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Volume 4, Number 30
26 July 2004

"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

Evaluation of Community Education Interventions in Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Urban-marginal Areas of La Paz, Bolivia (report)
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Results of this study showed that the interventions improved access to and utilization of sexual and reproductive health services among men, women, and adolescents. They also increased beneficiaries’ reproductive health knowledge, and improved client attitudes and satisfaction with services. Researchers found that efforts to increase knowledge of and demand for reproductive health services must be accompanied by service strengthening measures.

Testing a Community-based Distribution Approach to Reproductive Health Service Delivery in Senegal (a Study of Community Agents in Kébémer) (report)
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The objective of this study was to contribute to the development of an integrated cost-effective program to increase the accessibility and availability of reproductive health information and services in rural areas of Senegal.

Information and Communication Technologies for the Developing World. Health Communication Insights #1. (report)
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This new series from the Health Communication Partnership explores issues related to advances in strategic health communication. The premier issue focuses on the use of information and communication technologies in the developing world.

Interventions for Emergency Contraception (Cochrane Review) (research review)
The objective of this review was to determine which emergency contraceptive method following unprotected intercourse is the most effective, safe, and convenient to prevent pregnancy.

FAMILY PLANNING/REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH NEWS

Morning-After Pill Maker Asks for Approval (news article)
A maker of morning-after birth control asked the government Thursday to reconsider allowing over-the-counter sales of the pills but only for women 16 and older.

South Africa: Condoms Coming to Nightclubs (news article)
The Health Department will soon begin touting its new brand of condom in nightclubs across the country. The campaign advertising Choice condoms has already started in four Gauteng clubs and will kick off in six Cape Town clubs this week.

Central Asia: Washington's Cut Will Restrict UNFPA's Work (news article)
The Bush administration's decision to withdraw US $34 million in funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will have a negative impact on the expansion of reproductive health activities in Central Asia, an UNFPA official has said.

FAMILY PLANNING/REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH LAW AND POLICY

Bush's AIDS Plan Criticised for Emphasising Abstinence and Forbidding Condoms (news article)
A field study to be published later this year of George Bush's new AIDS plan known as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief will say that Africans are calling the plan "unethical" for its refusal to support condom distribution and for imposing other restrictions. The plan was announced in January 2003 and is allocating US$15bn to fight AIDS over 5 years.

China Offers Parents Cash Incentives to Produce More Girls (news article)
China is offering to pay couples a premium for producing baby girls to counter an alarming gender imbalance created by the country's one-child population control policy. Last year, 117 boys were born for every 100 girls in China, compared with a global average of 105 to 100. Faced by a socially destabilising shortage of more than 30 million women by 2020, senior family planning officials said that they would offer welfare incentives to couples with two daughters and tighten the prohibition on sex-selective abortions.

The Voice of the Public in Public Health Policy and Planning: The Role of Public Judgement (research article)
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The authors find fault with current strategies and processes for engaging the public in planning health programs and policy. They offer new approaches to meaningful public participation in these processes.

India: Child-surplus Sarpanchs Blame Condoms (news article)
As many as 510 sarpanchs and other elected panchayat-level representatives who have been disqualified for defying the state's norm are virtually on the warpath. They plan to challenge their unseating in court by laying all of the blame on faulty and poor-quality condoms.

Zimbabwe’s 'Exclusion' from Global Fund Questioned (news article)
The decision to "exclude" Zimbabwe from benefiting from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria has raised a number of ethical questions. Campaigners are asking whether need and desire to prolong people’s lives should prevail over politics and controversies surrounding the legitimacy of President Robert Mugabe’s government.

UK: Ministers Drop HIV Test Plan (news article)
Plans to introduce a compulsory HIV test for immigrants applying to come to Britain have been dropped by ministers, amid growing concern that it would fuel illegal immigration and drive the disease underground.

HIV/AIDS RESEARCH

Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Strengthens Primary Health Care: Lessons from Rural Haiti (research article)
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These members of the Partners In Health/Zanni Lasante team working in Haiti describe how they learned that integrated AIDS prevention and care, including the use of antiretroviral agents, was feasible in resource-poor settings and may have a favorable impact on primary health care, including vaccination, family planning, tuberculosis case finding and cure, and health promotion.

HIV/AIDS Updates in Asia (research abstract)
This supplement for the journal AIDS Education and Prevention focuses on HIV/AIDS updates in Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. The 14 reviews cover Myanmar, India, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, among others.

Quality of Life, Coping and Psychological Status of Thai People Living with AIDS (research abstract)
The aim of this study was to assess anxiety, depression, coping, and quality of life and their interrelationships in a sample of Thai people living with AIDS in Northern Thailand.

AIDS in Latin America: A Controllable Epidemic? (press release)
This book, available only in Spanish from the Pan American Health Organization, was conducted in 17 Latin American countries and encompasses all parts of the AIDS problem: epidemiological surveillance, effective interventions, persistent problems, and national and international responses to the epidemic.

HIV/AIDS NEWS

Interviews with Newsmakers from XV International AIDS Conference (interview)
Related news article: Testing related title
This page, from the Kaiser Family Foundation, features interviews with newsmakers previewing and summarizing conference developments. Interviewees include Purnima Mane, Ph.D., director, Department of Social Mobilization and Information, UNAIDS, who speaks about the successes and disappointments coming out of the Bangkok Conference; U.S. Ambassador Randall Tobias, who speaks about President Bush's global AIDS initiative, his impressions of the Conference, and reaction to protests that interrupted his Conference speech; actor and activist Richard Gere, who speaks about his work in India; and South Africa's leading AIDS activist, Zackie Achmat, who talks about his expectations of the AIDS Conference and access to treatment in South Africa and the developing world.

Global AIDS Fund Warns of Deep Shortage (news article)
The world fight against AIDS is facing a cash crisis, the head of a fund created to battle the global pandemic said on Tuesday. Richard Feachem, executive director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said it had so far received pledges of just $1 billion towards its one-third share of the expected total $12 billion anti-AIDS budget for 2005.

Botswana: More Testing, but Men Still Reluctant (news article)
Zoë Warwick of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London presented at the Bangkok International AIDS Conference with an analysis of HIV testing at the clinic she has been working at in Tutume, a town of 15,000 people in the north-east of the country. The number of HIV tests performed had increased fivefold over the last 2 years, she said. But four times as many women as men were testing, and men were still not coming forward till symptomatic.

Can Islam Polygamy Curb AIDS? (news article)
This news article, a report from a recent Muslim women conference in Kampala, suggests that polygamy may be useful to fight AIDS.

Malawi: Media Involved in AIDS Information Dissemination (news article)
Malawi's National AIDS Commission and local media houses are currently discussing how journalists can help implement the country's national HIV/AIDS policy.

AIDS Plunges Life Expectancy Below 35 In African Countries (news article)
The AIDS pandemic has reduced life expectancy in some African countries to below 35 years, undermining development gains made in the last decade. Thirteen sub-Saharan African nations have recorded "dramatic reversals" in human development since 1990, largely due to the disease.

China: Beijing Intensifies AIDS Monitoring (news article)
Beijing has increased the number of AIDS monitoring stations from four to 26 to strengthen supervision over AIDS cases in the capital city.

U.S. Worries About AIDS Threat to Kids (news article)
More than half of Americans are worried their children might become infected with the virus that causes AIDS, even though fewer people believe the overall threat is very serious, an Associated Press poll found. That decline in fears about AIDS comes at a time the disease is showing signs of making a comeback in the U.S.

Scientist Who Exposed Chinese SARS Cover-up Released From Jail, Plans To Work on Country's HIV/AIDS Epidemic (news article)
A Chinese doctor known for exposing a government cover-up of the country's SARS epidemic has been released from custody and says he plans to work to fight China's AIDS epidemic, the Toronto Star reports.

China Conducts First Survey of Homosexual HIV Carriers (news article)
China's first authoritative survey on HIV/AIDS among homosexuals has started in Heilongjiang Province in the northeast of the country.

MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH RESEARCH

Socioeconomic and Physical Distance to the Maternity Hospital as Predictors for Place of Delivery: An Observation Study from Nepal (research article)
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This article reports on a study carried out in Nepal that looked at the places where women were choosing to give birth. The study found that there were an equal number of women choosing home and hospital deliveries. Key factors that increased the risk of home delivery included: a distance of more than 1 hour to the maternity hospital; poor access to amenities; low education; low economic status; a large number of previous children; and not seeking antenatal care in the current pregnancy. The study also found that 91% of home deliveries were attended by relatives who at best had only their own experience of childbirth, and that only 7% involved intermediate level health professionals.

India: Men's Involvement in Partner's Pregnancy Yields Health Benefits (research summary)
Related report: Involving Men in Maternity Care in India
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An intervention during prenatal consultations to increase men's involvement in their partners' maternal care increased couples' discussion and use of contraception and improved knowledge about pregnancy and family planning. The intervention is being expanded within the context of India's insurance scheme for industrial workers' families to hospitals and additional health centers.

Promotion of Lactation Amenorrhea Method Intervention Trial, Kazakhstan (report)
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This report presents results of an operations research study to test the effectiveness of Lactation Amenorrhea Method promotion among women in Kazakhstan.

MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH NEWS

Mali Signs Agreement with Senegal to Curb Child Trafficking (news article)
Mali signed its third agreement with a neighboring country to fight child trafficking, which UNICEF says occurs in 89% of African countries. Senegal joined Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso as signatories to the agreement, which mandates an annual survey of child trafficking to make sure children sent over their borders are kept safe.

Zimbabwe: Reform of Birth Registration Law Urged (news article)
Child rights campaigners are looking to amend current Zimbabwean legislation to make birth registration easier, as nearly a third of all children do not possess a birth certificate, restricting their access to public services.

Scotland: MSPs Support Bill on Public Breastfeeding (news article)
MSPS gave their backing to a bill making it a criminal offense to stop mothers from breastfeeding in public. The Scottish Parliament's health committee decided to support Labour MSP Elaine Smith's Bill which could see fines of up to £2500 handed out to pubs, restaurants, and shopping centers that prevent someone from feeding milk to a child under two.

MEN'S HEALTH RESEARCH

Vasectomy Occlusion Techniques for Male Sterilization (Cochrane Review) (research review)
This review compares the effectiveness, safety, acceptability, and costs of vasectomy techniques for male sterilization.

Relationships Between Older Men and Younger Women: Implications for STIs/HIV in Kenya (research abstract)
This study contributes to the understanding of motivations for cross-generational relationships and how the perception of risk of acquiring STIs, including HIV, affects condom use in Kenya.

MEN'S HEALTH NEWS

In the Company of Men: Do Men Without Mates Make the World a More Dangerous Place — Or Will Women Play Catch-Up? (feature article)
As conflicts and terrorist attacks across the world continue to wreak a deadly toll, demographers have been looking at population patterns to see if they offer some explanation for human violence. The 9/11 attacks refocused attention on a 1997 study by two Canadian psychologists arguing that societies with a high proportion of young males are more prone to violence. Adding a new dimension to the study of the roots of violence, Neil Weiner and Christian Mesquida argued that societies with a high ratio of males aged between 15 and 29 are more likely to be aggressive and militaristic. And earlier this year, a new study on gender and violence hit the stands — and sent ripples of anxiety in the international community.

POPULATION RESEARCH

The Impact of Adult Mortality on Household Dissolution and Migration in Rural South Africa (research abstract)
This demographic surveillance of the population in a rural area of northern KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, found that Pporer households, as measured by asset ownership, and households trying to cope with adult deaths are vulnerable to dissolution. The dramatic increase in adult mortality attributable to AIDS will increase the number of households that do not survive as a functional and cohesive social group.

The Moral Lens of Population Control: Condoms and Controversies in Southern Malawi (research abstract)
This study presents an investigation of stories about condoms in southern Malawi. The author writes that Malawians' concerns about coercive population control imposed by a national government or international cabal provide a moral lens through which condoms and other health promotions are viewed, with unknown but probably negative impact on the use of condoms.

POPULATION NEWS

China Builds World's Largest Population Information Database (news article)
The domestic media are reporting that China plans to start construction of its population database. Upon completion, the database is expected to be the largest in the world, consisting of 1.3 billion people. The database will assist in solving such tasks as employment, tax collection, census, family planning, and crime investigation, as well as improve work efficiency and lower administration costs.

Jordan: Cooperation Essential to Curb Population Growth (news article)
Partnership among organizations is essential in order to address the Kingdom's surging population, according to experts at a meeting hosted by the Higher Population Council on Thursday. The meeting was aimed at developing a common perspective among the participating organizations in dealing with the challenges of a growing and youthful population.

India: High-fertility Areas Identified (news article)
The government has identified high fertility districts and would implement measures to control increasing population, which is central to various other problems, in a targeted way, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss announced.

WOMEN'S HEALTH RESEARCH

Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy and Cervical Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions in Human Immunodeficiency Virus–Positive Women (research abstract)
Related news article: AIDS Drugs May Fight Cervical Cancer
Drug cocktails used to control the AIDS virus may also work to prevent cervical cancer, US researchers report. It is not clear whether the drugs have a direct effect on precancerous lesions or if they allow the immune system to naturally battle them.

Reproductive Tract Infections in Rural Women from the Highlands, Jungle, and Coastal Regions of Peru (research article)
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The purpose of this research was to define the prevalences and manifestations of reproductive tract infections (RTIs) in rural Peruvian women. Of 754 participants, average age was 36.9 years of age and 1.7 sex partners ever; 77% reported symptoms indicative of RTIs; 51% included abnormal vaginal discharge.

Venous thromboembolic Disease in Users of Low-estrogen Combined Estrogen-progestin Oral Contraceptives (research abstract)
Results of this case-control study showed that the risk of venous thromboembolic disease (VTE) increased in users of low-estrogen oral contraceptive (OC) formulations. Obese women appeared to be at greater risk of VTE when using OCs.

WOMEN'S HEALTH NEWS

Kenya: First Lady to Intervene in FGM (news article)
First Lady Lucy Kibaki promised to intervene and save Maasai children from female genital mutilation. Speaking at Narok stadium where she presided over a graduation ceremony for 100 girls who underwent an alternative rite of passage, the First Lady said she would personally provide shelter and food at the State House for girls who run away from their homes to escape the traditional rite.

HIV Rampant Among Lesotho's Women (news article)
Unemployment, low wages, and sexual discrimination in the tiny kingdom of Lesotho have fueled an HIV infection rate of 50% among young women, the New York Times reports. Half of women aged 15 to 24 are infected with the virus, compared to 25% of men in the same age group. Overall, Lesotho's HIV prevalence among adults is 28%, higher than that of South Africa, which entirely surrounds it.

Djibouti: Female Peer Educators Trained on HIV/AIDS (news article)
The Djiboutian ministry for the promotion of women is conducting training programmes on HIV/AIDS for female peer-educators, saying it is mainly targeting young women who are most vulnerable to infection.

HIV Epidemic Could Help Women's Rights (news article)
When historians reflect on the global battle against the HIV epidemic, one possible bright spot could be women's empowerment in the developing world, specialists say.

Sudan: Rape Being Used as "a Weapon of War" in Darfur - Amnesty International (news article)
Rape is being used as "a weapon of war" by government allied militias and the Sudanese army in western Sudan's Darfur region, according to Amnesty International.

End Violence Against Women Update #46 (resource material)
This update, produced by the INFO Project at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is focused on the issue of Female Genital Cutting/Mutilation.

UNIFEM Releases Report on Status of Arab Women (news article)
A report by the U.N. Development Fund for Women released yesterday in Amman, Jordan, found that only 28% of Arab women are active in the work force, the lowest of any region in the world. The study, Progress of Arab Women 2004, also found, however, a rising number of women in executive jobs, women in Arab countries' parliaments and the founding of Arab women's organizations.

FDA Approves Tampon that Releases Lactic, Citric Acids to Prevent Vaginal Infections (news article)
Tampon manufacturer Rostam has received approval from the FDA to market a tampon that releases natural supplements into the vagina to "ward off" infections, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rostam's Ela tampon absorbs menstrual fluid but also releases lactic and citric acids to maintain higher levels of acidity during menstruation.

Namibia: Police and Domestic Violence Remain Concerns, UN (news article)
Although Namibia continues to make strides towards improving its human rights record, concerns remain over domestic and police violence.

YOUTH HEALTH RESEARCH

Predictors of Sexual Involvement among Adolescents in Rural Jamaica (PubMed abstract)
This study identifies potential predictors of adolescent sexual activity in Jamaica. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 788 students 13-19 years of age in Jamaica. Approximately 62% of adolescents who responded reported previous sexual intercourse, and 38% reported never having had sex. The mean age for sexual debut was 13.6 years. Risk factors for sexual activity included being older, being male, and having grown-up values. Contrary to expectations, having higher self-efficacy skills was predictive of adolescent sexual involvement. Analyses by gender revealed that delay and grownup values predicted male sexual activity, while self-efficacy, paternal love and delay values predicted female behavior.

Youth InfoNet No. 8 - July 2004 (resource material)
This issue of Youth InfoNet, a publication of Family Health International, provides summaries of 24 presentations on youth reproductive health and HIV made at the annual meeting of the Global Health Council, "Youth & Health: Generation on the Edge," held June 1-4, 2004 in Washington, DC.

YOUTH HEALTH NEWS

Sex Education to Start in Kindergarten for Chinese Kids (news article)
With an AIDS time-bomb ticking, at least one Chinese province has decided that sex education needs to be taught from kindergarten onwards. New courses about sex and health are to be offered in kindergartens, primary, and middle schools in southern Guangzhou, one of the biggest cities in China, the China Daily reported.

Child Marriage Rate Still High in Afghanistan (news article)
Reports from the Ministry of Women's Affairs and NGOs in Afghanistan indicate that a high proportion of marriages in Afghanistan involve girls below the legal age. As many as 57% involve young women under 16, some of them as young as nine.

For Many Adolescent Girls, Pregnancy May Be No Accident (press release)
As social scientists and health educators grapple with causes of adolescent pregnancy in the United States, some researchers suggest that one component of the problem has been largely ignored. Though most adolescent pregnancies are accidental, a substantial number of girls want to get pregnant. In a new study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham's School of Public Health, researchers questioned 455 low-income, African-American adolescent girls in Birmingham, Ala., aged 14-18 between 1996 and 1999, and found that nearly a quarter (23.6%) expressed some desire to become pregnant in the near future.

UK: Mixed Results in Sex Lesson Trial (news article)
Getting older teenagers to lead sex lessons for youngsters has no effect on their having unprotected under-age sex, researchers say. In an experiment, students aged 16 and 17 gave lessons to 13 and 14 year olds in English schools. It was thought safe sex messages would carry more weight coming from people the younger children could relate to. Fewer girls went on to have sex before they were 16 - but there was no effect on the boys' behavior.

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Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: The INFO Project

Volume 4, Number 3026 July 2004