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The Resolution Of Unintended Pregnancy Among Female Students At The University Of Ghana, Legon, Angela El-Adas Jan 2007

The Resolution Of Unintended Pregnancy Among Female Students At The University Of Ghana, Legon, Angela El-Adas

Reproductive Health

Little has been done to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of university students regarding unintended pregnancy likely because their middle-class status precludes their being considered a “deprived population.” Female students in tertiary institutions of higher learning are at an age and in a social context that makes them extremely susceptible to unintended pregnancy and the consequences of unsafe abortions. It is necessary to take steps to reduce the incidence of unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortions among this group of “high risk” women. This study sought to investigate the extent of knowledge that female students at the University of Ghana, …


Kenya: Mobilize Health Care Providers To Advocate Against Fgm/C, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2007

Kenya: Mobilize Health Care Providers To Advocate Against Fgm/C, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is illegal in Kenya. The practice has declined slightly, yet it is nearly universal among the Abagusii, a relatively affluent ethnic group residing in the Nyanza province in western Kenya. Half of cut women reported that they had been cut by a health worker, however providers express willingness to advocate against the practice. This study, launched in 2004 by the Population Council’s FRONTIERS Program, examined the role of health providers in FGM/C in Kenya’s Abagusii community. As noted in this brief, the objectives were to understand the motivations behind the medicalization of FGM/C and determine the …


Bolivia: Marketing And Economic Analyses Help Ngos Develop Strategies For Sustainability, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2007

Bolivia: Marketing And Economic Analyses Help Ngos Develop Strategies For Sustainability, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

Many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) face reduced funding for reproductive health services and are seeking ways to assess and enhance their ability to generate income to cover their service costs. In 2004, following a workshop on financial sustainability presented by the Population Council’s FRONTIERS Program, three Bolivian NGOs—Prosalud; the Center for Research, Education, and Services (CIES); and the Association of Rural Health Programs (APSAR)—developed operations research studies to improve their financial sustainability. The Prosalud and CIES studies included a cost-recovery study, a study measuring clients’ willingness to pay for services, and a market segmentation study to compare the NGOs’ services with …


Bangladesh: Rh Curriculum Enhances Vocational Students' Knowledge And Behavior, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2007

Bangladesh: Rh Curriculum Enhances Vocational Students' Knowledge And Behavior, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

In 2004, the Population Council’s FRONTIERS Program and the Bangladesh Ministry of Youth and Sports collaborated on an intervention to introduce reproductive health education into government-run vocational-training courses. The training, offered to males and females aged 15–30, includes livestock husbandry, electronics, and secretarial work. The intervention built upon the positive results of the 1999 Bangladesh Youth Reproductive Health Study, which introduced a life-skills curriculum into secondary schools. The interactive reproductive health curriculum was modified to suit older adolescents and youth attending courses at vocational training centers. Topics included reproductive biology, family planning, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, critical thinking, and negotiation …


South Africa: Improve Facility Management To Increase Nurse Retention, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2007

South Africa: Improve Facility Management To Increase Nurse Retention, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

South Africa’s medical infrastructure is relatively well developed, but its maternal mortality rate remains high and numerous studies document poor maternal care. Shortages in nursing staff are a major factor in quality-of-care problems on maternity wards. A Population Council FRONTIERS study of antenatal care in rural clinics in Kwa-Zulu Natal showed that between one-third and one-half of providers interviewed had worked at their clinics for less than a year. In 2004, FRONTIERS followed up on the Kwa-Zulu Natal study to document factors affecting the tenure, motivations, and working conditions of maternal-health nursing staff in three South African provinces. The study …


South Africa: Youth Centers: A Costly Way To Provide Reproductive Health Services, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2007

South Africa: Youth Centers: A Costly Way To Provide Reproductive Health Services, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

Numerous reproductive health programs sponsor youth centers, which provide recreation and job-skills training as a means of attracting young people to seek reproductive health services or information. However, the productivity, cost, and cost-effectiveness of this approach are not clearly documented. In 2000, FRONTIERS conducted a cost analysis as part of a larger study on the effectiveness of three different youth center models in South Africa. The study focused on 8 of the 12 centers included in the larger study, chosen to be representative of each model. All the selected centers offered clinical services, seven also offered reproductive health information or …


Guatemala: On-Site Training And Outreach Increases Demand For And Provision Of Vasectomy, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2007

Guatemala: On-Site Training And Outreach Increases Demand For And Provision Of Vasectomy, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

About one-third of Guatemalan women use modern contraceptives and half of these use female sterilization. Despite the strong demand for permanent methods, vasectomy is used by less than 1 percent of all couples. An ineffective service introduction model contributes to the low use of vasectomy. In the traditional model, doctors are sent to a hospital (often abroad) where a relatively high number of vasectomies are performed, and the trainee performs at least five supervised vasectomies. In their home practice, however, trained doctors frequently find a low demand and, unable to routinely perform vasectomies, soon lose their enthusiasm and surgical skills. …


How Much Will It Cost To Scale Up A Reproductive Health Pilot Project?, Barbara Janowitz, John H. Bratt, Rick Homan, James R. Foreit Jan 2007

How Much Will It Cost To Scale Up A Reproductive Health Pilot Project?, Barbara Janowitz, John H. Bratt, Rick Homan, James R. Foreit

Reproductive Health

Most service-delivery interventions begin as pilot projects. When a pilot study of an intervention is successful, managers begin to think about scaling up the project to new areas. Cost is a critical factor influencing the extent and pace of scale-up. This brief explains how to adapt and modify cost information obtained from a pilot project to estimate scale-up costs. The brief shows why the costs of a pilot project alone are not sufficient to predict costs of scale-up and gives examples of how costs are influenced by factors like economies and diseconomies of scale, resource substitution, and intervention modification. The …


Achieving Synergies In Prevention Through Linking Sexual And Reproductive Health And Hiv Services, Ian Askew Jan 2007

Achieving Synergies In Prevention Through Linking Sexual And Reproductive Health And Hiv Services, Ian Askew

Reproductive Health

Integration, linkages, and synergies are widely used terms among those interested in strengthening the relationship between sexual and reproductive health services and HIV prevention. These conference proceedings explore the terms conceptually and review the wide range of combinations of SRH and HIV prevention services that have been linked or integrated. Several different combinations have proven feasible and acceptable in pilot situations, but there remains a lack of evidence as to their effectiveness in changing behaviors, including preventing HIV transmission. There is also limited experience with scaling up successful models and a need to move beyond a focus on services to …


Hiv/Aids Programming And Sexuality Of Young People Perinatally Infected With Hiv, Harriet Birungi Jan 2007

Hiv/Aids Programming And Sexuality Of Young People Perinatally Infected With Hiv, Harriet Birungi

Reproductive Health

These conference proceedings draw on preliminary data from an ongoing project implemented by TASO Uganda and the Population Council that contributes to the promotion of sexual and reproductive health rights of young people aged 10–19 years perinatally infected with HIV. The key argument is that HIV/AIDS programming in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa will need to acknowledge that the population of young people perinatally infected with HIV is growing and to specifically target that population. HIV/AIDS programming will also address the sexual desires of young people perinatally infected with HIV by providing them with information and practical support to understand …


Mainstreaming And Scaling Up The Kenya Adolescent Reproductive Health Project, Ian Askew, Humphres Evelia Jan 2007

Mainstreaming And Scaling Up The Kenya Adolescent Reproductive Health Project, Ian Askew, Humphres Evelia

Reproductive Health

From 1999–2003, FRONTIERS implemented a Global Agenda program of operations research (OR) projects to address the reproductive health (RH) needs of adolescents in four countries—Bangladesh, Kenya, Mexico, and Senegal. The project was implemented in two districts of Western Province in Kenya and was known as the Kenya Adolescent Reproductive Health Project (KARHP). The project supported a public sector, multisectoral intervention to enhance young people’s knowledge and behavior regarding HIV prevention and RH. Implemented jointly with PATH, this OR project demonstrated that such an intervention could be implemented by the public sector, that it was acceptable to communities, that its influence …


Mainstreaming Adolescent Reproductive Health In Senegal: Enhancing Utilization Of The Findings From The Youth Reproductive Health Project, Nafissatou J. Diop, Anta Fall Diagne Jan 2007

Mainstreaming Adolescent Reproductive Health In Senegal: Enhancing Utilization Of The Findings From The Youth Reproductive Health Project, Nafissatou J. Diop, Anta Fall Diagne

Reproductive Health

From 1999–2003, FRONTIERS implemented a Global Agenda program of operations research projects to address the reproductive health (RH) needs of adolescents in four countries—Bangladesh, Kenya, Mexico, and Senegal. The project was implemented in urban areas of Saint-Louis and Louga, in northwestern Senegal, and was known as Improving the Reproductive Health of Youth in Senegal. The project supported a public-sector, multisectoral intervention to enhance young people’s knowledge and behavior regarding HIV prevention and RH, and systematically tested its feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness, and cost. The intervention had a significant positive impact on young people’s awareness and understanding of RH issues. The pilot …


Assessment: Frontiers Small Grants Program, Koli Banik Jan 2007

Assessment: Frontiers Small Grants Program, Koli Banik

Reproductive Health

This report reviews the Small Grants Program (SGP) implemented by FRONTIERS. It assesses the SGP’s areas of achievements and challenges, and explores the feasibility of using this approach to build capacity in operations research. The report provides ideas for implementing a successful SGP that can deliver high-quality, relevant, and timely information for program design. Although capacity building was not an objective in the FRONTIERS SGP, it did produce some increased capacity after two years. As was found with other small grants programs, the FRONTIERS experience suggests that considerable resources are required to produce good quality research and final products. Program …


Exploring The Choices Of Contraception And Abortion Among Married Couples In Tret, Rural Punjab, Pakistan, Muhammad Shafique Arif, Iram Kamran Jan 2007

Exploring The Choices Of Contraception And Abortion Among Married Couples In Tret, Rural Punjab, Pakistan, Muhammad Shafique Arif, Iram Kamran

Reproductive Health

In Pakistan, the contraceptive prevalence rate is 28 percent, unmet need for family planning services is 33 percent, and unwanted pregnancies are on the rise. A national study showed a fairly high induced abortion rate of 29 per 1,000 married women of reproductive age, and 1 out of 6 pregnancies resulted in induced abortion. This study explored how contraception and induced abortion are perceived as options for avoiding unwanted births by Pakistani men and women, to what extent they deliberately choose one over the other, and the language they use to talk about reproductive behavior decision-making. As noted in this …


Knowledge, Practice, And Coverage (Kpc) Survey: Baseline Report, Bagh District, Munir Afridi, Saman Naz, Nayyer Munir Jan 2007

Knowledge, Practice, And Coverage (Kpc) Survey: Baseline Report, Bagh District, Munir Afridi, Saman Naz, Nayyer Munir

Reproductive Health

The Primary Healthcare Revitalization, Integration, and Decentralization in Earthquake-affected Areas (PRIDE) program is designed to improve primary health-care services and health outcomes for populations in Bagh and Mansehra districts in northern Pakistan that were affected by the devastating earthquake that struck on October 8, 2005. The project aims to strengthen the financial and human resource management capacities of district health authorities and primary health-care providers. Access to and quality of primary health-care services will be improved through an essential package of health services and improved skills of primary health-care personnel. Community demand for quality services will be improved through an …


Knowledge, Practice, And Coverage (Kpc) Survey: Baseline Report, Mansehra District, Munir Afridi, Saman Naz, Nayyer Munir Jan 2007

Knowledge, Practice, And Coverage (Kpc) Survey: Baseline Report, Mansehra District, Munir Afridi, Saman Naz, Nayyer Munir

Reproductive Health

The Primary Healthcare Revitalization, Integration, and Decentralization in Earthquake-affected Areas (PRIDE) program is designed to improve primary health-care services and health outcomes for populations in Bagh and Mansehra districts in northern Pakistan that were affected by the devastating earthquake that struck on October 8, 2005. The project aims to strengthen the financial and human resource management capacities of district health authorities and primary health-care providers. Access to and quality of primary health-care services will be improved through an essential package of health services and improved skills of primary health-care personnel. Community demand for quality services will be improved through an …


Kenya: Begin Community Dialogue On Fgm/C By Discussing Cultural Justification, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2007

Kenya: Begin Community Dialogue On Fgm/C By Discussing Cultural Justification, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

Female genital cutting is strongly supported among the Somali ethnic community in Kenya, and the severest form (infibulation) is primarily practiced. This type of cut is associated with increased incidence and seriousness of obstetric and gynecological problems relative to uncut women and those with less severe forms of FGM/C. As stated in this brief, efforts to encourage abandonment should begin with community discussion about the socio-cultural reasons for cutting. Simultaneously, health-care providers need training in how to manage complications of FGM/C. In 2004, FRONTIERS collaborated with UNICEF on a four-month diagnostic study on FGM/C practices among the Somali community in …


Senegal: Mainstreaming Adolescent Health: Building On Local Support Systems, Frontiers In Reproductive Health Jan 2007

Senegal: Mainstreaming Adolescent Health: Building On Local Support Systems, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

In 1999, FRONTIERS began a three-year collaboration with the World Health Organization, the Center for Research and Training, the Population Training Group, and the Ministries of Health, Education, and Youth to test the feasibility, effectiveness, and cost of school-, clinic-, and community-based interventions to improve the reproductive health of youth aged 10–19. This adolescent reproductive health (ARH) study showed that the multisectoral, multidisciplinary approach increased knowledge about youth reproductive health among young people, the community, schools, and health-care providers. As noted in this brief, one of the guiding principles of the ARH study was to build sustainability through existing institutions, …


Female Genital Mutilation In Kenya: Evidence Links Health Workers To Fgm, Population Council, Gtz Jan 2006

Female Genital Mutilation In Kenya: Evidence Links Health Workers To Fgm, Population Council, Gtz

Reproductive Health

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a traditional practice that affects women and girls in several African countries. It is practiced in a variety of ways, classified by WHO into four broad types all found in Kenya. In some communities it is associated with passage into maturity; in others, it is considered a symbol of ethnic identity, a religious obligation, or a necessary prerequisite for marriage, either through symbolizing attainment of womanhood or as a means of preserving and demonstrating virginity. FGM is considered a harmful traditional practice because it may be associated with a variety of short- and long-term health …


Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 1: Project Overview, Gul Rashida, Peter C. Miller Jan 2006

Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 1: Project Overview, Gul Rashida, Peter C. Miller

Reproductive Health

Maternal mortality in Pakistan is believed to be quite high, at about 350–500 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Reducing maternal mortality is one of the major objectives of the Government of Pakistan. Interventions required to address maternal mortality include safe motherhood, which means a woman’s ability to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project was an operations research project designed to develop and test interventions to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality in a predominantly rural district of Pakistan. The vast majority of maternal deaths are attributed to delays in …


Egypt: Are Egyptian Couples Willing To Stop At Two Children? Results Of The Slow Fertility Transition Survey [Arabic], Population Council Jan 2006

Egypt: Are Egyptian Couples Willing To Stop At Two Children? Results Of The Slow Fertility Transition Survey [Arabic], Population Council

Reproductive Health

No abstract provided.


Building Capacity To Utilize Operations Research: Strategies And Lessons Learned, James R. Foreit Jan 2006

Building Capacity To Utilize Operations Research: Strategies And Lessons Learned, James R. Foreit

Reproductive Health

The effectiveness of development assistance depends on good decision-making. Many donors and international health agencies such as USAID, DFID, and WHO are placing more emphasis on the utilization of research results for policy and program development. Yet, while there is a long tradition of training researchers to produce research, there are few lessons on how to teach managers to request and use research results for making program decisions. Addressing this gap has been a major strategy of the Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program (FRONTIERS). Since its inception in 1998, FRONTIERS has complemented its support for operations research (OR) …


Tuko Pamoja: Adolescent Reproductive Health And Life Skills Curriculum, Path, Population Council Jan 2006

Tuko Pamoja: Adolescent Reproductive Health And Life Skills Curriculum, Path, Population Council

Reproductive Health

As they move through adolescence, young people begin to have different kinds of relationships with their peers, family members, and adults; good communication and other skills can help ensure that these relationships are satisfying and mutually respectful. Young people need to learn to manage new feelings about sexuality to make responsible decisions about their health, reproduction, and parenthood. This manual, the second edition of the Kenya Adolescent Reproductive Health Curriculum, is for teachers; community, religious, and youth group leaders; health care professionals; and anyone working with young people. The curriculum is designed to delay sexual debut and promote sexual and …


Systematic Screening: A Strategy For Determining And Meeting Clients' Reproductive Health Needs, James R. Foreit Jan 2006

Systematic Screening: A Strategy For Determining And Meeting Clients' Reproductive Health Needs, James R. Foreit

Reproductive Health

Systematic screening is a strategy to integrate reproductive health services at the provider level. Integration is the proactive provision of multiple reproductive health services in the same facility at the same time. Systematic screening is a simple intervention to increase the number of services received at a single client visit. In this strategy, providers use a checklist or questionnaire to identify each client’s needs and desires for reproductive health services. They then provide these services during the same visit, through an appointment at the same clinic, or through referral to another facility. The Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program …


Cómo Identificar Y Satisfacer La Necesidad De Servicios Adicionales: Manual Para Gerentes, Ricardo Vernon, James R. Foreit, Emma Ottolenghi Jan 2006

Cómo Identificar Y Satisfacer La Necesidad De Servicios Adicionales: Manual Para Gerentes, Ricardo Vernon, James R. Foreit, Emma Ottolenghi

Reproductive Health

Este manual está diseñado para ayudar a los encargados de tomar decisiones, los administradores, los supervisores y los proveedores de programas a introducir la detección sistemática en sus servicios de salud. La detección sistemática puede mejorar la salud de la mujer al abordar múltiples necesidades no satisfechas de servicios de salud reproductiva y otros. Este manual proporciona: actividades necesarias para implementar una detección sistemática; cómo seleccionar las instalaciones, los servicios que se examinarán y quién lo hará; desarrollo, adaptación y pruebas preliminares de listas de verificación de detección sistemática; asesoramiento para capacitar a los evaluadores/proveedores y supervisores; y un esquema …


Make Better Use Of Provider Time In Public Health Clinics, Barbara Janowitz Jan 2006

Make Better Use Of Provider Time In Public Health Clinics, Barbara Janowitz

Reproductive Health

Funding for reproductive health services is stagnant or declining globally, yet population projections, particularly in Africa, indicate that demand for services will increase in the near term. Between 2002 and 2025, for example, the population of women of childbearing age (15–49) is expected to increase by 2 percent annually in sub-Saharan Africa. With this growth will come increased demand for contraception, and other reproductive health services such as antenatal care, safe birthing services, and postpartum care for mothers and children. Concern about increasing demand for services has led program managers to examine the productivity and costs of existing programs. While …


Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 2: The Interventions, Abdul Wajid, Zakir Hussain Shah, Ashfa Hashmi, Zeba Tasneem, Lubna Shireen Jan 2006

Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 2: The Interventions, Abdul Wajid, Zakir Hussain Shah, Ashfa Hashmi, Zeba Tasneem, Lubna Shireen

Reproductive Health

The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project, an operations research project designed to develop and test interventions to reduce maternal, perinatal, and neonatal mortality and morbidity in predominantly rural districts of Pakistan, was a three-year project (2003 to 2006) funded by the European Union. The study area was in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan; the control area was in the district of Layyah. The project focused on three areas to accomplish its goals: empowering women to seek appropriate and timely general, maternal, and newborn care; supporting methods that encourage men to play a positive and active role …


Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 3: Changes In Knowledge And Behavior Of Women And Families, Muhammad Shafique Arif, Peter C. Miller, Nayyer Munir, Irfan Masood Jan 2006

Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 3: Changes In Knowledge And Behavior Of Women And Families, Muhammad Shafique Arif, Peter C. Miller, Nayyer Munir, Irfan Masood

Reproductive Health

The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project was conceived as an operations research project designed to test the effectiveness of two different strategies for improving maternal and neonatal health in Pakistan. To evaluate the results of this test, several types of evaluative research were conducted, including qualitative studies of various types, health systems assessments, evaluations of specific components, and household surveys. The household surveys are the subject of this report, which is Report 3 (Changes in knowledge and behavior of women and families) in a series of six. The surveys are two types: a large-scale, before-after household survey …


Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 4: Knowledge And Behaviour Of Service Providers, Zakir Hussain Shah, Saima Pervaiz Jan 2006

Safe Motherhood Applied Research And Training (Smart) Report 4: Knowledge And Behaviour Of Service Providers, Zakir Hussain Shah, Saima Pervaiz

Reproductive Health

The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project was an operations research project designed to develop and test interventions to reduce maternal, perinatal, and neonatal mortality and morbidity in predominantly rural districts of Pakistan. The study area was in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan; the control area was in the district of Layyah. The project focused on three areas: empowering women to seek appropriate and timely general, maternal, and newborn care; supporting methods that encourage men to play a positive and active role in decision-making and seeking care for their families in matters relating to maternal and newborn …


Testing The Effectiveness Of Integrating Community-Based Approaches For Encouraging Abandonment Of Female Genital Cutting Into Care's Reproductive Health Programs In Ethiopia And Kenya, Jane Chege, Ian Askew, Susan Igras, Jacinta Muteshi-Strachan Jan 2004

Testing The Effectiveness Of Integrating Community-Based Approaches For Encouraging Abandonment Of Female Genital Cutting Into Care's Reproductive Health Programs In Ethiopia And Kenya, Jane Chege, Ian Askew, Susan Igras, Jacinta Muteshi-Strachan

Reproductive Health

CARE International, with technical support from the Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program completed a study in Ethiopia and Kenya designed to test the effectiveness of education activities using behavior change communication (BCC) approaches and advocacy activities by religious and other key leaders to abandon female genital cutting (FGC). In Ethiopia, the increased knowledge of harmful FGC effects and human rights issues translated to a positive attitude in support of FGC abandonment and an intention not to cut their daughters in the future. In Kenya, the analysis indicated mixed results in attitude and intended behavior change.