Gender
The aim of this review was to present the recent evidence on the period poverty (lack of access to sanitary products, WASH facilities, dignity, and information about menstruation) impact on the economic empowerment of women. Improving menstrual health management (MHM, also known as ‘period poverty’) can substantially improve girls’ education, health and wellbeing. The literature,… Read more
The main barriers to women’s economic inclusion in Tanzania are: time poverty (because women have to spend so much time on household chores); lack of education; reproductive health pressures; lack of assets and access to financial services; in the case of agriculture – lack of access to male labour and inputs such as fertiliser; in… Read more
This report focuses on the evidence on the health, economic and other benefits of investing in family planning. Family planning allows people to attain their desired number of children and determine the spacing of pregnancies. It is achieved through use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of infertility (WHO 2015). A large and growing body… Read more
This report looks at the evidence available on effective behaviour change communication for increasing the uptake of family planning methods. It provides information on several different methods. Studies indicate that if a woman has been given advice to adopt postpartum contraception three or more times, the couple are more likely to have adopted a method…. Read more
Social norms are informal rules and shared social expectations that shape individual attitudes and behaviour (Arias, 2015; Marcus and Harper, 2015). Gender norms are social norms that relate specifically to gender differences. A common gender norm, for example, is that women and girls will and should do the majority of domestic work (Marcus and Harper,… Read more
The current conflict in Yemen, which began in 2015, has resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe. As of March 2017, 18.8 million people are in need of humanitarian support, and 10.3 million are in acute need (Sikurajapathy and Al-Fotih, 2017). Women, men, boys and girls have been affected in different ways by the conflict. This rapid… Read more
The Western Balkans remains a region dominated by patriarchal gender norms. The biggest challenge for improving gender equality is changing the mentality of women and men towards traditional gender roles (Petričević, 2012). The literature consistently identifies social attitudes as a barrier to increasing gender equality. Many people are not aware of women’s rights or gender… Read more
This helpdesk report provides an overview of some of the most relevant evidence on rights-based approaches to increasing access to SRHR including how they have been measured and enhanced access where information is available. Section 2 of this report explores the impact of policy changes on accessing rights, and the impact that champions of SRHR within… Read more
New innovations and technology, including mobiles and internet, have enormous potential for increasing access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). They can be particularly helpful in reaching hard to access groups, including remote or stigmatised populations, due to the rapid spread of telecommunications infrastructure, mobile phones and broadband usage in low and middle… Read more
A WHO systematic review looking at the evidence on sexual and reproductive health among adolescents in developing countries finds quality evidence to be lacking in many areas (WHO, 2012). The report includes the following: No evidence was found on the efforts to influence laws and policies though this is recognised as important for increasing access…. Read more
This review has found a number of peer reviewed studies and grey literature on interventions targeted at sex workers for HIV prevention. Several were systematic reviews, some comprehensive reviews and policy papers. A number of individual studies focused on cost effectiveness are presented. Two interventions in India are considered particularly effective and scalable interventions. A… Read more