Round Up: New development paradigms post-2015
(Source: Reproductive Health Matters)
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: research
In Memoriam: Sunila Abeysekera
(Source: Reproductive Health Matters)
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: research
Bookshelf: When maternity doesn’t matter: dispersing pregnant women seeking asylum: by Rayah Feldman, Maternity Action and the Refugee Council, London, UK, 2013
This report however shows very clearly that there are groups of women who are receiving care that is way below even minimum expected standards… It is shocking that in a country which, arguably, has one of the best maternity services in the world more is not being done to prevent such vulnerable women being denied high quality care. (Source: Reproductive Health Matters)
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: research
Changes in pregnancy and childbirth practices in remote areas in Lao PDR within two generations of women: implications for maternity services
Abstract: This paper sheds light on the inter-generational changes in pregnancy and childbirth practices in remote areas of Lao PDR over a period of 30 years. The study consisted of focus group discussions with pregnant women aged 14–30, mothers and fathers of small children, and older women aged 40+ in six rural communities in two districts. Childbirth practices were gradually evolving and changing – most dramatically illustrated by the transition from forest-based to home-based delivery, and a few health facility-based deliveries when complications occurred. Today’s generation of women aged 40+ did not recommend al...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Helle M Alvesson, Magnus Lindelow, Bouasavanh Khanthaphat, Lucie Laflamme Source Type: research
Discrepancies between national maternal mortality data and international estimates: the experience of Papua New Guinea
In this study, we compared 2009 facility-based survey data with figures from the national Health Information System records. The comparison revealed similar maternal mortality ratios: for provincial hospitals (245 and 295), government health centres (574 and 386), church agency health centres (624 and 624), and nationally (394 and 438). Synthesizing these estimates for supervised births in facilities and data on unsupervised births from a community-based survey in one province indicates a national MMR of about 500. Knowing the maternal mortality ratio is a necessary starting point for working out how to reduce it.Résumé:...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Glen Mola, Barry Kirby Source Type: research
Bookshelf: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: a statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change: United Nations Children’s Fund, New York, July 2013 ISBN: 978-92-806-4703-7
The adoption by consensus of the United Nations General Assembly resolution Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilations in December 2012 is a testimony to the increased commitment by all countries to end this harmful practice. Evidence played a major part in bringing the resolution to fruition, and it will continue to play a central role in global efforts to eliminate the practice. (Source: Reproductive Health Matters)
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: research
Mobilizing women at the grassroots to shape health policy: a case study of the Global Campaign for Microbicides
Abstract: Competition to advance issues on public policy agendas is constant. Political scientists agree that professional "policy entrepreneurs" (researchers, academics, and bureaucrats) serve as conduits in this process. Grassroots advocacy has always been part of the political landscape as non-professional people also take on the role of policy advocates or activists, to get specific problems and preferred solutions onto public and policy agendas and motivate policymakers to take action. The contribution of grassroots advocacy to significant policy changes is often under-funded because its impacts are hard to isolate an...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Anna Forbes Source Type: research
Brazilians have different views on when abortion should be legal, but most do not agree with imprisoning women for abortion
Abstract: Unsafe abortions remain a major public health problem in countries with very restrictive abortion laws. In Brazil, parliamentarians − who have the power to change the law − are influenced by “public opinion”, often obtained through surveys and opinion polls. This paper presents the findings from two studies. One was carried out in February–December 2010 among 1,660 public servants and the other in February–July 2011 with 874 medical students from three medical schools, both in São Paulo State, Brazil. Both groups of respondents were asked two sets of questions to obtain their opinion about abortion: ...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Aníbal Faúndes, Graciana Alves Duarte, Maria Helena de Sousa, Rodrigo Paupério Soares Camargo, Rodolfo Carvalho Pacagnella Source Type: research
Bookshelf: South Africa: Death and Dying in the Eastern Cape – An investigation into the collapse of a health system: A special report of the TAC/SECTION27 NSP Review by the Treatment Action Campaign and Section 27: Catalysts for Social Justice, South Africa 2013
This report is about rights and wrongs. The unnecessary death of one-year old baby Ikho is wrong. The suffering of Lindeka Gxala and the gross violations of her dignity and privacy are wrong. (Source: Reproductive Health Matters)
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: research
The Kenyan national response to internationally agreed sexual and reproductive health and rights goals: a case study of three policies
Abstract: While priorities for, and decision-making processes on, sexual and reproductive health and rights have been determined and led mainly at the international level, conflicting power dynamics and responses at the national level in some countries have continued to pose challenges for operationalising international agreements. This paper demonstrates how these conflicts have played out in Kenya through an analysis of three policy-making processes, which led to the Adolescent Reproductive Health and Development Policy (2003), the Sexual Offences Act (2006), and the National Reproductive Health Policy (2007). The paper ...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Rose N Oronje Source Type: research
Reproductive health financing in Kenya: an analysis of national commitments, donor assistance, and the resources tracking process
Abstract: Understanding the flow of resources at the country level to reproductive health is essential for effective financing of this key component of health. This paper gives a comprehensive picture of the allocation of resources for reproductive health in Kenya and the challenges faced in the resource-tracking process. Data are drawn from Kenyan budget estimates, reproductive health accounts, and the Resource Flows Project database and compare budgets and spending in 2005–06 with 2009–10. Despite policies and programmes in place since 1994, services for family planning, maternity care and infant and child health fac...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Estelle M Sidze, Jalandhar Pradhan, Erik Beekink, Thomas M Maina, Beatrice W Maina Source Type: research
A global social contract to reduce maternal mortality: the human rights arguments and the case of Uganda
Abstract: Progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5a, reducing maternal deaths by 75% between 1990 and 2015, has been substantial; however, it has been too slow to hope for its achievement by 2015, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, including Uganda. This suggests that both the Government of Uganda and the international community are failing to comply with their right-to-health-related obligations towards the people of Uganda. This country case study explores some of the key issues raised when assessing national and international right-to-health-related obligations. We argue that to comply with their shared obligatio...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Gorik Ooms, Moses Mulumba, Rachel Hammonds, Abdul Latif Laila, Attiya Waris, Lisa Forman Source Type: research
Book Review: What’s next, locusts? Pooja Bhatia, from London Review of Books 2013;35(10/23 May):33–34.
In January 2010, Jonathan Katz was working in Haiti for the Associated Press, the only American news organisation with a permanent bureau there. Other foreign journalists lived there, and a few more flew in for elections and catastrophes, but for the most part Haiti coverage had become a casualty of slashed budgets at dying newspapers and magazines. Covering a small, destitute island no longer made economic sense. It was a tough gig for a freelancer, owing to the high cost of living and the necessity of speaking Creole, or hiring a translator. I managed on a fellowship, and over the years Katz and I became friends. (Source...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: research
From Millennium Development Goals to post-2015 sustainable development: sexual and reproductive health and rights in an evolving aid environment
Abstract: Using research from country case studies, this paper offers insights into the range of institutional and structural changes in development assistance between 2005 and 2011, and their impact on the inclusion of a sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda in national planning environments. At a global level during this period, donors supported more integrative modalities of aid – sector wide approaches, poverty reduction strategy papers, direct budgetary support – with greater use of economic frameworks in decision-making. The Millennium Development Goals brought heightened attention to maternal mortalit...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Peter S Hill, Dale Huntington, Rebecca Dodd, Michael Buttsworth Source Type: research
Act global, but think local: accountability at the frontlines
Abstract: There is a worrying divergence between the way that sexual and reproductive health and rights problems and solutions are framed in advocacy at the global level and the complex reality that people experience in health services on the ground. An analysis of approaches to accountability used in advocacy at these different levels highlights the different assumptions at play as to how change happens. This paper makes the case for a reinvigorated approach to accountability that begins with the dynamics of power at the frontlines, where people encounter health providers and institutions. Conventional approaches to accou...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - November 1, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Lynn P Freedman, Marta Schaaf Source Type: research
