Sexual and Reproductive Health
HEART partners hera‘s Alice Behrendt and Marieke Devillé, under supervision of Dia Timmermans, are currently working on a UNFPA funded systematic review investigating factors determining women’s ability to make their own decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care in lower and middle income settings. The team is working with the UNFPA human… Read more
The Delivering Reproductive Health Results (DRHR) programme used social franchising (SF) and social marketing (SM) approaches to increase the supply of high quality family planning services in underserved areas of Pakistan. The authors of this paper assessed the costs, cost-efficiency and cost-effectiveness of DRHR to understand the value for money of these approaches. Financial and… Read more
SAGE is a DFID supported, integrated programme to improve the lives of adolescent girls, responding to the multiple and interrelated disadvantages they face. It comprises two components: Delivery of integrated services for vulnerable adolescent girls through a safe spaces approach, including enhancing their access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education and services. Support for… Read more
This blog was written by Elizabeth Tofaris, University of Cambridge, on behalf of the the Impact Initiative for international development research. The Impact Initiative seeks to connect policymakers and practitioners with the world-class social science research supported by the ESRC-DFID Strategic Partnership, maximising the uptake and impact of research from: (i) the Joint Fund for… 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
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
The WHO guidelines, Preventing early pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes among adolescents in developing countries, provide both a call to action and directions for future research on: preventing early pregnancy: by preventing marriage before 18 years of age; by increasing knowledge and understanding of the importance of pregnancy prevention; by increasing the use of contraception;… 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