites Approach For Encouraging Abandonment Of Female Genital Mutilation In Kenya, Jane Chege, Ian Askew, Jennifer Liku

Reproductive Health

Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (MYWO), with technical assistance from the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), has been implementing an Alternative Rite of passage programme as part of its efforts to eradicate the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in five districts in Kenya. This study addressed the factors that influence some families and individuals to adopt the Alternative Rite while others, exposed to the same messages discouraging FGM, decide not to. It also evaluated the effect of the training component of the Alternative Rite on the girls who participated.


Strengthening Social Science Research On Women's Health: Lessons Learned From A Capacity Building Programme, M.E. Khan, Bella C. Patel, John Townsend Jan 2001

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 …


Special Studies Program Of The Pilot Health Project: West Bank And Gaza, Mahmoud Shaheen, Laila Nawar, Dale Huntington, Sahar Hegazi Jan 2001

Special Studies Program Of The Pilot Health Project: West Bank And Gaza, Mahmoud Shaheen, Laila Nawar, Dale Huntington, Sahar Hegazi

Reproductive Health

The Special Studies Program was implemented as part of the Pilot Health Project in the West Bank and Gaza to provide small grants to Palestinian researchers, research organizations, and advanced graduate students to conduct research that examines critical reproductive health topics related to maternal and child health care, including family planning. The research implemented under the Special Studies Program covered a range of topics including male involvement in reproductive health, clients' satisfaction with family planning programs, the relationship between early marriage and the delivery of premature infants, factors affecting compliance for iron supplementation, and diabetes mellitus during pregnancy. The research …


Diverse Realities: Understanding Sexually Transmitted Infections And Hiv In India, Sarah Hawkes, K.G. Santhya Jan 2001

Diverse Realities: Understanding Sexually Transmitted Infections And Hiv In India, Sarah Hawkes, K.G. Santhya

Reproductive Health

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, currently have high salience on the health care agendas of many countries, including India. Strategies for their control are ideally based on a number of well-recognised principles. These include: assessments of the burden of disease; the availability of interventions at policy and programme levels, to influence behaviour change and technical ‘solutions’; and the calculated cost-effectiveness of these interventions. In the case of India, data to inform these principles are often lacking in the case of STI control. In this paper we have reviewed the evidence base for STI control in the Indian context. The …


Men As Supportive Partners In Reproductive Health: Moving From Rhetoric To Reality, Saraswati Raju, Ann Leonard Jan 2000

Men As Supportive Partners In Reproductive Health: Moving From Rhetoric To Reality, Saraswati Raju, Ann Leonard

Reproductive Health

This book builds on presentations of the Workshop on Men as Supportive Partners in Reproductive and Sexual Health held in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1998. By analyzing the experiences of nongovernmental organizations across India, this publication reviews important concerns that should inform the discourse on male partnership. The previous views of reaching men as contraceptive users and removing them as impediments to women’s efforts to control fertility are too limited. The argument is not whether men and women should use family planning, but rather the extent to which men can become supportive of women’s reproductive and sexual rights and actively take …


Sexual And Reproductive Health And Health Sector Reform In Latin America And The Caribbean: Challenges And Opportunities, Ana Langer, Gustavo Nigenda, Sandra G. Garcia, Rosario Valdez, Emanuel Orozco, Jennifer Catino Jan 2000

Sexual And Reproductive Health And Health Sector Reform In Latin America And The Caribbean: Challenges And Opportunities, Ana Langer, Gustavo Nigenda, Sandra G. Garcia, Rosario Valdez, Emanuel Orozco, Jennifer Catino

Reproductive Health

Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are at varying stages of a reform process to improve the response capacity of health systems by upgrading the effectiveness and sustainability of programs and services. Changes promoted by the reform focus on priority health needs and underprivileged society groups. Some problems, such as sexual and reproductive health (SRH), can be tackled with cost-effective technologies. Reform projects offer a unique opportunity to reconsider policies, programs, and services aimed at facing the issues encompassed in the term SRH. Nonetheless, the formulation of a strategy and the identification of concrete measures represent a …


Critical Analysis Of Interventions Against Fgc In Egypt, Nahla G. Abdel-Tawab, Sahar Hegazi Jan 2000

Critical Analysis Of Interventions Against Fgc In Egypt, Nahla G. Abdel-Tawab, Sahar Hegazi

Reproductive Health

Community-based programs designed to discourage the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in Egypt started as early as the 1920s, however, NGOs seldom document the implementation, strengths, and weaknesses of each approach; or difficulties faced in implementation or ways of overcoming those difficulties. The present meta-assessment was designed by the Population Council to address these issues. Recommendations proposed to increase the effectiveness of anti-FGC interventions in Egypt include: conducting formative research to assess the needs of individuals/communities; using more participatory learning techniques in awareness-raising seminars and training workshops; focusing messages not only on the health hazards of FGC, but also …


Burkina Faso And Mali: Female Genital Cutting Harms Women's Health, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2000

Burkina Faso And Mali: Female Genital Cutting Harms Women's Health, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

In collaboration with the Ministries of Health (MOH) of Burkina Faso and Mali, the Population Council conducted two studies in 1998 to describe the occurrence and severity of health problems related to female genital cutting (FGC). Study participants were consenting women who received a pelvic exam during prenatal, family planning (FP), obstetric, or gynecological consultations at MOH clinics. Providers were trained to observe the types and complications of FGC. To assess their potential role as change agents, providers in Mali also received training on the health effects of FGC and client counseling. In Burkina Faso, health providers recorded information on …


Burkina Faso Et Mali: L'Excision Compromet La Santé Des Femmes, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2000

Burkina Faso Et Mali: L'Excision Compromet La Santé Des Femmes, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

No abstract provided.


Indonesia: Coordinated Studies Are Needed To Access Trends, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2000

Indonesia: Coordinated Studies Are Needed To Access Trends, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

In 1999, the Population Council/Indonesia conducted a critical review of 11 Indonesian surveys and studies that measured various indicators of maternal and child health (MCH) between 1996 and 1999. Many of these studies tried to link these indicators with the nation’s economic crisis that began in July 1997, however attributing changes in MCH indicators to the economic crisis may be misleading. Population Council staff sought to explain how these studies came up with divergent findings. As noted in this brief, longitudinal studies with consistent indicators and representative study populations are needed to identify changes in MCH indicators.


Indonésie: Des Études Coordonnées Sont Nécessaires Á L'Évaluation Des Tendances, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2000

Indonésie: Des Études Coordonnées Sont Nécessaires Á L'Évaluation Des Tendances, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

No abstract provided.


Meeting Women's Health Care Needs After Abortion, Dale Huntington Jan 2000

Meeting Women's Health Care Needs After Abortion, Dale Huntington

Reproductive Health

Women who seek emergency treatment for abortion complications—bleeding, infection, and injuries to the reproductive tract system—should be a priority group for reproductive health care programs. These women often receive poor-quality services that do not address their multiple health needs. They may be discharged without counseling on postoperative recuperation, family planning (FP), or other reproductive health (RH) issues. Women who have had an induced abortion due to an unwanted pregnancy are likely to have a repeat abortion unless they receive appropriate FP counseling and services. Preventing repeat unsafe abortions is important for RH programs because it saves women's lives, protects women’s …


From The Home To The Clinic: The Next Chapter In Bangladesh's Family Planning Success Story Rural Sites, Linda Bates, Md. Khairul Islam, Sidney Ruth Schuler, Md. Alauddinn Jan 2000

From The Home To The Clinic: The Next Chapter In Bangladesh's Family Planning Success Story Rural Sites, Linda Bates, Md. Khairul Islam, Sidney Ruth Schuler, Md. Alauddinn

Reproductive Health

This study reports on Bangladesh’s new program model for reproductive health service delivery and people's reactions to it. NGOs in Bangladesh have discontinued door-to-door contraceptive distribution in response to the government’s integrated, clinic-focused approach. The findings from this study strongly support these policy changes: clients and communities are responding favorably to many aspects of the new model, and there do not seem to be intractable social barriers to service utilization. As the NGOs and the Bangladesh government proceed with implementation of the integrated, essential health services model, additional strategies will be needed to erode the paternalistic service delivery culture that …


Intra-Household Decision-Making On Health And Resource Allocation In Borgou, Bénin, Pierre Ngom, Salome Wawire, Timothee Gandaho, Pierre Klissou, Toussaint Adjimon, Mbaye Seye, Emile Akouanou, Laurie Winter Jan 2000

Intra-Household Decision-Making On Health And Resource Allocation In Borgou, Bénin, Pierre Ngom, Salome Wawire, Timothee Gandaho, Pierre Klissou, Toussaint Adjimon, Mbaye Seye, Emile Akouanou, Laurie Winter

Reproductive Health

The African Population and Health Research Centre carried out this study, with support from FRONTIERS and USAID, in order to inform Benin’s Projet Intégré en Santé Familiale (Integrated Project on Family Health—PROSAF) about socio-cultural factors in Borgou that can impede health improvements. More specifically, the study aimed to identify key players in household decisionmaking processes, map out patterns of health-seeking behavior, elucidate how such patterns are associated with prevailing health services utilization, assess community valuation of existing health services and products, and recommend to PROSAF approaches to identified target groups for their intervention. The findings indicate that for all the …


Integrating Issues Of Sexuality Into Egyptian Family Planning Counseling, Nahla G. Abdel-Tawab, Laila Nawar, Hala Youssef, Dale Huntington Jan 2000

Integrating Issues Of Sexuality Into Egyptian Family Planning Counseling, Nahla G. Abdel-Tawab, Laila Nawar, Hala Youssef, Dale Huntington

Reproductive Health

The Population Council studied the acceptability of including sexuality issues in family planning (FP) in Egypt, a conservative society with social restrictions around discussions of sex. The study results showed that sexuality counseling is acceptable to family planning clients in Egypt; in fact, sexuality-related problems and concerns were found to be very common in the study group. Similarly, training family planning service providers on issues of sexuality is both feasible and acceptable to providers. The report offers recommendations for refining existing FP training programs and services including: integrating issues of sexuality into FP counseling, training FP service providers on the …


Increasing The Coverage Of Reproductive Health Issues In The Egyptian Press, Sahar Hegazi, Mona Khalifa Jan 2000

Increasing The Coverage Of Reproductive Health Issues In The Egyptian Press, Sahar Hegazi, Mona Khalifa

Reproductive Health

This project, based on previous experiments of the FRONTIERS and POLICY projects, aimed to widen media coverage in Egypt of critical reproductive health issues and to communicate related research findings in a more systematic manner. Increasing coverage in the Egyptian press first required an assessment of the current coverage. Second, a network was formed of about 20 journalists from newspapers and magazines of different publishing houses, followed by four roundtable discussions on critical reproductive health issues. The results of evaluation sheets from the roundtable discussions showed a general increase in the journalists’ knowledge about reproductive health issues, especially for important …