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Get PDFSWEDD Series: Best Practice Guide no. 4
This Guide is one of a series that retrospectively documents the process of implementing the interventions of the SWEDD project, and documents good practices, challenges and lessons learned. The “Sahel Women\u27s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend” (SWEDD) project was launched in November 2015 with financial support from the World Bank, and technical support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the West African Health Organisation (WAHO). The research informing this Guide was led by the Population Council
Soft skills training for Rohingya and host community youth in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
Get PDFThe Population Council, in collaboration with Research, Training and Management International (RTMI) and Underprivileged Children’s Education Program (UCEP), pilot tested a soft skills training intervention in two Rohingya camps and a vocational training center in the host community in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh in 2022. As a follow-up to the pilot program, the Council along with its partners rolled out soft skills training in four Rohingya camps and a vocational training center in the host community in 2023. The purpose of this training was to improve the personal, social, and financial management skills of Rohingya youth, which would be of use on their return to Myanmar or during their interim period of stay in Bangladesh. In addition, the training was intended to help host-community youth develop financial management skills and life skills
Kuboresha Afya Mitaani: Improving Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Outcomes for Vulnerable Women and Newborns in Informal Settlements in Nairobi, Kenya
No full textThe Population Council-Kenya partnered with Jacaranda Health and the Nairobi Metropolitan Services to improve the quality of the ecosystem for maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) services in two informal settlements of Nairobi, Mathare North and Kawangware. Over a period of three years, the team worked with County and subcounty health managers to integrate typically siloed actors in the quality-of- care space-including women and their families, communities surrounding facilities, providers, health regulators, and actors in sanitation and air pollution-into a “Quality Ecosystem.” We targeted women and neonates in the informal settlements, associated households and the communities they live in to reach approximately 40,000 mothers over three years. As part of this effort, together with the county health department, we optimized and adopted the PROMPTS (Promoting Mothers through Pregnancy and Postpartum) digital tool- a free text- messaging platform that provides pregnant women and new mothers with a carefully designed sequence of behavioral nudge messages and a clinician-supported help desk to answer questions. Our endline assessment found that the PROMPTS digital tool increased women’s knowledge of pregnancy complications, and enhanced care-seeking behaviors
Prevalence of long COVID symptoms in Haryana, India: A cross-sectional follow-up study
No full textBackground: Emerging research indicates growing concern over long COVID globally, although there have been limited studies that estimate population burden. We aimed to estimate the burden of long COVID in three districts of Haryana, India, using an opportunity to link a seroprevalence study to follow-up survey of symptoms associated with long COVID. Methods: We used a population-based seroprevalence survey for COVID-19 conducted in September 2021 across Haryana, India. Adults from three purposively selected districts (Rohtak, Gurugram, and Jhajjar) were eligible to participate; 2205 of 3213 consented to participate in a survey on health status. Trained investigators administered a structured questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, self-reported symptoms of illness in the last six months before the survey, mental health, and history of COVID-19. Findings: Unadjusted regression estimates indicated positive correlations between symptomatic complaints and COVID-19 exposure, suggesting lingering effects of COVID-19 in this population. The overall physical morbidity index was higher among those who tested positive for COVID-19, as was the incidence of new cases. However, both morbidity and incidence became statistically insignificant after adjustment for multiple comparisons. Cough emerged as the only statistically significant individual persistent symptom. Sex-stratified analyses indicated significant estimates only for physical morbidity in women. Interpretation: This study is one of the first from India that uses a large population-based sample to examine longer term repercussions of COVID infections. The burden of long COVID should primarily be addressed in clinical settings, where specialised treatment for individual cases continues to evolve. Our analyses also provide insight into the size and nature of studies required to assess the population-level burden of long COVID. Funding: This paper was produced under the auspices of the Lancet COVID 19 Commission India Task Force, which was supported financially by the Reliance Foundation. The Lancet COVID 19 Commission was set up in July 2020 and submitted its final report by October 2022. This report by the India Task Force was prepared during the same period
The Promise of Vaginal Rings: From the Global Leader in Vaginal Ring Development and Implementation
Get PDFThe Population Council is the global leader in vaginal ring development, with more vaginal rings in our product pipeline than any other organization. Our rings are designed for contraception, prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and multipurpose prevention combinations. They contain a variety of active pharmaceutical ingredients, including hormonal and non-hormonal contraceptives, as well as antiretroviral (ARV) and non-ARV compounds for HIV prevention
Power, Practice and Potential: Social Protection and Adolescent Girls—Event on the sidelines of CSW68
No full textGirls’ economic wellbeing is critical to their overall wellbeing and safe transitions to adulthood. Social protection can turn the tide for adolescent girls by allowing families to invest in their health and education. There is particular promise in integrated social protection, such as the combination of cash transfers linked to additional services or programming. This event, held on the sidelines of CSW68, featured a presentation of a systematic review on the impact of social protection on adolescent girls, case studies on successful cash-plus programs, and a panel discussion between government representatives, bi-laterals, multi-laterals, and researchers. The event was co-hosted by the Population Council’s GIRL Center, UNICEF, and the Cash Transfer and IPV Research Collaborative
Making a Smart Investment: Evidence that Worker Health Programs Benefit Everyone
No full textOn 17 July 2024, the Population Council and UN Foundation\u27s Universal Access Project co-hosted a timely discussion on addressing women’s health in global supply chains and latest efforts to drive corporate action on worker health and wellbeing.
The Population Council presented a case study of public-private partnership in providing family planning services to garment workers in Egypt. And it put the study in context with its past initiatives in Asia—in Bangladesh and Cambodia—on workplace health programs and policies.
The UN Foundation’s Universal Access Project led a panel discussion with business, development, and NGO experts on the state of workplace health and wellbeing initiatives, on connections to climate resilience and effective stakeholder engagement, and on next steps to engage corporate champions.
Speakers included:
- Peter Mollema, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Egypt- Dilly Severin, UN Foundation/Universal Access Project- Thoai Ngo, Population Council- David Wofford, UN Foundation/Universal Access Project- Ashish Bajracharya, Population Council- Nahla Abdel Tawab, Population Council- Sarah Craven, UNFPA- Emily Janoch, Thought Leadership at CARE/USA- Komala Ramachandra, Gap, Inc
How migration shapes modern contraceptive use among urban young women: Evidence from six African countries
No full textBackground: Internal migration is an important part of the transition to adulthood for many young people in sub-Saharan Africa. This study examines how migration, in relation to marriage and parenthood, impacts modern contraceptive use and health facility visits amongst young urban women. Methods: We draw on Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) surveys conducted in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda (2019–2022). Our analysis is unique in being able to adjust for whether women wanted to get pregnant soon. Our sample includes women ages 15–24 years currently residing in urban areas (n = 6,225). We conducted logistic regression models clustered by village level identifier to explore the sequence of life events and the timing of migration in relation to current modern contraceptive use and recent health facility visit, a proxy for engagement with formal health services. Results: The timing of migration matters more than the sequence of these life events. Young urban women who experienced both migration and a birth, regardless of the order, had increased contraceptive use and recent health facility visit, compared to women who had only experienced one event or neither. Young women who migrated in the past year had 24% lower odds of using a modern method (Odds Ratio = 0.76; 95% confidence interval 0.63, 0.91), adjusting for demographic factors and adjusting for fertility preference (Wanting to get pregnant soon). Having had a birth was highly significant for health facility visit and among women who had had a birth, those who migrated in the last year had lower odds of a recent visit (OR = 0.68, 95% CI 0.41, 0.89). Results suggest an initially disruptive effect of migration. Discussion: Our results suggest young women who recently migrated to urban areas may need additional support in accessing contraception and formal health services for themselves or their children
Phase I dose volume escalation of rectally administered PC-1005 to assess safety, pharmacokinetics, and antiviral pharmacodynamics as a multipurpose prevention technology (MTN-037)
No full textBackground: On demand, topical PrEP is desired by those preferring episodic, non-systemic PrEP. PC-1005 gel (MIV-150, zinc, and carrageenan) exhibits in vitro antiviral HIV-1, HPV, and HSV-2 activity, attractive for a multipurpose prevention technology (MPT) candidate. We evaluated the safety, pharmacokinetics, and antiviral effect of rectally-applied PC-1005. Methods: HIV-uninfected adults received a series of three rectal PC-1005 doses - 4, 16, and 32 mL separated by 2-week washout periods. Following each dose, plasma, rectal fluid and tissue, and vaginal fluid were collected over 48 h. Results: Thirteen adults enrolled; 12 completed all 3 doses. All 13 adverse events reported were Grade 1 or 2; five were judged study drug-related. Plasma MIV-150 peaked 1-2 h after dosing with a median peak concentrations range of 0.07-0.23 ng/mL and median half-life range of 4.9-7.4 hours across dose volumes; median concentrations were below assay quantitation limits (BLQ) 24 h after dosing. Rectal Tissue MIV-150 peaked 0.5-1 hours after dosing at 1.4 ng/g (ng/mL) (0.8, 1.9), 46.0 (30.7, 831.0), and 79.7 (11.9, 116.0), respectively, after each dose volume; median tissue concentrations were BLQ beyond 5 hours for all doses. All vaginal fluid samples were BLQ. Ex vivo antiviral assays showed 5 h of antiviral HPV and HSV effect, but no anti-HIV activity. Conclusions: MIV-150 rectal tissue concentrations were below the 100 ng/g target concentration and transient. Ex vivo assays demonstrated antiviral HSV and HPV effects, but not against HIV. PC-1005 requires a more potent antiviral and longer-lasting formulation for further consideration as an MPT candidate
Violence Against Children and Youth in Humanitarian Settings: Findings from a 2022 survey of all refugee settlements in Uganda
Get PDFConducted in 2022, the Uganda Humanitarian Violence Against Children Survey (VACS) is a representative household survey of 13- to 24-year-old females and males drawn from all 13 refugee settlements in the country. This is the first ever VACS to take place exclusively in a humanitarian setting. The Uganda HVACS reveals that children across refugee settlements in Uganda experience high levels of emotional, physical, and sexual violence, which have a major impact on their wellbeing. About 50% of 18–24-year-old females and males experienced at least one of these forms of violence before age 18. About a third (32%) of females and 40% of males aged 13-17 years experienced at least one form of violence in the past 12 months. Disclosure of violence was very low, even when knowledge of where to seek care for violence was relatively high