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Why do women not use antenatal services in low- and middle-Income countries? a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies

FINLAYSON, Kenneth
DOWNE, Soo
January 2013

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This article aims to inform the development of future antenatal care programmes through a synthesis of findings in all relevant qualitative studies. The findings suggest that there may be a misalignment between current antenatal care provision and the social and cultural context of some women in low and middle income countries
PLoS Med, Vol 10, Issue 1

Maternal and new-born care practices among disabled women, and their attendance in community groups in rural Makwanpur, Nepal

LEONARD CHESHIRE DISABILITY AND INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
2013

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This paper presents qualitative and quantitative research that describes the type and severity of disability of married women in the study area, describes their participation in community groups and analyses associations between maternal and new-born care behaviours and disability. Health workers and field researchers were also interviewed about their experience with disabled women in rural Makwanpur
Cross-cutting Disability Research Programme, Background Paper: 01

Sustaining human development : addressing NCDs and disability across the lifecourse

THE NCD ALLIANCE
et al
2013

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This report explores three interconnected global trends — a growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the rising prevalence of disability, and changing global population demographics (including rapidly ageing populations). The report highlights that there issues were collectively neglected as policy priorities during the era of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It stresses that the unique opportunity to ensure a future framework that fully integrates NCDs, that goals and targets drive progress for all people including persons with disabilities, and that a lifecourse and rights-based approach underpins all goals and targets to ensure no one is left behind

The African disability rights yearbook

NGWENA, Charles
et al
Eds
2013

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This Yearbook “aims to bring into prominence an area traditionally neglected by both African governments and academics. Following in the wake of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is the first peer-reviewed journal to focus exclusively on disability as human rights on the African continent. The Yearbook, which is projected to appear annually, is set out in three sections. Section A contains academic articles; Section B consists of country-based research, charting recent developments on disability rights legislation, case law and policy developments in selected African states; and Section C deals with relevant developments in the African Union (AU) and African sub-regional organisations”

Volume 1

The equal rights review : volume nine

PETROVA, Dimitrina
Ed
2012

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The Equal Rights Review (ERR) is an interdisciplinary biannual journal intended as a forum for the exchange of legal, philosophical, sociological and other ideas and practical insights for those who are promoting equality. This issue contains a special section on disability equality, as well as an interview on the same issue with Hiroshi Kawamura, Founder and President of the DAISY Consortium, Japan, and Kapka Panayotova, Director of the Centre for Independent Living in Sofia, Bulgaria
The Equal Rights Review, Vol Nine

Early childhood development and disability : a discussion paper

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)
2012

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"This discussion paper provides a brief overview of issues pertaining to early childhood development (ECD) and disability. It lays the foundation for a long-term strategic and collaborative process aimed at improving the developmental outcomes, participation and protection of young children with disabilities. Essential to this effort is dialogue between United Nations agencies and relevant stakeholders to identify sustainable strategies which build on existing efforts, and expand on multisectoral approaches to guarantee the rights of young children with disabilities and their families"

Developing intervention strategies to improve community health worker motivation and performance

FRANK, Tine
KALLANDER, Karin
2012

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"This 28-page learning paper describes Malaria Consortium’s experience with Integrated Community Case Management (ICCM) in malaria prevention and treatment in Mozambique and Uganda. ICCM is an approach where community-based health workers are trained to identify, treat, and refer complex cases malaria (and other diseases) in children"
The Learning Series Papers

Costs and cost-effectiveness of training traditional birth attendants to reduce neonatal mortality in the Lufwanyama neonatal survival study (LUNESP)

SABIN, Lora L
et al
2012

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"The Lufwanyama Neonatal Survival Project ("LUNESP") was a cluster randomized, controlled trial that showed that training traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to perform interventions targeting birth asphyxia, hypothermia, and neonatal sepsis reduced all-cause neonatal mortality by 45%. This companion analysis was undertaken to analyze intervention costs and cost-effectiveness, and factors that might improve cost-effectiveness"
PLoS ONE 7(4)

Access to health care, reproductive health and disability: A large scale survey in Sierra Leone

GROCE, Nora
TRANI, Jean-Francois
BROWN, Joyce Brown
KETT, Maria
BAH, Osman
MORLAI, Teddy
BAILEY, Nicki
2011

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This is the first study to compare health status and access to health care services between disabled and non-disabled men and women in urban and peri-urban areas of Sierra Leone. It pays particular attention to access to reproductive health care services and maternal health care for disabled women. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2009 in 5 districts of Sierra Leone, randomly selecting 17 clusters for a total sample of 425 households. All adults who were identified as being disabled, as well as a control group of randomly selected non-disabled adults, were interviewed about health and reproductive health. As expected, we showed that people with severe disabilities had less access to public health care services than non-disabled people after adjustment for other socioeconomic characteristics (bivariate modelling). However, there were no significant differences in reporting use of contraception between disabled and non-disabled people; contrary to expectations, women with disabilities were as likely to report access to maternal health care services as did non-disabled women. Rather than disability, it is socioeconomic inequality that governs access to such services. We also found that disabled women were as likely as non-disabled women to report having children and to desiring another child: they are not only sexually active, but also need access to reproductive health services.

Keeping children safe toolkit : a toolkit for child protection

KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE COALITION
2011

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This toolkit is a complete package for people working in safeguarding children across the world. It aims to support agencies at international, national and local levels to put these standards into practice. This revised toolkit for child protection includes material on children's participation in child protection. The toolkit has five components: Tool 1: Standards for child protection Tool 2: How to implement the standards Tool 3: Training for child protection Tool 4: Children's participation in child protection Tool 5: Film
Note: The original version of this document is also available to download in Arabic and Albanian

The balanced counseling strategy plus : a toolkit for family planning service providers working in high HIV/STI prevalence settings

POPULATION COUNCIL
2011

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"This "is an interactive, client-friendly approach for improving counseling on family planning and prevention, detection, and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV. The BCS+ was adapted from the Balanced Counseling Strategy, an evidence-based and well-researched tool for improving counseling on contraceptive methods. The BCS+ toolkit, developed and tested in Kenya and South Africa, provides the information and materials needed for health care facility providers to provide complete and high-quality family planning counseling to clients who live in areas with high rates of HIV and STIs.The BCS+ tools are generic and can be revised according to national and/or regional guidelines and different contexts
This second edition toolkit includes the following: * BCS+ Trainer’s Guide: Supervisors and others can use this to train health care facility directors and service providers on how to use the BCS+ for counseling family planning clients. * BCS+ User’s Guide: This guide focuses on how to implement the Balanced Counseling Strategy Plus. It can be distributed during training or used on its own with the BCS+ job aids. * BCS+ job aids comprising: - BCS+ algorithm that summarizes the 19 steps needed to implement the BCS+ during a family planning counseling session. These steps are organized into four stages: pre-choice, method choice, post-choice, and STI/HIV counseling. - BCS+ counseling cards that the provider uses during a counseling session. There are 26 counseling cards, the first of which contains six questions that the service provider asks to rule out the possibility a client is pregnant. Each of the next 16 cards contains information about a different family planning method. The next 3 cards provide advice on pregnancy and the postpartum period. The last 6 cards provide essential information for counseling on preventing, detecting, and treating STIs and HIV. - BCS+ method brochures on each of the 16 methods represented by the counseling cards. The brochures provide counseling to clients on the method they have chosen and then are given to clients for later reference. This means clients do not have to rely on their recollection of what was discussed with the provider. - WHO Medical Eligibility Criteria Wheel (offsite link) guides providers through medical conditions and medications that may be contraindications to use of particular contraceptive methods. The BCS+ tools are generic and can be revised according to national and/or regional guidelines and different contexts"
A video describing use of the BCS+ toolkit in South Africa also is available. To obtain Microsoft Word versions of BCS+ files to modify or revise according to your local setting, please contact the publisher

Analysing commitments to advance the global strategy for women's and children's health|The PMNCH 2011 report

THE PARTNERSHIP FOR MATERNAL, NEWBORN & CHILD HEALTH (PMNCH)
2011

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"This report seeks to further our collective understanding of the current Global Strategy commitments, facilitating more effective advocacy to advance the Every Woman, Every Child effort, as well as greater accountability in line with the recommendations of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health. This 2011 report is based on structured interviews with those who made commitments, supplemented by reviews of related documentation. This report analyses the specific nature of each commitment recorded through May 2011 to produce a preliminary picture of the achievements of the Global Strategy commitments to date, as well as to identify opportunities and challenges for advancement"

Integrating early childhood development (ECD) activities into nutrition programmes in emergencies : why, what and how

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
2011

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"This document is written for local and international staff running nutrition programmes in emergencies, and for local, regional and national authorities and donors involved in such programmes. The note explains WHY nutrition programmes need to include early childhood development (ECD) activities to maximize the child’s development. It provides practical suggestions as to WHAT simple steps are necessary to create integrated programmes in situations of famine or food insecurity and it gives examples of HOW such integrated programmes have been established in other situations"

The roles and influence of grandmothers and men : evidence supporting a family-focused approach to optimal infant and young child nutrition

AUBEL, Judi
2011

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"This report reviews both published and gray literature from the past 25 years that addresses intra-household roles and dynamics related to infant and young child nutrition-specifically the roles and influence of senior women, or grandmothers, and men. The report examines infant and young child nutrition and other maternal and child health interventions explicitly involving grandmothers and/or men and reports on each intervention’s effectiveness"

Priority medicines for mothers and children 2011

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
2011

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This resource presents a list of priority medicines for mothers and children to help countries and partners select and make available those medicines that will have the biggest impact on reducing maternal, newborn and child morbidity and mortality
WHO/EMP/MAR/2011.1

Early childhood stimulation interventions in developing countries : a comprehensive literature review

BAKER-HENNINGHAM, Helen
BOO, Florencia Lopez
September 2010

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"This report reviews the effectiveness of early childhood stimulation interventions in developing countries. The report aims to answer the questions: What works in terms of early stimulation for young children in developing countries? For whom and under what conditions do these programs work and why do they work. The report is divided into several sections. Firstly, a brief discussion of the importance of early stimulation for young children in developing countries is provided. Secondly, the methods used to identify and characterize studies are provided and a review of randomized or quasi-experimental trials is presented. Thirdly, a review of the evidence for who benefits most from early interventions is presented followed by a review of program characteristics that affect the success of interventions and an examination of potential mechanisms through which interventions achieve their effects. Finally, recommendations for practice and future research are provided"
IDB working paper series

Women’s Experience of Group Prenatal Care

Gina Novick
Lois S. Sadler
Sally S. Cohen
Holly Powell Kennedy
Kathleen A. Knafl
Nora Groce
2010

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Group prenatal care (GPNC) is an innovative alternative to individual prenatal care. In this longitudinal study we used ethnographic methods to explore African American and Hispanic women’s experiences of receiving GPNC in two urban clinics. Methods included individual, in-depth, semistructured interviews of women and group leaders in GPNC, participant observation of GPNC sessions, and medical record review. GPNC offered positive experiences and met many of women’s expressed preferences regarding prenatal care. Six themes were identified, which represented separate aspects of women’s experiences: investment, collaborative venture, a social gathering, relationships with boundaries, learning in the group, and changing self. Taken together, the themes conveyed the overall experience of GPNC. Women were especially enthusiastic about learning in groups, about their relationships with group leaders, and about having their pregnancy-related changes and fears normalized; however, there were also important boundaries on relationships between participants, and some women wished for greater privacy during physical examinations.

Protect for the future : placing children's protection and care at the heart of the MDGs

DELAP, Emily
et al
July 2010

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This paper argues that, in relation to children, this vital change in approach must go beyond a consideration of survival, health and education rights already specifically referred to in the millennium development goals (MDGs), to encompass rights relating to children’s protection and care. These include recognition of the central importance of family-based care for child wellbeing, and children’s rights to be free from violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect. It is argued that only through a consideration of such rights will it be possible to make wide-reaching and sustainable progress in efforts to alleviate child poverty, increase access to education, improve maternal and child health, and reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS

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