 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Catharine McKaig, DrPH, International Program, World Neighbors, 4127 NW 122nd Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73120, (405) 752-9700, cmckaig@wn.org
Incorporating reproductive health services into integrated development programs is a strategy for increasing the use of reproductive health services. In evaluations of five country programs (India, Nepal, Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Haiti), higher than expected rates of reproductive health service use were observed in programs which used this approach. Research was undertaken to identify the mechanisms by which these outcomes were produced, exclusive of physical access. Both participatory and survey methodologies were used in the five settings and non-program participants in the same communities served as comparison groups.
In all five program settings, couple communication regarding family size and contraceptive use was found to be higher among program participants compared to non-participants. Similarly measures of female autonomy, such as decision-making and property ownership, were also found to be higher among program participants.
It is notable that the integrated programs included capacity building activities which involved both male and female members of the communities. Although there were not program objectives associated with couple communication or women’s autonomy, these outcomes were attributed to program activities by both male and female participants.
This research is an initial attempt to examine outcomes of an integrated program beyond the usual service use outcomes. The transformation of social relationships is an important outcome that is often not captured in integrated programming due to the complexity of measurement. However, these findings indicate that there is substantial potential in engaging the broader development community in addressing reproductive health due to the social and economic aspects of such work.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Gender, Reproductive Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.