Reproductive Health

This research aimed to assess how policies reducing demand-side barriers to access to health care have affected service delivery with a particular focus on human resources for health using case studies in five countries (Ghana, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Zimbabwe). In each the authors reviewed financing and HRH policies, considered the impact financing policy change had made on health service utilization rates, analysed the distribution of health staff and their actual and potential workloads, and compared remuneration terms in the public sectors. [from abstract]

This study aimed to examine health care workers’ attitudes toward sexual and reproductive health services to unmarried adolescents in Ethiopia through a descriptive cross-sectional study. [adapted from abstract]

This article examines the extent, motivation, and prevalence of village level health workers’ interaction with men concerning reproductive health issues in rural central India. [from author]

The following paper is a synthesis of the findings of researchers on training transfer and efficacy of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Program in Crisis and Post-Crisis Settings in the Asia Pacific Region, which was designed to address sexual and reproductive health in all phases of the disaster cycle, with a particular focus on preparedness and coordinated response and the importance of human resources for an effective response. [adapted from abstract]

This interview with Shaheen Hussain of Pakistan tells the story of how she became a field-based health educator with a social franchise of private reproductive health care providers and is a testimony of how this program not only touches the lives of the women who receive the reproductive health services but also of the health educators themselves.

This study sought to assess whether sublingual misoprostol could effectively evacuate the uterus after incomplete abortion and to confirm its applicability for use by lower level clinicians. [adapted from abstract]

This study aimed to elicit the views of primary healthcare providers from Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua on how adolescent sexual and reproductive health care in their communities can be improved. [from abstract]

This study gathered information on adolescent sexual and reproductive services and educati on provision in the Solomon Islands and explored ways in which collaboration between the health, education and youth sectors could be feasibly enhanced. [from summary]

With interest in male circumcision (MC) as an HIV prevention option, this study explored the perceptions and motivations of health workers involved in sexual and reproductive health services, examining their implications for the possible future roll out of a national MC program. [adapted from abstract]

This qualitative study was conducted among frontline health workers to explore provider experiences with integration in order to ascertain their significance to the performance of integrated health facilities. [from abstract]

There is a paucity of knowledge concerning the roles of those who provide adolescent health services, care and information across the health and education sectors, how they are managed and educated, and the policies that guide their practice.

Focusing on the demand-side (governments and donors) of contracting out with the private sector, the primer describes the concept of contracting out, discusses its rationale and process, and summarizes three cases of contracting out programs. [from summary]

This primer aims to provide clear lessons and recommendations to help service delivery organizations
and program managers establish, implement, and strengthen contracting arrangements. The primer draws on Marie
Stopes International’s experience of delivering government-contracted services in Bangladesh, India, and South
Africa. [from summary]

Lack of access to quality reproductive health services is the main contributor to the high maternal mortality and morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa. This is partly due to a shortage of qualified and experienced health care providers. However this article explores conscientious objection amongst the available few as a hitherto undocumented potential factor influencing access to health care. [from abstract]

The overall goal of this study was to evaluate whether two tools, developed to build the capacity of health workers globally to respond to their adolescent and young clients effectively and with sensitivity, improved the quality of service provision and experiences of care for reproductive health services to young female clients in two districts in India. [adapted from summary]

This training program is designed for community health workers working in maternal and child health and covers topics such as family planning, reproductive health, gender violence, prevention of mother-to-child HIV among others.

This literature review attempted to evaluate the evidence base on the use of task-shifting between community health workers and mid-level providers to increase access to family planning and reproductive health. [adapted from author]

This presentation introduces the Africa Christian Health Association (CHA) Platform, CHA health service coverage; challenges to family planning services; and opportunities and strategies for scaling up family planning and reproductive health services through CHA health workers. [adapted from author]

This brief outlines collaborations with Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faith-based organizations (FBOs) to expand family planning options to underserved populations while helping FBOs increase services to their communities. [from author]

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working at community level in Papua New Guinea: their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice. [from author]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a quality improvement initiative for reproductive health providers on service qualtiy and related outcomes. [adapted from abstract]

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working at community level in Timor-Leste: their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice. [from summary]

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working at community level in Cambodia; their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice. [from summary]

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working
at community level in Bangladesh; their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice. [from summary]

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working at community level in the Philippines; their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice. [from summary]

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working at community level in Vanuatu: their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice.

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working at community level in Indonesia; their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice. [from summary]

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working at community level in the Solomon Islands: their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice. [from summary]

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working at community level in Fiji – their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice. [from summary]

This supplement to “Sexual and Reproductive Health: Core Competencies in Primary Care” presents of the results of a survey to identify what sexual and reproductive health provision is offered in primary health care, the delivery points and which health workers are providing it especially relevant to the African Region. [adapted from introduction]