Beyond dichotomies: Exploring responses to tackling the sex industry in Nepal.

The sex industry in Nepal has witnessed a massive resurgence, largely due to the expansion of the entertainment sector in the last decade. It is frequently featured in the national media, often with sensationalistic headlines. However, there is only limited research available on the perceptions of support agencies’ efforts in dealing with sex industry in Nepal. This chapter explores the approaches taken by different agencies in Nepal to intervening in the sex industry. The data for the chapter are derived from semi-structured interviews with donor agencies, government offices, I/NGOs, and other anti-trafficking networks. The findings of the chapter delineate that the rights of women and girls to work in a safe and healthy environment have been largely neglected in Nepal. Despite several attempts to regulate the sex industry, the practices employed by support organisations are often limited to controlling measures (rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration model). Such measures often bound up in the choice/coercion and innocent/savvy dichotomies. The chapter emphasises the importance of looking beyond these dichotomies and addressing the labour exploitation and other human rights violations that women and girls are facing in the Nepalese sex industry

Women, poverty and adverse maternal outcomes in Nairobi, Kenya

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The link between poverty and adverse maternal outcomes has been studied largely by means of quantitative data. We explore poor urban Kenyan women's views and lived experiences of the relationship between economic disadvantage and unpleasant maternal outcomes.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>Secondary analysis of focus group discussions and in-depth individual interviews data with women in two slums in Nairobi, Kenya.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Urban poor women in Nairobi associate poverty with adverse maternal outcomes. However, their accounts and lived experiences of the impact of poverty on maternal outcomes underscore dynamics other than those typically stressed in the extant literature. To them, poverty primarily generates adverse maternal outcomes by exposing women to exceedingly hard and heavy workloads during pregnancy and the period surrounding it; to intimate partner violence; as well as to inhospitable and unpleasant treatment by service providers.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Poverty has wider and more intricate implications for maternal outcomes than are acknowledged in extant research. To deliver their expected impact, current efforts to promote better maternal outcomes must be guided by a more thorough perspective of the link between women's livelihoods and their health and wellbeing.</p

Beyond wifehood: Harnessing local gender ideologies to inform public health interventions in Africa

Public health discourse surrounding women in Africa has yet to benefit from longstanding, rigorous problematizations and theorizations of gender in African settings. In a word, the African woman, from the public health perspective, is still primarily a ‘wife’. Yet, targeting women solely as wives obscures the other important and varied positions which women in Africa occupy and limits the opportunities available for addressing their myriad health issues. We draw on data emerging from our years of ethnographic work among the Ubang community in Obudu, Cross River State, Southeast Nigeria, examining indigenous/local gender constructions and the attendant implications for women’s decision-making and action related to illness. We conclude by advancing a new public health approach to women in African contexts, and by demonstrating that in engaging with women exclusively as wives, public health interventions have unwittingly overlooked other critical entry points for improving the health status of women in Africa

SRHR needs and challenges of refugee and internally displaced women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa : evidence highlights

In 2019, more than 134 million people in 42 countries needed humanitarian due to wars, internal conflicts, natural disasters, or extreme poverty. Over 25 million of these people lived as refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs). More than half of them were aged 18 years or less. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) hosts 26 % of the world’s current refugee population, a figure that is expected to rise due to ongoing and new conflicts in many parts of the subregion. Compounding this situation is the continuing influx of Yemeni refugees into the volatile Horn of Africa. We conducted a rapid scoping review of the literature on the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) challenges of young women and girls in refugee and IDPs camps as well as promising solutions and best practices to address these challenges

Understanding and addressing the SRH needs and challenges of young women and girls in humanitarian settings in Nigeria and Uganda

This research project sought to gather and use evidence to improve the design and delivery of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services among adolescent and young women in Muna El Badawe Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in Maiduguri, Nigeria and Nakivale Refugee Settlement Camp in Isingiro, Uganda. Following quantitative and qualitative research, the study found that use of contraception and other SRHR services is low. The data indicates this may be linked to low decision-making power, stigma, and lack of awareness. The study further found differences between the two locations that may help to inform and tailor future SRHR services across humanitarian settings, including around how concentrated cultural norms in an IDP camp impact decision-making and stigma differently than the more diverse population of the refugee camp

Sexual and reproductive health needs and challenges of adolescent girls and young women in humanitarian settings in Nigeria and Uganda : a quantitative report

To better address Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) care access needs for young women and adolescent girls in humanitarian settings, greater insight is required on the needs and experiences of this population. Focusing on young women and adolescent girls in an Internally displaced persons camp in Maiduguri, Nigeria, and a refugee camp in Isingiro, Uganda, this report provides greater insight into their sexual and reproductive health needs and challenges. It specifically focuses on living conditions in the camp; contraceptives, pregnancy, and abortion; use of sexual and reproductive health services; intimate partner violence; and gender-based violence. The report is part of a larger project to generate evidence to improve the design and delivery of SRHR services to girls and young women in humanitarian contexts

Contraceptive method choice among women in slum and non-slum communities in Nairobi, Kenya

Background: Understanding women’s contraceptive method choices is key to enhancing family planning services provision and programming. Currently however, very little research has addressed inter and intra-regional disparities in women’s contraceptive method choice. Using data from slum and non-slum contexts in Nairobi, Kenya, the current study investigates the prevalence of and factors associated with contraceptive method choice among women. Methods: Data were from a cross-sectional quantitative study conducted among a random sample of 1,873 women (aged 15–49 years) in two non-slum and two slum settlement areas in Nairobi, Kenya. The study locations were purposively sampled by virtue of being part of the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to explore the association between the outcome variable, contraceptive method choice, and explanatory variables. Results: The prevalence of contraceptive method choice was relatively similar across slum and non-slum settlements. 34.3 % of women in slum communities and 28.1 % of women in non-slum communities reported using short-term methods. Slightly more women living in the non-slum settlements reported use of long-term methods, 9.2 %, compared to 3.6 % in slum communities. Older women were less likely to use short-term methods than their younger counterparts but more likely to use long-term methods. Currently married women were more likely than never married women to use short-term and long-term methods. Compared to those with no children, women with three or more children were more likely to report using long term methods. Women working outside the home or those in formal employment also used modern methods of contraception more than those in self-employment or unemployed. Conclusion: Use of short-term and long-term methods is generally low among women living in slum and non-slum contexts in Nairobi. Investments in increasing women’s access to various contraceptive options are urgently needed to help increase contraceptive prevalence rate. Thus, interventions that focus on more disadvantaged segments of the population will accelerate contraceptive uptake and improve maternal and child health in Kenya

Kenya country profile: A status check on unintended pregnancy in Kenya

Kenya’s mothers are dying at an alarming rate: a woman giving birth in Kenya has a 1 in 38 chance of dying due to inadequate reproductive health services. In response, in 2014 Kenya’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta launched the Beyond Zero campaign to create awareness and raise funds to tackle maternal mortality and morbidity and improve child health. This brief offers six policy and programmatic recommendations to address significant sexual and reproductive health challenges highlighted throughout the report. These recommendations take into account the policy context in Kenya, which is evolving at a rapid rate in part because of the new devolution process, and increased interest and public debate surrounding maternal health and family planning. Though the Kenyan government has made key strides in improving reproductive health outcomes for its citizens, the recommendations outlined in the report would help the country move closer to achieving its reproductive health goals

Unintended pregnancy by the numbers: A look at Kenya

This fact sheet summarizes data collated during the development of the STEP UP Country Profile Report on Unintended Pregnancies for Kenya, which presents a range of key evidence aimed at informing readers about the trends, magnitude, determinants, and consequences of unintended pregnancy in Kenya. The data shown in this fact sheet are drawn mainly from the 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008/09 Kenya Demographic and Health Surveys (KDHS) as well as other secondary sources