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This report describes phase II of the Population Council Vietnam project on gender-based violence (GBV). The project involves both a hospital and community based intervention to address this problem in Hanoi and to conduct research to assess its effectiveness. This report is useful to practitioners interested in gender-based violence issues in Vietnam

This report arose from recognition of the need to provide better care and follow up of mothers and infants in the postnatal period in order to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes in Swaziland. The objectives of the study were to determine if changes to the guidelines on postnatal care would result in improvements to provision of of maternal and newborn care in the postnatal period, increase utilization of postnatal care services among all postpartum (PP) women, and improve the care and follow up of HIV-positive postpartum women and their infants. The study confirmed that the introduction of an improved postnatal package with revised timing and content provided key components of maternal, newborn, and HIV care, and increased the utilization of services among postpartum women and their infants. An assessment of the quality of care during client-provider interactions for all postpartum women demonstrated a fourfold increase in the proportion that included all aspects of care: maternal and newborn health, counseling for HIV, family planning, and improved provider-client relationships

This is the report of an intervention study in Kibera, an urban slum in Nairobi, to determine what effect three different community-based activities had on the utilisation of key prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services. The interventions included moving services closer to the population via mobile clinics, as well as increasing psychosocial support through the use of traditional birth attendants and peer counsellors as PMTCT promoters

This report provides a case study of a process to bring key technical sectors together with communities in a partnership for reducing food insecurity among HIV-affected households in Tororo, Uganda. Food security is the ability of individuals to consume sufficient quantity and quality of food to meet their daily needs. Food security depends on the availability of food, physical and economic access to it, and the physiological utilisation of nutrients. The case study is based on project documents and qualitative interviews and focus group discussions conducted with participants in the Partners for Food Security PAFOSE project

Mothers2mothers (m2m) is a peer support programme that aims to provide education and psycho-social support to HIV-positive pregnant women and new mothers' help women access existing health care services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT); and follow up with mothers and babies to ensure they receive appropriate medical care after delivery. While there has been much interest in innovative psycho-social support programmes that complement PMTCT clinical services, only a few such programmes exist, and there are very little data about their effectiveness. Although m2m is a well known programme with anecdotal accounts of successfully supporting HIV-positive women, it had yet to undergo an external evaluation. The Horizons Program of Population Council, in collaboration with Health Systems Trust, completed the first evaluation of m2m as part of its introduction in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

This briefing reports on a study undertaken in India to document existing patterns of, and barriers to intergenerational communication on sexual health and HIV & AIDS and to determine the felt need for it by both parents and young people

Internal migration in South East Asia raises questions about strains upon traditional systems of support for older adults. While remittances to parents’ households play a role in rural household economies, uncertainty remains regarding whether and under what circumstances children interact with their elderly parents. This paper focuses on the adult children of older persons living in rural Cambodia and Thailand and examines the determinants of personal visits, monetary remittances and more general forms of household support. Analyses considers ways in which geographically distant children support parents, the extent to which characteristics of parents, children and households enhance or detract from these inter-generational interactions, and how determinants of inter-generational interaction vary between the two countries. Comparisons between countries of conditions and characteristics of families provide insights into how social, economic, and cultural forces motivate provision of support to aging parents

As closer attention is paid to the lives of adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, girls are found to be clearly disadvantaged, compared with their male counterparts. In Burkina Faso it is estimated that 74 percent of girls aged 15-19 cannot read. Burkinabé girls are frequently married at a young age, and more than one-third of married girls find themselves in polygamous unions as second or third wives, married to much older men. Understanding and recognising girls' realities is an important first step in planning appropriate and meaningful interventions for them. Girls who are unmarried, "promised," engaged, or married face different constraints and merit different program approaches. This report aims to fill gaps in our knowledge regarding adolescent Burkinabé girls so as better serve the needs of this most vulnerable population

"The Community Advocates training manual is a curriculum developed by Population Council, Nigeria under the HIV Prevention Project for Vulnerable Youth in Northern Nigeria funded by USAID/Nigeria. The curriculum was developed as a tool for training community advocates to conduct advocacy activities on the issues of early marriage, HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. The curriculum is developed on the premise that community representatives can speak out on issues concerning their lives and community, if given the necessary skills"