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Key learnings from an outcome and embedded process evaluation of a direct to beneficiary mobile health intervention among marginalised women in rural Bihar, India
No full textIntroduction: Mobile Vaani was implemented as a pilot programme across six blocks of Nalanda district in Bihar state, India to increase knowledge of rural women who were members of self-help groups on proper nutrition for pregnant or lactating mothers and infants, family planning and diarrhoea management. Conveners of self-help group meetings, community mobilisers, introduced women to the intervention by giving them access to interactive voice response informational and motivational content. A mixed methods outcome and embedded process evaluation was commissioned to assess the reach and impact of Mobile Vaani. Methods: The outcome evaluation, conducted from January 2017 to November 2018, used a quasi-experimental pre-post design with a sample of 4800 married women aged 15-49 from self-help group households, who had a live birth in the past 24 months. Surveys with community mobilisers followed by meeting observations (n=116), in-depth interviews (n=180) with self-help group members and secondary analyses of system generated data were conducted to assess exposure and perceptions of the intervention. Results: From the outcome evaluation, 23% of women interviewed had heard about Mobile Vaani. Women in the intervention arm had significantly higher knowledge than women in the comparison arm for two of seven focus outcomes: knowledge of how to make child\u27s food nutrient and energy dense (treatment-on-treated: 18.8% (95% CI 0.4% to 37.2%, p \u3c 0.045)) and awareness of at least two modern spacing family planning methods (treatment-on-treated: 17.6% (95% CI 4.7% to 30.5%, p \u3c 0.008)). Women with any awareness of Mobile Vaani were happy with the programme and appreciated the ability to call in and listen to the content. Conclusion: Low population awareness and programme exposure are underpinned by broader population level barriers to mobile phone access and use among women and missed opportunities by the programme to improve targeting and programme promotion. Further research is needed to assess programmatic linkages with changes in health practices
The effects of negative economic shocks at birth on adolescents’ cognitive outcomes and educational attainment in Malawi
No full textWe provide new evidence of the association between moderate negative economic shocks in utero or shortly after birth and adolescents’ cognitive outcomes and educational attainment in Malawi. This is one of the first studies to analyze the effect of not one, but multiple moderate negative economic shocks in a sub-Saharan African (SSA) low-income country (LIC). This focus is important as multiple economic shocks in early life are more representative of the experiences of adolescents in LICs. Combining data on adolescents aged 10–16 from the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) project with the Malawi Longitudinal Study on Families and Health (MLSFH) (N = 1, 559), we use linear and probit regression models to show that girls whose households experienced two or more economic shocks in their year of birth have lower cognitive scores, which are measured using working memory, reading and mathematical tests. Girls also have lower educational attainment, conditional on age. These effects are gendered, as we do not observe similar effects among boys. Overall, our results point to lasting effects of early-life adversity on adolescents, and they highlight that, even in a LIC context where early-life adversity is common, policymakers need to intervene early to alleviate the potential long-term educational impacts of in utero or early life shocks among girls
Water scarcity and human (im)mobility: Identifying internal migration patterns driven by water depletion across 72 countries
No full textWebinar—Addressing Urban Disparities in Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights
No full textExperts discuss ways to improve SRHR outcomes in the urban context, specifically neighborhood or structural challenges, measurement and data issues, and current gaps to help define a comprehensive research agenda moving forward
DREAMS Implementation Science: Data from surveys with men in South Africa (Round 1 & 2)
No full textThe Population Council is the research partner to DREAMS—a global partnership to reduce HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in over 10 sub-Saharan African countries and Haiti. DREAMS aims to reduce HIV infections among AGYW. This dataset contains data from two independent cross-sectional surveys with men (aged 20–40 years) interviewed in 2017 and 2018 at community hot spots or HIV service sites in Ethekwini (Durban), South Africa. These data are from a Population Council-led implementation science study to assess HIV risk and service use among male partners of AGYW
Changes in prevalence of violence and risk factors for violence and HIV among children and young people in Kenya: A comparison of the 2010 and 2019 Kenya Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys
No full textBackground: Previous research has shown a high prevalence of violence among young people in Kenya. Violence is a known risk factor for HIV acquisition and these two public health issues could be viewed as a syndemic. In 2010, Kenya became the third country to implement the Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS). The study found a high prevalence of violence in the country. Led by the Government of Kenya, stakeholders implemented several prevention and response strategies to reduce violence. In 2019, Kenya implemented a second VACS. This study examines the changes in violence and risk factors for violence and HIV between 2010 and 2019. Methods: The 2010 and 2019 VACS used a similar sampling approach and measures. Both VACS were cross-sectional national household surveys of young people aged 13–24 years, designed to produce national estimates of physical, sexual, and emotional violence. Prevalence and changes in lifetime experiences of violence and risk factors for violence and HIV were estimated. The VACS uses a three-stage cluster sampling approach with random selection of enumeration areas as the first stage, households as the second stage, and an eligible participant from the selected household as the third stage. The VACS questionnaire contains sections on demographics, risk and protective factors, violence victimisation, violence perpetration, sexual behaviour, HIV testing and services, violence service knowledge and uptake, and health outcomes. For this study, the main outcome variables were violence victimisation, context of violence, and risk factors for violence. All analyses were done with the entire sample of 13–24-year-olds stratified by sex and survey year. Findings: The prevalence of lifetime sexual, physical, and emotional violence significantly declined in 2019 compared with 2010, including unwanted sexual touching, for both females and males. Experience of pressured and forced sex among females also decreased between the surveys. Additionally, significantly more females sought and received services for sexual violence and significantly more males knew of a place to seek help in 2019 than in 2010. The prevalence of several risk factors for violence and HIV also declined, including infrequent condom use, endorsement of inequitable gender norms, endorsement of norms justifying wife beating, and never testing for HIV. Interpretation: Kenya observed significant declines in the prevalence of lifetime violence and some risk factors for violence and HIV, and improvements in some service seeking indicators between 2010 and 2019. Continued prioritisation of preventing and responding to violence in Kenya could contribute to further reductions in violence and its negative outcomes. Other countries in the region that have made substantial investments and implemented similar violence prevention programmes could use repeat VACS data to monitor violence and related outcomes over time
Exploitative working conditions for child domestic workers in Ethiopia
Get PDFThis brief, published by the Freedom Fund, highlights the main findings from a large-scale study on the prevalence of child domestic workers in Addis Ababa
The United States COVID-19 Forecast Hub dataset
No full textAcademic researchers, government agencies, industry groups, and individuals have produced forecasts at an unprecedented scale during the COVID-19 pandemic. To leverage these forecasts, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered with an academic research lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to create the US COVID-19 Forecast Hub. Launched in April 2020, the Forecast Hub is a dataset with point and probabilistic forecasts of incident cases, incident hospitalizations, incident deaths, and cumulative deaths due to COVID-19 at county, state, and national, levels in the United States. Included forecasts represent a variety of modeling approaches, data sources, and assumptions regarding the spread of COVID-19. The goal of this dataset is to establish a standardized and comparable set of short-term forecasts from modeling teams. These data can be used to develop ensemble models, communicate forecasts to the public, create visualizations, compare models, and inform policies regarding COVID-19 mitigation. These open-source data are available via download from GitHub, through an online API, and through R packages
Global assessments of sexual and reproductive health needs of rural-urban migrants in an urbanizing world
No full textSustainable Development Goal 3.7 is less likely to be achieved unless the sexual and reproductive health needs of rural-urban migrants are met. We are living in a continuously urbanizing world (UN 2019a; Jiang and O’Neill 2017), and rural-urban migration is one of the key driving forces of urbanization. Studies show that rural-urban migrants are unable to access comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services. Compared to urban non-migrants, they are less knowledgeable of and useless sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services; are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour. Although urban migrants may have better access to modern contraceptives than rural non-migrants, a large proportion of migrants become slum dwellers in peri-urban areas where migrants lack social protection and information on rights and entitlements; and they are exposed to a range of social discriminations