DHS Further Analysis Reports No. 90 - In Rwanda, between 2005 and 2010, there have been radical declines in the desired number of children, actual fertility, and child mortality along with a large i...ncrease in contraceptive prevalence. This study reviews trends in some of these measures. Multivariate analyses evaluate the relative importance for
the desired number of children of years of schooling, wealth, urban residence, media exposure, child mortality, and attitudes toward gender equality. Variations in reproductive preferences, the total fertility rate, and unmet need for family planning are mapped for the 30 districts of Rwanda. The explanations for the rapid changes in reproductive attitudes and behavior are clearly related to the concerns of the country, the rapid rate of population growth, and its implications for economic development and reproductive health.
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Population-Based Survey on Perceptions and Attitudes about Peace, Security and Justice in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
While the world was gripped by the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, children continued to face the same crisis they have for decades: intolerably high mortality rates and vastly inequitable chances at life. In total, more than 5.0 million childr...en under age 5, including 2.4 million newborns, along with 2.2 million children and youth aged 5 to 24 years – 43 per cent of whom are adolescents – died in 2020. This tragic and massive loss of life, most of which was due to preventable or treatable causes, is a stark reminder of the urgent need to end preventable deaths of children and young people.
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Women and Health Initiative Working Paper No. 1. Women and Health Initiative
Improving matern...al health in the context of the sub-Saharan African HIV epidemic requires greater understanding of the relationships between HIV disease and maternal morbidity and mortality, integrated and effective responses by the health system, and a social context which promotes quality care and encourages use of MCH and HIV services. Advancing the proposed research agenda will make an invaluable contribution by generating needed evidence for policy and practice that improves the maternal health of women who are living with HIV, as well as those who are not. Bringing together maternal health and HIV researchers, policy-makers and program implementers to reduce HIV-related maternal morbidity and mortality and improve the HIV response for women represents an opportunity and a challenge.
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The report focuses on several key areas where health outcomes are falling short, and provides insight into ways in which countries can improve the situation for their children ...-to-highlight medbox">and adolescents. Areas in focus include mental health, overweight/obesity and adolescent risk-taking behaviour.
The report shows, for example, that:
- mental health remains a neglected subject – only one quarter of countries are collecting data on the number of children treated by a mental health professional;
- half of countries do not regulate the marketing of food to children, despite the fact that childhood obesity rates are high across the Region and physical activity rates are low;
- almost half of countries have no policy that affects the availability of unhealthy foods at school;
- 2 in 5 girls and 1 in 3 boys who are having sex do not protect themselves; and
one third of countries do not offer legal access to contraception without parental consent for those under 18 years of age.
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The Policy Guidelines and Service Standards for National Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme document outlines the steps on how to offer ... class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">and deliver services. Improving quality of care is critical to improving clients' health status as well as increasing access to, and utilization of Sexual and Reproductive Health services. Service Standards and Guidelines are intended to be used by programme managers, implementers, trainers, surpervisors, and service providers as a tool for delivering quality care measures.
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The introduction of vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) added another measure to the existing set of
recommended preventive measures (wearing a mask in public, keeping a distance from other people and regular handwashing). The roll-out... of the vaccines, however, raised concerns that vaccination may lead to lower adherence to the existing
preventive measures. The advice from the World Health Organization (WHO) was to continue these public health and
social measures after being vaccinated.1 However, evidence from other epidemics suggests that there is lower adherence to
preventive measures when some level of protection exists (for example, individuals who use human immunodeficiency virus
pre-exposure prophylaxis
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Assessing the impact of the EVD outbreak on health systems in Sierra Leone. Survey concluded 6-17 October 2014