Reproductive Health Matters articles from May 1 2001

Reproductive Health Matters archives from May 1 2001

By and for young women and men.(Editorial)
May 1, 2001... THIS issue of RHM is about the sexual and reproductive health and rights of adolescents and young people. It is the longest-ever issue of RHM to date and the one that has attracted the most submissions. A majority of the papers are by young...

Adolescence--a dynamic concept.(Features On The Theme)
May 1, 2001... The World Health Organization (WHO) defines adolescents as persons between 10 and 19 years of age. (WHO 1998) Although adolescents make up about 20 per cent of the world's population (of whom 85 per cent live in developing countries), they have...

Socio-cultural aspects of menstruation in an urban slum in Delhi, India.
May 1, 2001... This paper attempts to understand the experience of menstruation in the socio-cultural context of an urban Indian slum. Observations were gathered as part of a larger study of reproductive tract infections in women in Delhi, using both...

Gendered construction of sexual risks: implications for safer sex among young people in Kenya and Sweden.
May 1, 2001... This study compared perceptions of sexual risk and sexual practices among youth in Kenya and Sweden. Self-generated questions on the body, perceptions of sexual risk and sexual practices were collected in Kenya while focus group discussions and...

Single women's experiences of premarital pregnancy and induced abortion in Lombok, Eastern Indonesia.
May 1, 2001... Induced abortion is widely practised in Indonesia by both married and unmarried women. This paper draws on ethnographic research, conducted between 1996 and 1998, which focused on reproductive health and sexuality among young single women on...

Sexual initiation and childbearing among adolescent girls in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
May 1, 2001... A girl's first sexual intercourse is often unplanned and may put her at risk of STDs and HIV infection as well as unwanted pregnancy. The high prevalence of HIV among 15-24 year aids in KwaZulu Natal suggests that sex is initiated at an early...

Reproductive health-seeking by married adolescent girls in Maharashtra, India.
May 1, 2001... In India, most adolescent girls 15-19 years old are married. A study was conducted in 1995-97 in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, India to gain insight into whether and how their reproductive health needs are met, especially for...

Understanding safe sex: gender narratives of HIV and pregnancy prevention by rural South African school-going youth.
May 1, 2001... In South Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic, young people, especially women, are at high risk due to an apparent gap between awareness end practice. In repeated peer group discussions with girls aged 14-15 and boys aged 16-19, we explored influences on...

From competition to community: participatory learning and action among young, debt-bonded Vietnamese sex workers in Cambodia.
May 1, 2001... Community mobilisation strategies for HIV/AIDS prevention based on recognition of social vulnerability and concepts of empowerment have emerged at the forefront of international efforts to reduce the AIDS pandemic, increasingly replacing a...

Unsafe sexual behaviour among schoolgirls in Mozambique: a matter of gender and class.
May 1, 2001... This study seeks to examine the reasons why young women aged 14-20 in Maputo, Mozambique were engaging in risky sexual behaviour, and to ascertain whether the spread of HIV is due to socioeconomic factors and/ar patriarchal beliefs and mores,...

Adolescent girls' life aspirations and reproductive health in Nepal.
May 1, 2001... The study described in this paper takes a participatory and positive approach to improving adolescent reproductive health in a rural and urban community in Nepal. It shows that adolescent girls in these communities have dreams and aspirations...

Adolescent parenthood: a costly mistake or a search for love?
May 1, 2001... Family life is changing worldwide and an increasing number of women are choosing single parenthood. Adolescents who become pregnant and early childbearers do not always become pregnant unintentionally; some actively plan pregnancy while others...

Perspectives of adolescent boys on the risks of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections: Kenya.
May 1, 2001... Sexual debut for boys in Kenya occurs mostly by mid-adolescence. This study looks at the perspectives of adolescent boys aged 15-19 attending schools in rural, eastern Kenya on the dual risks of unwanted pregnancy, STDs and HIV, based on...

Sexual behaviour and contraceptive use among unmarried, young women migrant workers in five cities in China.
May 1, 2001... This paper reports the results of exploratory research on reproductive and sexual health knowledge and sexual behaviour of young, unmarried women who migrate to cities from rural areas for work, and their access to and needs in relation to...

Perceptions of sexual coercion: learning from young people in Ibadan, Nigeria.
May 1, 2001... This study explored the problem of sexual coercion from the perspectives of 77 young people aged 14-21 in Ibadan, Nigeria, the behaviours they perceive to be sexually coercive and the con texts in which these occur through four narrative...

Views of Chinese parents on the provision of contraception to unmarried youth.
May 1, 2001... This study sought the views of Chinese parents on sex education and contraception for unmarried youth. Data were drawn from 16 Focus group discussions conducted in eight sites in China in 1998-1999 with parents of unmarried children aged 18-24....

Self-aware sex education: a theoretical and practical approach in Venezuela.
May 1, 2001... Even a few decades ago, it was considered normal and even desirable in Latin America for young women to become pregnant before they were 20--provided they were married; while young men were expected to become sexually active as soon as they...

Challenges and dilemmas in counselling young women on pregnancy options.
May 1, 2001... This paper is about counselling young women up to 21 years of age who have an unintended pregnancy and need to decide whether to continue the pregnancy, have an abortion or give the baby up for adoption. What is important for a counsellor is to...

Working with public sector clinics to provide adolescent-friendly services in South Africa.
May 1, 2001... Health care facilities can play an important role for adolescents in preventing health problems, in promoting sexual and reproductive health and in shaping positive behaviours. Extensive research has established that South African public health...

Sexually transmitted infections among adolescents: the need for adequate health services.
May 1, 2001... The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that two-thirds of all STIs worldwide occur in young people--teenagers and those in their early twenties (WHO 1993, WHO 1995). The provision of STI services to these age groups should therefore be...

The need for youth-oriented policies and programmes on responsible sexuality in Argentina.(Commentary)
May 1, 2001... Since the mid- 1990s, several provincial bills have been passed in Argentina mandating the creation of programmes for family planning and sexual health services and education. A National Plan for Integrated Health Care for Adolescents was also...

Who am I?(Poem)
May 1, 2001... Who am I? I was made to be me. Not a negative of mine. I was thinking so many devastating things. What if I was not born yet. I was not going to feel guilty. I was not going to hate myself. I whisper their...

Exploring women's needs in an Amazon region of Ecuador.(Research Methodology)
May 1, 2001... This study broadly explored women's perceptions of their most pressing problems and needs in the mostly rural Amazonian province of Orellana in Ecuador in mid-2000. In-depth interviews with community women and health and social service...

Youth statement to the African development forum.(Issues In Current Policy)
May 1, 2001... In December 2000, the UN Economic Commission for Africa convened the annual African Development Forum (ADF) 2000 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The theme for 2000 was 'AIDS--the greatest leadership challenge'. It aimed to mobilise key politicians,...

Ipas declines to sign the global gag rule: public statement.(Issues In Current Policy)
May 1, 2001... February 27, 2001 PRESIDENT Bush's reinstatement of the so-called 'Mexico City Policy', announced January 22, will increase the suffering of millions of women worldwide by reducing their access to modern contraceptive methods and other...

Let me tell you how I came to become an activist.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2001... 7 July 2000 MY name is Nailoke Mhanda, I'm 17 years old, from Namibia. It was good of you to write to me in response to my letter to Sister Namibia, about empowering women worldwide and their rights and everything that goes beyond rights....

Abortion law reform: the Turkish experience.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2001... FOLLOWING my participation in the WHO Consultation Meeting on Safe Abortion in Geneva in September 2000, I became more aware of the fact that debate on safe abortion is still a very important topic for women's rights as well as for world...

Increasing mortality among young women in Afghanistan.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2001... I hereby wish you success in your struggles to change the laws and policies and get human rights for women. Unfortunately, there is not such good news from Afghanistan. Women used to have paid employment in this society and an income which...

Women's reasons for discontinuing contraceptive use within 12 months: Jamaica.(Issues In Current Service Delivery)
May 1, 2001... In Jamaica, contraceptive use is high at 66 per cent. However, only 34 per cent of pregnancies are planned. This study was carried out in 1998 to determine the factors which influenced continuation of use of family planning methods. Primary...

Reproductive health policies and programmes in Francophone Africa.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... THIS document describes case studies prepared by the Network for Reproductive Health Research in Africa (RESAR) in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire and Mali. The 1996 Ouagadougou Forum provided an opportunity for the region to...

Jordan: confronting 'honour' killings.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... UNFPA estimates that 5,000 honour killings occur each year globally, based on reports from Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Sweden, Turkey, Uganda and the UK. In some countries honour crimes...

France liberalises abortion law.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... THE French Parliament on 30 May passed a revision of the country's abortion law, extending the period in which a woman can have an abortion on request from 12 to 14 weeks of amenorrhoea. Any request for abortion over 14 weeks must be submitted...

Family planning a human right, Guatemala.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... THE Guatemalan government has long resisted making family planning information and services available within the country's public health services. This disproportionately affects women living in the rural areas, and particularly indigenous...

Unapproved pregnancies and use of obstetric care in China.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... DRAWING upon data from a large household survey, this paper explores the effect of the 'one child policy' upon antenatal and obstetric care utilisation in China. The policy includes social and economic costs for non-compliant couples, e.g. an...

Mass rape in Bosnia a war crime.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... HUMAN rights groups believe that tens of thousands of Muslim women and girls were systematically raped, tortured and sexually enslaved by Serbian soldiers during the Bosnian war. For the first time, mass rape and sexual enslavement in time of...

Legal precedent against FGM in Kenya.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... NINE young girls were recently admitted to hospital in Kenya with profuse bleeding following botched circumcisions. A legal precedent was set when a court order was granted restraining the father of two girls from having them forcibly...

Court rules against fatwas, Bangladesh.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... THE Bangladesh High Court has ruled that fatwas (religious edicts issued by Muslim clergy) are illegal. The court also stated the need for legislation that would penalise the issuing of these edicts, most of which are issued against women....

Sex selection and the European Human Rights Act, UK.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... A couple are to launch a legal action against the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, under the new Human Rights Act, to pursue their claim to the right to choose the sex of their next child through the use of IVF and...

Population approaching nine billion.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... A UN report estimates that world population will increase from 6.1 billion to around 9.3 billion by the year 2050, due in part to rising life expectancy, rapid population growth and above-replacement fertility rates in the world's 48 least...

CEDAW paper on Burundi.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... LITERACY, access to health care and income-generating activities for women were the issues raised by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) when it considered Burundi's initial report, presented...

Still no consensus on abortion in Ireland.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... AFTER considering thousands of submissions and producing a 700-page report, a 12-person parliamentary committee established last year to consider the Irish government's Green Paper on abortion has recommended a 38 million [pounds sterling]...

Plight of women's human rights activist in Iran.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... IN April 2000, Mehrangiz Kar, a lawyer, writer on violence against women and women's human rights advocate was indicted and imprisoned in Iran, accused of 'acting against the internal security of the state and disparaging the sacred order of...

Whipping of Nigerian teenage girl condemned.(Law and policy)
May 1, 2001... A teenager mother in the northern Nigerian state of Zamfara, Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, received 100 lashes on 19 January at the Higher Sharia Court in Tsafe. In September 2000, she told the Court that she was pregnant as a result of being coerced...

Medical abortion safe, effective and acceptable in India.(Service delivery)
May 1, 2001... MIFEPRISTONE was provided in two urban, out-patient family planning clinics to 600 women and in one rural hospital to 300 women in India. Four per cent of urban and one per cent of rural women were lost to follow-up. Success rates were as high...

Half of abortions in Uganda to adolescent girls.(Service delivery)
May 1, 2001... IN some 97 health units, 30 hospitals and 67 lower health units, data were collected over a one-year period to assess the status of safe motherhood in Uganda. Overall, 335,682 deliveries, 302 maternal deaths and 2,978 abortions were documented...

Consultation patterns for contraception before teenage pregnancy, UK.(Service delivery)
May 1, 2001... THE UK has teenage pregnancy rates which are among the highest in western Europe. While General Practitioners (GPs) are a potential source of contraceptive provision for teenagers, they are not fully utilised as such. This study investigated...

Emergency contraception over-the-counter: UK, Italy and Belgium.(Service delivery)
May 1, 2001... THE decision to make emergency contraception available without prescription to girls 16 and over has received a cautious welcome from both GPs and pharmacists in the UK, with 53 and 57 per cent respectively in favour because they believe the...

Screening for cervical neoplasia in Vietnam and South Africa.(Service delivery)
May 1, 2001... CERVICAL carcinoma is the leading cause of cancer-related death among women in the developing world. Using decision analytic methods, the authors assessed the cost-effectiveness of Pap smear screening in Vietnam. Outcomes measured included life...

Women's experience of maternity care in Lebanon.(Service delivery)
May 1, 2001... A national sample of 39 hospitals in Lebanon provided data on routines and practices in obstetric wards for women having normal delivery, the estimated frequency of specific practices and whether or not women are given a choice regarding these...

Caesarean sections: Chile and UK.(Service delivery)
May 1, 2001... CONCERN about non-medical factors influencing clinical decisions seems to be borne out in Chile where a high rate of caesarean sections (57-83 per cent) is associated with private health insurance cover compared with 27-28 per cent among those...

Reducing inappropriate IUD selection: Mexico.(Service delivery)
May 1, 2001... DETERMINING whether cervical infection is present before inserting an IUD is vital but the syndromic approach is of limited value in diagnosing cervical STIs. Researchers in a controlled study (some 2,000 women) in Mexico tested a strategy...

Discussing sexuality in family planning consultations in Egyptian clinics.(Service delivery)
May 1, 2001... IN Egypt, family planning consultations have rarely involved consideration of sexuality. Following a specialist three-day training on sexuality, gender and counselling skills, providers became less inhibited about discussing sexual issues but...

Weakness of syndromic management of vaginal discharge in India.(Service delivery)
May 1, 2001... THE syndromic approach to the management of vaginal discharge was assessed among women attending a reproductive health clinic in New Delhi, India. The authors conclude that the syndromic approach was not an efficient tool for detecting...

Gender and sex differences in HIV infection patterns in Zimbabwe.(STD/HIV/AIDS)
May 1, 2001... A growing body of evidence suggests that HIV prevalence is higher among women than among men in most sub-Saharan African countries with established epidemics. An ongoing study in Manicaland, Zimbabwe is exploring the nature and possible causes...

Condoms used mainly in non-marital relationships in Zimbabwe.(STD/HIV/AIDS)
May 1, 2001... ZIMBABWE is one of the few sub-Saharan African countries that has made substantial efforts to involve men in the use of contraception. Data from the 1994 Demographic and Health Survey were examined for differences in the pattern of condom use...

Youth perspectives on condoms in South Africa.(STD/HIV/AIDS)
May 1, 2001... CONDOM Concepts of South Africa conducted focus groups with 88 young people from Nelspruit and Johannesburg and found that the main issues in relation to condom use included availability, condom characteristics and marketing. Respondents...

Asymptomatic STDs in men in Tanzania.(STD/HIV/AIDS)
May 1, 2001... SCREENING of nearly 800 Tanzanian men revealed that chlamydial infections were common and mostly asymptomatic. A high proportion of male bar workers with gonorrhoea were also found to be asymptomatic. Treatment based solely upon urethral...

The use of tampons for diagnosing STDs.(STD/HIV/AIDS)
May 1, 2001... IN support of the findings of a previous study (Sturm P, University of Natal, South Africa) samples were taken from tampons used by 1,030 asymptomatic women in remote communities of northern Australia and tested for STIs using polymerase chain...

Nevirapine use for preventing vertical transmission of HIV still recommended.(STD/HIV/AIDS)
May 1, 2001... Officials from the US Centers for Disease Contol and Prevention have recently advised against prescribing nevirapine, an antiretroviral drug, as treatment for needlestick injuries in health workers. It has been found that a four-week course of...

Anti-HIV drugs, profits and politics.(STD/HIV/AIDS)
May 1, 2001... SOUTH Africa has four million people living with HIV/AIDS. Nearly 40 of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies launched a lawsuit this year against the Government of South Africa's attempt to import cheap anti-HIV drugs and other...

The 'safe period' isn't always when it's thought to be.(Research)
May 1, 2001... ACCORDING to clinical guidelines, the average woman is potentially fertile between days 10 and 17 of the menstrual cycle, ovulation occurs about 14 days before the start of the next menses, and the fertile window extends before and beyond...

Regretted sexual intercourse among Scottish teenagers.(Research)
May 1, 2001... THIS paper describes the first large scale survey in the UK of sexual behaviour reported by young people under 15 years of age, based on 7,395 questionnaires. 18 per cent of boys and 15.4 per cent of girls reported having had sexual...

Initiating condom use in exclusive dating relationships.(Research)
May 1, 2001... WHILE Canadian university students tend to view condom use by others positively, at least at the start of a relationship, previous research has indicated that positive attitudes do not necesarily translate into consistent condom use within...

Is clinical breast examination an acceptable alternative to mammographic screening?(Research)
May 1, 2001... THE goal of breast screening is not only to detect tumours but to prevent death. Mammography does detect some cancers 'early' but many may not be lethal and detection can cause what turns out to be needless anxiety. On the other hand, clinical...

Screening for endometrial cancer unnecessary for women on tamoxifen.(Research)
May 1, 2001... GREATER numbers of women are likely to be given tamoxifen in the future, e.g. for prevention of recurrence following surgery for breast cancer. Women who take tamoxifen have only a slightly increased risk of developing endometrial cancer, Two...

Time to pregnancy and fertility.(Research)
May 1, 2001... THE extent of persistence in trying to become pregnant is an often overlooked factor in measuring time-to-pregnancy (TTP) and sub fertility based upon TTP in pregnant women. It is likely that the length of time couples persist in trying to...

Controlling malaria in pregnancy.(Research)
May 1, 2001... MALARIA during pregnancy is potentially the most controllable element in the global malaria problem, an effective control strategy is available and the need to target pregnant women and specific settings is highlighted in the WHO Roll Back...

Contraceptive patch matches effectiveness of oral pill.(Research)
May 1, 2001... A new study in 650 women in the USA and Canada, presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine meeting in San Diego last year, found that a seven-day contraceptive patch can prevent pregnancy at least as effectively as the...

Maternal age and fetal loss.(Research)
May 1, 2001... A prospective register linkage study measured age-related risk of fetal loss, ectopic pregnancy and stillbirth, and age-related risk of miscarriage stratified by parity and previous miscarriage. Overall, 13.5 per cent of pregnancies intended to...

Psycho-social impact of bilateral prophylactic mastectomy.(Research)
May 1, 2001... LITTLE is known of the psychological and social impact of bilateral prophylactic mastectomy for women at increased risk of developing breast cancer. Women's decision to undergo surgery may be based on biopsy history, perception of risk and...

Breastfeeding promotion must reflect women's experiences.(Research)
May 1, 2001... WHILE most mothers breastfeed in Bangladesh, they rarely do so exclusively. With 95 per cent of women having home deliveries, hospital-based strategies for the promotion of breastfeeding have very limited reach. Trained peer counselling...

New frozen egg techniques.(Research)
May 1, 2001... WITH improvements in techniques for freezing human eggs, women who wish to delay pregnancy may he able to do so with less risk of failure. An increasing number of IVF clinics have begun offering to freeze eggs for subsequent fertilisation and...

Doctors, nurses and gender.(Research)
May 1, 2001... THIS study from Norway explored doctor/ nurse relationships when both parties are women, based upon a nationwide survey of 3,589 male and female doctors and qualitative interviews with 15 doctors. Many women doctors reported that they were...

Mifepristone effective as a late post-coital contraceptive.(Research)
May 1, 2001... MIFEPRISTONE has been shown to be a highly effective post-coital contraceptive up to 120 hours after unprotected intercourse. This was in a study of its efficacy beyond 72 hours after unprotected intercourse, among women for whom the IUD was...

Growing up alone. HIV/AIDS: a global emergency.(Publications for young people)
May 1, 2001... Maggie Black, June 2000 This publication is the second in a series of three intended to break the silence surrounding the global phenomenon of children growing up alone. While this volume focuses on the impact of the HIV/AIDS upon...

Learning to live: monitoring and evaluating HIV/AIDS programmes for young people.(Publications for young people)
May 1, 2001... 2000 Increasing emphasis upon work with young people on HIV/AIDS, and upon 'good practice' in the field of HIV/AIDS more generally, highlights the need for appropriate monitoring and evaluation. Save the Children has been responding to the...

How to bridge the gap between us? Gender and sexual safety.(Publications for young people)
May 1, 2001... Living for Tomorrow, Tallinn, 2000 This colourfully illustrated, high quality booklet was developed in Tallinn by Russian and Estonian teenagers who participated in the Nordic Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Research "Living for...

Taking steps of courage: teaching adolescents about sexuality and gender in Nigeria and Cameroon.(Publications for young people)
May 1, 2001... Andrea Irvin, 2000 In light of the challenges posed by sexual abuse and exploitation, HIV/AIDS, STDs, violence, unplanned pregnancy and unsafe abortion, sexuality education needs to provide young people with appropriate learning...

Pregnant and unsure?(Publications for young people)
May 1, 2001... Brook Advisory Centres, the UK's leading provider of sexual and reproductive health services for young people, has developed this brochure to assist young people in making an informed decision on what to do about an unplanned pregnancy. In 14...

The weird and wonderful world of Billy Ballgreedy.(Publications for young people)
May 1, 2001... Billy Ballgreedy is a sex education resource produced by the FPA of Northern Ireland, intended for those who work with boys and young men. It consists of a video, accompanied by an extensive support manual [by Matthew Crozier). The manual...

Is everybody doing it? Your guide to contraception: abortion--just so you know.(Publications for young people)
May 1, 2001... Is Everybody Doing It? Your Guide to Contraception is a 16-page, full-colour, illustrated booklet designed for 13-17 year olds, re-released in a new format due to popular demand. It covers peer pressure, contraceptive methods, condom use,...