Gender
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
Research on the cost-effectiveness of interventions to improve SRH for adolescents is limited. This rapid review includes research on some interventions which focus specifically on girls and some research on programmes for both boys and girls. Three studies were identified that specifically analysed cost-effectiveness of SRH interventions for adolescents in low- and middle-income countries (see… Read more
Evaluation of the evidence on the effectiveness of male circumcision (MC) suggests that implementation should be accelerated in sub-Saharan Africa. Experts reviewing six simulation models agree that programmes that focus on subpopulations with a high HIV prevalence and incidence would have substantial impact on HIV incidence. The review of the six simulation models found estimates… Read more
This helpdesk identified a number of reviews on adolescent SRH. Key findings include: Facilitating school attendance reduces childbearing and schools are an effective platform for reproductive health education. To improve access and use one review recommends: enacting and implementing laws and policies requiring education and reproductive health services, building community support for contraception provision; providing… Read more
This helpdesk query looks at interventions to improve the quality of care in maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) and sexual and reproductive health (SRH). It includes evidence assessing which interventions are likely to have the best impact on service outputs and health outcomes, with an emphasis on cost effectiveness. The MNCH focus is on… Read more
The key message from the evidence that although long acting and permanent methods of contraception incur higher initial costs than short acting methods, the long term protection that they provide and substantially greater effectiveness at preventing unintended pregnancies means that their overall cost-effectiveness is higher. Research included in this review describe this key message, including… Read more