Network articles from June 2002

Network archives from June 2002

Letter from the editor.
June 22, 2002... Network strives to identify and describe solid research findings, well-evaluated programs, and evidence-based practices so readers can better help men and women throughout the world achieve their desired family size and protect their...

Discussing sexuality fosters sexual health: goal is greater than just prevention of sexually transmitted infections or unplanned pregnancies.
June 22, 2002... Every woman seeking reproductive health services brings her entire life's story with her. It is a story that providers should be prepared to listen to with respect because it may contain information vital to the woman's health and well-being....

Training providers to talk about sex.
June 22, 2002... Few providers make discussions regarding sexuality part of their practice. But research conducted in Egypt through the Population Council's Frontiers in Reproductive Health project has shown that sexuality counseling can be successfully...

Life circumstances influence decisions.
June 22, 2002... Cultural and social factors--some obvious, others less so--strongly influence the reproductive health decisions of women in many settings throughout the world. A woman's ability to work and earn an income that she can control, for instance, can...

Gender stereotypes compromise sexual health: some experts believe traditional views should be challenged to foster safer sexual behavior.
June 22, 2002... Expectations about what it means to be a man or a woman, which are an integral part of most children's socialization, leave many adults ill prepared to enjoy their sexuality or protect their health. Gender has such a powerful influence on...

Contradictory messages put young women at risk.
June 22, 2002... Many young women are so constrained by contradictory messages about purity, submission, and love that they cannot say "yes" or "no" to sex, results of qualitative research among Rwandan youth suggest. (1) Conducted under FHI's Implementing...

Youth programs challenge stereotypes.
June 22, 2002... Whether programs that work with youth to help them challenge health-threatening assumptions about what it means to be a man or a woman actually improve reproductive health has yet to be demonstrated. But existing programs designed to achieve...

When partners talk, behavior may change: research suggests that partner communication helps couples improve their reproductive health.
June 22, 2002... Many men and women fail to protect themselves against unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS, in part because they find it difficult, if not impossible, to discuss with their partners subjects related...

Dialogue tool promotes open, honest discussion.(from Family Health International)
June 22, 2002... Efforts to help sexual partners talk to each other about reproductive health matters are limited. Few have been evaluated. However, FHI has developed and is evaluating a tool to help men and women communicate openly with each other about...

Traditional method use, communication sometimes linked.
June 22, 2002... Modern methods of contraception prevent pregnancy more effectively than traditional methods, such as the rhythm method or withdrawal. Yet, some women prefer traditional methods because they feel that their effective use requires a commitment by...

Counseling of couples facilitates HIV disclosure.
June 22, 2002... In settings where many people are infected with HIV, reproductive health professionals face a difficult ethical dilemma. They must protect the confidentiality of their clients, even those who are HIV-positive. Disclosing the HIV status of an...

Increasing contraception reduces abortion: complex relationship between contraception and induced abortion grows clearer.
June 22, 2002... Recent studies offer strong evidence of a widely supposed but difficult-to-demonstrate benefit of reproductive health services: that increasing the use of effective contraception leads to declines in induced abortion rates. "It is...

High-quality services keep down abortion.
June 22, 2002... Easy access to high-quality family planning services kept induced abortion rates from rising in one area of Matlab, Bangladesh, despite the increasing likelihood that unintended pregnancies among women there would end in abortion, a recent...

A culture of abortion?
June 22, 2002... For most of the history of the Soviet Union, women relied primarily on induced abortion to control their fertility. Even today, though the use of contraception has increased markedly in the former Soviet Union, the region has one of the highest...