Economic Status, Education and Empowerment: Implications for Maternal Health Service Utilization in Developing Countries

, and maternal health service utilization in developing countries. are significantly associated with utilization of maternal health services. The odds of having a skilled attendant at delivery for women in the poorest wealth quintile are 94% lower than that for women in the highest wealth quintile and almost 5 times higher for women with complete primary education relative to those less educated. The likelihood of using modern contraception and attending four or more antenatal care visits are 2.01 and 2.89 times, respectively, higher for women with complete primary education than for those less educated. Women with the highest empowerment score are between 1.31 and 1.82 times more likely than those with a null empowerment score to use modern contraception, attend four or more antenatal care visits and have a skilled attendant at birth.Efforts to expand maternal health service utilization can be accelerated by parallel investments in programs aimed at poverty eradication (MDG 1), universal primary education (MDG 2), and women's empowerment (MDG 3)

Contraceptive discontinuation and failure and subsequent abortion in Romania: 1994-99

This study examines the levels and correlates of contraceptive failure and discontinuation in Romania, together with the consequences of contraceptive method failure in terms of induced abortion. Of special interest are women who rely on the traditional method of withdrawal and the proportion of withdrawal failures resulting in abortion. Our analysis is based on multiyear calendar data concerning women\u27s contraceptive use and monthly reproductive behaviors collected in the 1999 Romanian Reproductive Health Survey. Weibull regression models are estimated to analyze the determinants of discontinuation and failure for all methods combined and for withdrawal. Overall, 19 and 28 percent of women became pregnant within the first year of using any contraceptive method and of practicing withdrawal, respectively. About 57 and 59 percent of failures from use of all methods and from withdrawal ended in abortion, accounting for 30 percent and 22 percent, respectively, of all abortions reported between 1994 and 1999. These findings suggest that high rates of contraceptive discontinuation and failure contributed significantly to the widespread reliance on induced abortion among Romanian women during this period

Theoretical modeling and experimental study of sodium oleate properties for wastewater cleaning with magnetic nanoparticles stabilized with oleate

We present some preliminary results regarding possible reducing of environment phenol contamination with nanotechnology involving. Magnetic nanoparticles stabilized in water dispersion with oleate were prepared for experimental testing of their interaction with wastewater samples containing phenol residues from industrial and sanitation sources. Magnetite with moderate level of cobalt doping was synthesized by co-precipitation method in the form of nanoparticles; further their surface was modified by the reaction with sodium oleate solution. Quantum chemical simulation of oleate structure recommended it for the interaction with water dipolar molecules as well as with metal cations at the nanocores surface. Transmission Electron Microscopy confirmed fine granulation of the prepared sample meaning significant total surface of nanoparticle sample. Phenol loaded water model was let to interact with magnetic nanoparticles in various reaction conditions. Phenol absorbance in the main spectral band showed the concentration diminution following magnetic nanoparticle action in the presence of ultraviolet radiation and hydrogen peroxide supply. Further experiments are planned for the better optimization of the phenol concentration decreasing in the large volumes of wastewater with adequate nanostructures, able to develop efficient interaction mechanisms with pollutant molecules