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The Pop Reporter®

Volume 3, Number 52
29 December 2003

"The Pop Reporter" (R) Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs INFO Project When you click on any link below, your Internet browser will access a Web site not connected to "The Pop Reporter." Information accessed through these links and contained in this issue of "The Pop Reporter" does not necessarily state or reflect the views of the INFO Project, Johns Hopkins University, or the US Agency for International Development. All links were verified at the date of mailing. Your computer and/or network configuration regarding Java script, cookies, and other security issues may not allow you to view certain Web sites. Consult your computer technician if you are having problems.

FAMILY PLANNING/REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RESEARCH

The Acceptability and Behavioral Effects of Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Syphilis Prevention (research abstract)
Related news article: Preventive Antibiotics for Syphilis Found Feasible
Giving high-risk individuals antibiotics to cut their risk of syphilis does not appear to promote risky sexual behavior, according to this new study. Investigators say their findings support launching larger studies to see whether preventive antibiotics, given to those most at risk, can stop syphilis outbreaks.

Maternal Attitudes and Values to Youth Sexuality-related Activities in Delta State, Nigeria (PubMed abstract)
This descriptive study assessed maternal attitudes to youth-related activities in Delta State, Nigeria. Using an adapted questionnaire, 300 women with adolescent children were chosen through a multistage sampling technique and relevant data obtained regarding their socio-economic status, perceptions, and values as well as their knowledge of basic reproductive health concerns. Most of the women interviewed (95%) believed it was very important that young people complete secondary education, and 72% said they would normally set rules in their homes regarding what young people should read or watch. Sixty-seven percent discussed sexuality issues regularly with their adolescent children, though only 46.4% of them were comfortable discussing these issue and about 50% admitted having enough information in such discussions. Another 76% would approve of their children receiving reproductive health information and services, including condoms. The mothers studied believed that guided reproductive health information and services should be routinely provided for young people.

The Interaction Between Health & Fertility: Evidence from the Ivory Coast (research article)
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This paper looks at the interaction between parental investment in child health and fertility. There is evidence that health investment, in the form of vaccinations, has a negative association with fertility and lower fertility in turn encourages more investments in children. Unlike most of the literature on the interaction between the quantity of children and parental investment, this paper looked at health investment (measured by vaccinations) as a measure of child "quality" rather than educational attainment.

Testing Balanced Counseling to Improve Provider-Client Interaction in Guatemala’s MOH Clinics (report)
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This study tested a job aids-assisted Balanced Counseling Algorithm and, to strengthen provider motivation to use the innovation with clients, placed special emphasis on reinforcing what they learned.

Preparation and Characterization of Injectable Microspheres of Contraceptive Hormones (research abstract)
This study investigated the feasibility of formulating levonorgestrel and ethinylestradiol into biodegradable polymer microspheres and studied the effect of polymer concentration on release rates, entrapment efficiencies, and on the size of microspheres.

Leave No One Behind: Improving Health and Risk Communication Through Attention to Literacy (research abstract)
Twice in recent times the federal government has mailed critical health-related information to every household in the United States. The mailings, the 1988 brochure Understanding AIDS and the 2001 postcard A Message to Americans, were designed to provide the general public with important information about needed action. This paper compares the development process undertaken for each mailing. The authors assess content and format in light of communication principles and the functional literacy skills of average adults. The authors, noting that the reading grade level of the postcard exceeds the reading ability of the average adult, recommend that plain language guidelines be combined with health and risk communication principles in all future efforts to alert the public.

Folk Herbal Medicines Used in Birth Control and Sexual Diseases by Tribals of Southern Rajasthan, India (research abstract)
This paper presents the findings from an ethnobotanical survey of tribal area of southern Rajasthan carried out for ethnosexicological herbal medicines. During this survey, 53 plants belonging to 33 families were reported from the study area used to cure sexually transmitted diseases and for family planning. A list of plant species along with their local name, habit, flowering and fruiting period, plant part(s) used, and the mode of administration to cure the sexual diseases are given.

FAMILY PLANNING/REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH NEWS

US: Agencies Rapped for Shirking HPV Law (news article)
Officials with the CDC and the FDA have been asked to appear at a Jan. 28 hearing in Washington, DC, to discuss issues pertaining to the human papillomavirus (HPV). Under a law signed by President Clinton in 2000, the CDC was to issue a report by this past Sunday on the best strategies to prevent the spread of HPV, a virus linked to cervical cancer. Separately, the FDA was to re-examine condom labels to ensure that they are "medically accurate" concerning their ability to block transmission of diseases, including HPV. Neither agency has complied with these legal mandates.

Galen Patents Chewable Contraceptive Pill (news article)
Northern Irish drugmaker Galen Holdings says it has been issued a patent in the United States for a chewable contraceptive treatment. The patent covers a new version of its Ovcon pill and comes a month after Galen won the rights to sell the drug in the United States. The patent will expire on June 12, 2021.

China: Sex Imbalance Targeted in 2004 (news article)
The State Population and Family Planning Commission has set its major tasks for 2004, highlighting gender imbalance as a major issue to tackle in the coming year.

Chinese, Indian Firms Join Hands to Control Population (news article)
In yet another example of growing cooperation between India and China, state-run firms from both countries are joining hands to promote family planning in the world's most populous nations. Beijing-based Zizhu Pharma and Hindustan Latex Ltd. will promote various family planning products in the two countries. Top officials of the companies inked the agreement in New Delhi on December 18.

Now China Joins the Sexual Revolution (feature article)
By turns celebrated and condemned for her promiscuity, Mu Zimei is not your average Chinese dissident. But in a nation that has clamped down on political freedoms, the 25-year-old bedroom rebel is a symbol of an increasingly liberated urban libido. Spurning the modesty expected of Chinese women for generations, Mu has soared to fame with an internet sex journal that gives graphic details of her 70-plus one-night stands, including liaisons with pop stars, married men, and couples.

FAMILY PLANNING/REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH LAW AND POLICY

Can Developing Countries Achieve Adequate Improvements in Child Health Outcomes without Engaging the Private Sector? (review article)
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This article reviews the available evidence on private sector utilization and quality of care and provides a framework for analyzing the private sector’s influence on child health outcomes. The authors argue that this influence goes beyond service provision by private providers and NGOs. Pharmacies, drug sellers, private suppliers, and food producers also have an impact on the health of children. Many governments are experimenting with strategies to engage the private sector to improve child health. The article analyzes some of the most promising strategies and suggests that a number of constraints make it difficult for policy-makers to emulate these approaches. Few experiences are clearly described, monitored, and evaluated. The article suggests that improving the impact of child health programs in developing countries requires a more systematic analysis of how to engage the private sector most effectively. The starting point should include the evaluation of the presence and potential of the private sector, including actors such as professional associations, producer organizations, community groups, and patients’
organizations.

Macro-level Operational Barriers to Family Planning Services in Ethiopia: Taxation and Importation of Contraceptives and the Role of NGOs (report)
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This study was conducted to identify operational policy barriers toward taxation, importation, and clearance of contraceptive commodities in Ethiopia and to identify the barriers to provision of effective family planning services by NGOs and the private sector. Key informants, including high- level officials and program managers in the government and nongovernment sectors, international organizations, and selected private practitioners, were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. In addition to these interviews, the authors conducted an extensive document review to capture additional information and insight, which that not be provided by informants. The study identifed several macro-level operational barriers that affect the provision of effective family planning services in Ethiopia.

Beyond Slogans: Lessons From Uganda’s Experience With ABC and HIV/AIDS (feature article)
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This article examines more closely the success of Uganda's ABC approach to the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

Crossing Borders to Fight HIV/AIDS: The Role of South African Multinationals in the Private Sector Response in Botswana (report)
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Related news article: Botswana Feels Brunt of HIV/AIDS Apathy
Multinational companies are dragging their heels when it comes to implementing HIV/AIDS policies in their Botswana subsidiaries, according to this new report by the Norwegian aid agency Fafo and the Botswana National Productivity Centre. The study, which surveyed 100 companies across the economic spectrum, highlights how the apparent double standards between what South African companies do at home and across the northern border to Botswana is making the country's casual laborers particularly vulnerable to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao helps launch DOL-funded HIV/AIDS Workplace Initiatives Project in Ghana (press release)
US Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao helped launch the Ghana HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Project, which is part of a $9.5 million DOL grant for the prevention of HIV/AIDS at the workplace. The Secretary spoke at the closing session of the two-day workshop launching the project. The launch was part of Secretary Chao’s four-day visit to Africa to highlight continuing efforts to end the worst forms of child labor, including using children as soldiers and trafficking in children and to promote programs in the workplace to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Burundi: HIV-positive Civil Servants to Pay 20% for ARVs (news article)
The Burundian health minister has authorised the civil service insurance company "Mutuelle" to cover the cost of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) by 80%, in line with its policy on other medicines, Radio Burundi announced last week. An HIV-positive civil servant in need of ARVs will therefore pay 20 percent of the price, leaving the health insurance company to pay the rest. Until now, a civil servant had to fund the total cost, despite regular contributions to the company.

Japan: Petition Lodged on Sex Education for Disabled Kids (news article)
More than 1,500 people filed a petition last week with the Tokyo Bar Association demanding that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government return sex education materials to a local school for mentally disabled children. The petition, submitted to the bar association's civil liberties commission, was filed by teachers of nursing schools for the mentally disabled, parents of such students, and education experts.

HIV/AIDS RESEARCH

Stepping Back from the Edge: The Pursuit of Antiretroviral Therapy in Botswana, South Africa and Uganda (report)
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This report, from the UNAIDS Best Practice Collection, looks at what is being done to challenge the snail’s pace of progress on access to antiretrovirals in three very different African countries: Botswana, South Africa and Uganda. It describes who is taking the initiative at grass-roots level and how they face this daunting task.

To Think or Not to Think: Two Pathways Towards Persuasion by Short Films on AIDS Prevention (research abstract)
This study analyzed affective and cognitive processes to explain the impact of health messages within an entertainment context: fictional short films for HIV/AIDS prevention. A 222 factorial design was used, with involvement in the AIDS issue (high/low) and the type of format (musical/dialogue) as independent variables. Findings showed the better the quality of the short film (with dialogue style) the more negative affectivity was stimulated, also the more cognitive processing was induced, and a more favorable attitude towards preventive behavior was stimulated.

The Costs of Anti-Retroviral Treatment in Zambia (report)
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This report analyzes the costs and resource requirements associated with the provision of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in the public health sector in Zambia. It provides per-patient cost estimates for highly active anti-retroviral therapy, voluntary counseling and testing, several opportunistic infections, and prevention of mother-to-child transmission services. These per-patient cost estimates are used to project total program costs, which are then compared to currently budgeted resources with an emphasis on financial sustainability. The report also explores a range of policy issues, including the
importance of human resource constraints; the implications of alternative monitoring protocols and drug regimens; opportunities for resource mobilization; and targeting issues. The provision of ARVs in Zambia is a dynamic issue: certain programmatic decisions have yet to be made, and both prices and technologies are changing rapidly.

Guide for Quantifying HIV Test Requirements (resource material)
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To date, most HIV/AIDS program interventions have been small-scale, pilot interventions that worked well because a large number of human and financial resources were focused on a small audience. Quantification, procurement, and supply chain management of HIV test kits and other commodities for small programs is less complicated than for larger, more complex programs. However, program managers are under increasing pressure to make decisions about allocating funding for the purchase of HIV test kits to support major HIV/AIDS program expansion. Therefore, this guide was developed as a tool for the systematic, accurate quantification of HIV test requirements to help program managers identify their needs and manage their commodities more effectively. This guide provides background on the use of HIV tests and commonly used testing protocols. It also discusses the steps in and data collection for quantification.

Voluntary Confidential Counseling and Testing in Cambodia: An Overview (report)
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This study provides an overview of the current situation regarding voluntary confidential counseling and testing (VCCT) in Cambodia and highlights some options for developing greater NGO/government interaction in VCCT.

Understanding and Challenging HIV Stigma: Toolkit for Action (resource material)
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This toolkit, written by AIDS activists from over 50 NGOs in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Zambia, was developed to provide people working in the AIDS field, especially the “front-line” workers, with a set of flexible educational materials to raise their own understanding and help them facilitate awareness raising with community groups. The aim is to help people at all levels understand stigma, what it means, why it is an important issue, what are its root causes, and develop strategies to challenge stigma and discrimination. Trainers can select from the exercises to plan their own courses for different target groups—-both AIDS professionals and community groups.

HIV/AIDS NEWS

India Using Unsafe Syringes - Health Ministry (news article)
Three out of five syringes in India are unsafe because the glass syringes are not sterilized while the plastic disposable ones are "re-used indiscriminately," the health ministry said. A survey released by the ministry said disposable syringes were being reused in rural India to save costs, while ragpickers in the cities and small towns were recycling needles found in rubbish dumps for quick profit.

Nigeria, India Plan Joint Production of AIDS Drugs (news article)
India has announced a plan to enter into a partnership with the government of Nigeria to commence the local manufacture of anti-retroviral drugs.

Nigeria: NGO Reduces Cost of HIV/AIDS Drugs (news article)
An NGO in Nigeria is set to halve the current cost of anti-retroviral drugs (from N12,000 to N6,000 a month) for people sourcing them through its outlet.

Officials Confirm HIV/AIDS Outbreak in China (news article)
Related news article: China Official: AIDS Toll in Jilin Exaggerated
Officials in an area of northeast China's Jilin province not previously recorded as having been affected by HIV/AIDS confirmed that several villages had in fact been heavily hit, state media reported last week. In a followup article, senior health officials from Jilin said there is no large-scale AIDS outbreak and the general situation is under control.

Japan: Transfusion Recipient Gets Tainted Blood (news article)
A patient has been infected with HIV after blood tainted with the virus that causes AIDS slipped through the detection system of the Japan Red Cross and was used in a transfusion, a Health Ministry official announced today.

Liaisons Fueling AIDS in Africa (commentary)
Teenage girls are at the very center of one of the most heartbreaking scenarios now playing out in many parts of Africa. Young girls have up to 6 times the rate of HIV infection as boys of comparable ages. In parts of eastern and southern Africa, more than one-third of teenage girls carry the virus. As deeply troubling is the way they are becoming infected: through what AIDS experts call "cross-generational sex." Older, typically married, men seek young girls for sex in the belief that the younger they are, the less likely they are to carry the HIV virus.

MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH RESEARCH

Determinants of the Use of Maternal Health Services in Rural Bangladesh (research abstract)
This paper examines the factors associated with the use of maternal health care services in Bangladesh on the basis of data from a survey of maternal morbidity in Bangladesh. Results from both the bivariate and multivariate analyses confirmed the importance of mother's education in explaining the utilization of health care services. In addition, women whose husbands are involved in business/services also positively influenced the utilization of modern health care services. The study results were inconclusive with respect to the influence of other predisposing and enabling factors, such as women's age, number of previous pregnancies, and access to health facilities.

Contribution of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Socioeconomic Factors to Perinatal Mortality in Rural Ghana (research abstract)
This study evaluated the association of STDs and socioeconomic and obstetric factors with perinatal mortality in rural Ghana. The rate of perinatal mortality at the Holy Family Hospital in the Berekum district of Ghana was 13.7% in 1997 (154 of 1,123 documented births). Characteristics of mothers whose infants died in the perinatal period and who had attended antenatal care at least once were as follows: prior obstetric complications, 108 patients (70.1%); average age, 25 years (range: 16-42 years); average number of previous sexual partners, three; prevalence of STDs, including gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, or syphilis, 83 patients (53.8%); history of other chronic diseases, 13 patients (8.5%); and illiteracy, 66 patients (42.8%). The number of previous sexual partners and illiteracy were higher in the STD-positive women. The authors concluded that STDs and previous obstetric complications seemed to contribute considerably to perinatal mortality in rural Ghana.

Demographic and Socioeconomic Correlates of Neonatal, Post-neonatal and Childhood Mortality in Uttar Pradesh, India: A Study Based on NFHS-2 Data (research article)
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This paper uses data from the National Health and Family Survey (NFHS-2), 1998-99, and tries to determine the effects of various spatial, demographic, and socioeconomic factors on neonatal, post-neonatal, and childhood mortality in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It also tries to re-examine the hypothesis that endogenous (demographic or biological) factors are primarily responsible for neonatal mortality, whereas exogenous (socioeconomic) factors contribute more in the postneonatal and childhood period. The results of multivariate analyses broadly confirm the hypothesis, though maternal education and length of the preceding birth interval have a profound positive effect on survival during all periods: neonatal, postneonatal, and childhood.

Diagnosis of Paediatric HIV Infection in a Primary Health Care Setting with a Clinical Algorithm (research article)
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The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of an algorithm used by primary care health workers to identify children with symptomatic HIV infection. The algorithm is being implemented in South Africa as part of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy. In total, 690 children who attended the outpatients department in a district hospital in South Africa were assessed with the HIV algorithm and by a pediatrician. All children were then tested for HIV viral load. Overall, 198 (28.7%) enrolled children were infected with HIV. The pediatrician correctly identified 142 (71.7%) children infected with HIV, whereas the IMCI/HIV algorithm identified 111 (56.1%). Odds ratios were calculated to identify predictors of HIV infection and used to develop an improved HIV algorithm that is 67.2% sensitive and 81.5% specific in clinically detecting HIV infection. The authors conclude that the improved HIV algorithm developed in this study could be used by countries with high prevalences of HIV to enable IMCI practitioners to identify and care for HIV-infected children.

Spatial Patterns of Infant Mortality in Mali: The Effect of Malaria Endemicity (research abstract)
A spatial analysis was carried out to identify factors related to geographic differences in infant mortality risk in Mali by linking data from two spatially structured databases: the Demographic and Health Surveys of 1995–1996 and the Mapping Malaria Risk in Africa database for Mali. The analysis confirmed that mother’s education, birth order and interval, infant’s sex, residence, and mother’s age at infant’s birth had a strong impact on infant mortality risk in Mali. The residual spatial pattern of infant mortality showed a clear relation to well-known foci of malaria transmission, especially the inland delta of the Niger River.

Immunization Essentials: A Practical Field Guide (resource material)
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This 275-page manual, published in October 2003, was produced and funded by the Office of Health, Infectious Diseases, and Nutrition, Bureau for Global Health, US Agency for International Development. It was written for immunization program managers at national and sub-national levels in developing countries and for people who support these managers, particularly field staff of donor agencies. The manual provides information that is practical as well as technically and operationally sound.

MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH NEWS

AIDS Killed 40% of SA Toddlers Aged 1 to 4 Who Died in 2000 (news article)
AIDS killed 40% of small children who died in South Africa in 2000, most of them before they reached their first birthday. Results from a new Medical Research Council survey that looked at all causes of death in the country showed that AIDS was the leading cause among children up to 4 years old.

India: Pregnant Women Under HIV Cloud (news article)
A survey conducted in 23 districts of the state of Hyderbad between August and October 2003, aimed at collecting epidemiological information, indicates that more than 1% of pregnant women in 18 districts were HIV positive. During the survey, blood samples were drawn from pregnant women attending ante-natal clinics and were used as proxy to measure the prevalence of HIV in the general adult population. In Chittoor district, 6% of the pregnant women were found to be HIV positive. In Guntur, 3.75%, Ongole 3%, Kakinada 2.5%, Anantapur and Vizianagaram 1.25% each.

MEN'S HEALTH RESEARCH

Men and Reproductive Health Programs: Influencing Gender Norms (report)
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This review highlights programs designed to change social norms related to entrenched gender roles. It explains the methodologies each program employed to achieve this goal and presents findings from evaluations conducted to assess their efficacy. Some of the programmatic models described were presented at a four-day conference held in the Washington DC area in September 2003 that brought together program implementers, researchers, evaluators, and donors to learn about men and reproductive health programs around the world that have challenged gender norms.

Coping Effectiveness Training for Men Living With HIV: Results From a Randomized Clinical Trial Testing a Group-Based Intervention (research abstract)
Related news article: Training Helps Men Cope with HIV
Researchers report that the use of coping effectiveness training, an educational intervention, appears to help men with HIV deal with their condition.

Working with Men, Responding to AIDS: Gender, Sexuality and HIV--A Case Study Collection (report)
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This collection of case studies was produced in order to help projects to conduct their work with men on HIV/AIDS. It presents experiences and lessons from a range of different projects that are working with men.

POPULATION RESEARCH

Modeling Momentum in Gradual Demographic Transitions (PubMed abstract)
The analysis of population momentum following a gradual decline in fertility to replacement level provides valuable insights into prospects for future population growth. In this paper the authors extend recent work in the area by applying a new form of the quadratic hyperstable model, which relates exponentially changing fertility to the resultant exponentiated quadratic birth sequence.

Fertility Decline and Gender Bias in Northern India (PubMed abstract)
This study presents evidence from northern India to show that the preference for sons is reduced when the ideal family size becomes small, even though it does not completely disappear. This finding appears to contradict trends in the juvenile sex ratio and the incidence of female feticide that suggest the intensification of gender bias. The authors argue that the anomaly is the result of a diffusion of prenatal sex-diagnostic techniques in regions where there is a large unmet demand for such methods. Using National Family Health Survey data, they estimate that in northern India, girls currently constitute about 60% of the unwanted births and that the elimination of unwanted fertility has the potential to raise the sex ratio at birth to 130 boys per 100 girls.

Understanding the Demographic Dividend (research article)
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This paper explains the "demographic dividend" (that is, falling fertility rates) and makes policy recommendations for countries to act while this window of opportunity is still open.

Is Low Fertility a Twenty-first-century Demographic Crisis? (PubMed abstract)
In this paper the author reviews the dramatic, ongoing global spread of low fertility. He argues that low fertility, but not very low fertility, is inevitable, but it is a "problem" that is preferable to continued population growth. And he argues that there are both persistent rationales for having children and institutional adjustments that can make the widespread intentions for two children attainable, even in increasingly individualistic and egalitarian societies.

POPULATION NEWS

Pakistan: 'Country Passing Thru Demographic Transition' (news article)
Studies on the 1998 Population Census suggest that Pakistan was passing through a demographic transition as the decline in fertility, possibly propelled by increase in female literacy and consequent rise in marriageable age, would shorten the period over which the per capita income doubles.

Viet Nam: Population Fight Not Over Yet (news article)
Viet Nam has managed to rein in its population growth, but the fight to keep numbers down and improve lives is an on-going struggle, according to the Deputy Director of the Committee for Population, Family, and Children. If the country keeps following the government's voluntary two-child policy, then the population will reach 100 million people by 2025, 15 years later than past estimates.

China: Population Programme Drawn Up (news article)
China is drafting a long-term development program on population to not only continue to maintain population growth but also to deal with various emerging population problems, such as its aging society, the State Population and Family Planning Commission revealed last week. The drafting work, which starts now and will be finished at the end of 2005, is a vital part of the commission's work because the word "population" was added to the commission's title earlier this year. Population development programs will become an important part of the commission's work, which usually is regarded as a department that only cares about population growth.

India: Government to Take More Stern Steps to Control Population (news article)
The State Health Department {Chennai) has decided to increase the number of vasectomies by at least 10% as a part of their population control program in all the districts. The drive, which would be a part of the gender sensitive health campaigns in the state, would promote the no scalpel vasectomy, an outpatient procedure, at all district headquarters hospitals and primary health centers. The decision was arrived at after a review meeting called by the health secretary to discuss the population control programs adopted in the state.

China's Population to be Kept Within 1.3 Billion by Yearend (news article)
China has successfully completed its planned population work for the year 2003, with the nation's low-birth rate remaining stable, according to China's official news agency.

WOMEN'S HEALTH RESEARCH

Taking Postabortion Care Services Where They Are Needed: An Operations Research Project Testing PAC Expansion in Rural Senegal (report)
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This report details findings from a 2-year operations research project to examine the feasibility of introducing an integrated three-element model of postabortion care services in secondary- and primary-level sites in two predominantly rural regions in Senegal.

WOMEN'S HEALTH NEWS

Female Mutilations Slow, But Only Gradually (feature article)
Even though female genital mutilation is still rampant in Africa and other countries, the traditional practice is slowing under pressures from abroad and some successful local programs to educate people about the dangers of the practice.

YOUTH HEALTH RESEARCH

Trends in Reproductive Behavior among Young Single Women in Colombia and Peru: 1985-1999 (PubMed abstract)
Using "calendar" data for single women aged 15-24 from successive Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in Colombia and Peru during the 1990s, the authors document trends, year by year, in sexual activity, the use of contraceptives, and subsequent reproductive outcomes. Over the period studied, young single women in both Colombia and Peru became sexually active at younger ages. The use of contraceptives, especially the use of condoms, increased but did not fully offset the rise in sexual activity; thus, the incidence of premarital conceptions rose. In both countries, sharp declines occurred in the proportion of premaritally conceived births that were reported as being wanted.

Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health in the Asia and Near East Region: Status, Issues, Policies, and Programs (report)
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This paper provides a synthesis of the findings from a 13-country study of adolescent and youth reproductive health issues, policies, and programs on behalf of the Asia/Near East Bureau of USAID. The countries included Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Yemen in the Near East; Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in South Asia; and Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam in Southeast Asia. The 13 country assessments indicate that adolescent and youth reproductive health should be addressed by involving youth in policy design and implementation; advocating for policy and program development; educating policymakers, teachers, parents, adolescents and youth; facilitating family communication; promoting gender equity; expanding access to information and services; and conducting needed research to ensure that programs are evidence based. These challenges are not new, although they take on more urgency in this era of rising prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the region.

YOUTH HEALTH NEWS

India: Teen Abortions on the Rise (news article)
School children in Delhi seem to be experimenting with sex much more than in the past. Although there are no official surveys or studies to reflect the changing sexual habits of adolescents, the only indicators, if they may be called so, are spiralling pregnancy queries at hospitals and a rise in the number of adolescents seeking abortion. At least 8% of 3,700 abortions conducted by a chain of abortion clinics during a 4-month period earlier in the year were of adolescents.

China: Teach the Young Safe Sex (feature article)
Earlier this month, a special clinic opened at the Maternal and Child Care Service Centre in Beijing's Xuanwu District. It offers free professional advice to teenagers on sexual issues and performs abortions if necessary. Doctors have tried to hold lectures on safe sex in schools but some parents say this encourages irresponsible behavior. However, many experts believe that the lectures are not enough.

Nigeria: More Youths Embrace Condom (feature article)
This feature article relates how sales of condoms in drug stores and pharmaceutical shops have increased during the past holiday season. Most of the customers are young men traveling home for Christmas.

India: Grow Up Mom, I Know Sex is Real (feature article)
This short feature article relates how youth in India are in need of proper sexual information and realistic counselling.

SPECIAL REPORTS/PROFILES/RESOURCES

Private-Sector Assessment Tool: A Handbook for Assessing the Potential for Youth Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS Program Interventions in the Private Sector (resource material)
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This handbook is a guide for conducting a technical assessment of the potential for private-sector youth reproductive health interventions in a selected country. The manual is presented as a checklist of questions, combining essential questions about the private sector, youth, and reproductive health.

Scaling Up, Practices, Tools, and Approaches in the Maternal and Neonatal Health Program (report)
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This report documents how the Maternal and Neonatal Health Program at JHPIEGO has scaled up practices and approaches at the global, regional, and country levels, and provides a qualitative description of the Program’s expanded reach, breadth, impact, and sustainability.

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