Executive Summary: Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) in Uttar Pradesh, India (2015–16)

A program of research titled, “Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,” implemented by the Population Council, aimed to understand the factors that determine healthy transitions from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. The goal of UDAYA is to establish the levels, patterns, and trends in the situation of younger (10–14) and older (15–19) adolescents and assess factors that influence the quality of transitions they make. The specific objectives of UDAYA are: 1) to explore the situation of adolescents, with a focus on assessing the extent to which both younger and older adolescents have acquired a set of assets that can help them make a healthy, safe, and successful transition from adolescence to young adulthood in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh; 2) to describe the extent to which the situation of adolescents has changed over time; and 3) to assess factors that determine the accumulation or loss of assets and the quality of transitions from adolescence to young adulthood. This report presents findings from Uttar Pradesh

Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) in Uttar Pradesh, India (2015–16)

The goal of the program of research titled “Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh” is to establish the levels, patterns, and trends in the situation of younger (10–14) and older (15–19) adolescents and to assess factors that influence the quality of transitions they make. The study is designed to provide robust insights on how investments in adolescents influence their life course by the time they reach young adulthood; enable evidence-based decisions on the types of programs worthy of scale-up; and furnish important baseline indicators against which the long-term impact of programs can be measured. This report focuses on the findings from the first round of cross-sectional surveys of adolescents conducted in Uttar Pradesh, which confirm that adolescents are a heterogeneous group with correspondingly diverse needs. The findings of UDAYA show that adolescents face numerous challenges in making the transition to adulthood. The report identifies and discusses several programmatic areas for action to improve the situation of adolescents

Effects of the PRACHAR project\u27s reproductive health training programme for adolescents: Findings from a longitudinal study

The objective of this study was to better understand the longer-term effects of a three-day training program offered by Phase III of Pathfinder’s PRACHAR (Promoting Change in Reproductive Behaviour) program among adolescents in rural areas of selected districts of Bihar, India. This program focused on addressing adolescents’ need for information, contraceptive supplies, parental and community support, and a youth-friendly health system. Findings confirm that the training program was acceptable and useful to the young people exposed to it, and that it had a number of notable longer-term effects, observed even four years following its implementation; and they demonstrate the promise of a scaled intervention implemented among large proportions of adolescents and young people. Nevertheless, a training program lasting just three days or one focused only on adolescents may not be sufficient to sustain longer-term effects in the more difficult-to-change aspects of young people’s reproductive health—child marriage and early pregnancy—in a conservative setting such as Bihar

Modifying behaviours and notions of masculinity: Effect of a programme led by locally elected representatives

The Population Council, together with the Centre for Catalyzing Change and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and with support from UKaid, implemented the Do Kadam Barabari Ki Ore (Two Steps Towards Equality) program. The project, situated in Patna district, India aimed to orient and engage locally elected leaders—namely, members of Gram Panchayats and Gram Kachehris—in changing community norms relating to the acceptability of violence against women, and preventing violence against women as well as one factor closely associated with the perpetration of such violence, namely alcohol abuse. Specifically, it assessed: 1) the feasibility of sensitizing and training members of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs, local self-governance bodies) to act as change agents to transform gender norms among men and women in their communities; 2) the effect of the intervention on generating egalitarian gender-role attitudes among PRI members and a reduction in violence against women and girls (VAWG) perpetrated/experienced by them; and 3) the effect of the intervention on changing gender-role attitudes, including attitudes about marital violence among men and women at the community level, and reduction in VAWG and alcohol misuse at the community level

Feasibility of screening and referring women experiencing marital violence by engaging frontline workers: Evidence from rural Bihar

The Population Council, together with partners, the Centre for Catalyzing Change, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, with support from UKaid, implemented the Do Kadam Barabari Ki Ore (Two Steps Towards Equality) project in rural areas of Patna district in Bihar, India. The project engaged frontline workers (FLWs) to screen women for their experience of marital violence, inform them about their options in case of such an experience, and provide basic counseling and referral to women reporting the experience. Overall, the findings from the implementation of the Do Kadam program have been encouraging. They suggest that interactions between FLWs and women on violence-related issues increased significantly and that project activities could be incorporated into the regular responsibilities of FLWs. Yet, several recommendations emerge, including the need to recognize that domestic violence is both a public health concern and a violation of women’s rights, on the one hand; and to understand, on the other, the importance of incorporating screening, counseling, and referrals of women experiencing violence into the responsibilities of FLWs

Executive Summary—Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) in Bihar, India

A program of research titled, “Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,” implemented by the Population Council, aimed to understand the factors that determine healthy transitions from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. The goal of UDAYA is to establish the levels, patterns, and trends in the situation of younger (10–14) and older (15–19) adolescents and assess factors that influence the quality of transitions they make. The specific objectives of UDAYA are: 1) to explore the situation of adolescents, with a focus on assessing the extent to which both younger and older adolescents have acquired a set of assets that can help them make a healthy, safe, and successful transition from adolescence to young adulthood in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh; 2) to describe the extent to which the situation of adolescents has changed over time; and 3) to assess factors that determine the accumulation or loss of assets and the quality of transitions from adolescence to young adulthood. This report presents findings from Bihar

Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) in Bihar, India

The goal of the “Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh” program is to establish the levels, patterns, and trends in the situation of younger (10–14) and older (15–19) adolescents and to assess factors that influence the quality of transitions they make. The study is designed to provide robust insights on how investments in adolescents influence their life course by the time they reach young adulthood; enable evidence-based decisions on the types of programs worthy of scale-up; and furnish important baseline indicators against which the long-term impact of programs can be measured. This report focuses on the findings from the first round of cross-sectional surveys of adolescents conducted during January–July 2016 in Bihar, which confirm that adolescents are a heterogeneous group with correspondingly diverse needs. While large proportions of adolescents are healthy and have been to school, our findings confirm that they face numerous challenges in making the transition to adulthood. The report identifies and discusses several programmatic areas for action to improve the situation of adolescents

Executive Summary—Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) in Bihar, India [Hindi]

A program of research titled, “Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,” implemented by the Population Council, aimed to understand the factors that determine healthy transitions from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. The goal of UDAYA is to establish the levels, patterns, and trends in the situation of younger (10–14) and older (15–19) adolescents and assess factors that influence the quality of transitions they make. The specific objectives of UDAYA are: 1) to explore the situation of adolescents, with a focus on assessing the extent to which both younger and older adolescents have acquired a set of assets that can help them make a healthy, safe, and successful transition from adolescence to young adulthood in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh; 2) to describe the extent to which the situation of adolescents has changed over time; and 3) to assess factors that determine the accumulation or loss of assets and the quality of transitions from adolescence to young adulthood

DNA sequence variation and haplotype structure of the ICAM1 and TNF genes in 12 ethnic groups of India reveal patterns of importance in designing association studies

We have examined the patterns of DNA sequence variation in and around the genes coding for ICAM1 and TNF, which play functional and correlated roles in inflammatory processes and immune cell responses, in 12 diverse ethnic groups of India. We aimed to (a) quantify the nature and extent of the variation, and (b) analyse the observed patterns of variation in relation to population history and ethnic background. At the ICAM1 and TNF loci, respectively, the total numbers of SNPs that were detected were 28 and 12. Many of these SNPs are not shared across ethnic groups and are unreported in the dbSNP or TSC databases, including two fairly common non-synonymous SNPs at positions 13487 and 13542 in the ICAM1 gene. Conversely, the TNF-376A SNP that is reported to be associated with susceptibility to malaria was not found in our study populations, even though some of the populations inhabit malaria endemic areas. Wide between-population variation in the frequencies of shared SNPs and coefficients of linkage disequilibrium have been observed. These findings have profound implications in case-control association studies

The effect of a gender transformative life skills education and sports-coaching programme on the attitudes and practices of adolescent boys and young men in Bihar

The importance of starting young to change youths’ attitudes and behaviors—especially of young boys—has been widely acknowledged, but a key challenge has been the limited evidence on the kinds of programs that have succeeded in making such changes. In order to fill this gap, the Population Council, together with partners, the Centre for Catalysing Change and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and with support from UKaid, implemented the Do Kadam Barabari Ki Ore (Two Steps Towards Equality) project among boys. Implemented in rural areas of Patna district, India this project sought to promote, among adolescent boys and young men who were members of youth clubs supported by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, egalitarian gender attitudes and abhorrence of violence against women and girls. This report describes the Do Kadam Barabari Ki Ore project and its implementation and examines the extent to which it transformed gender-role attitudes of boys