Operations research to improve postabortion (PAC) services in three public hospitals, Bolivia

In the last five years, Pathfinder Bolivia has provided technical assistance, training and equipment to the Ministry of Health (MOH) to implement postabortion care (PAC) services in eight hospitals. They invited Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS) to provide the technical assistance and training for conducting operations research (OR) activities. This report describes the second stage of this collaborative effort as presented in a three-day workshop attended by providers and staff members of the participant hospitals. During the workshop, participants received OR training and developed draft OR proposals seeking to improve PAC service delivery problems identified during the first study. The OR studies described in this report contributed to improving PAC by underlining the need to take into account other client needs, particularly contraception, instead of concentrating on emergency treatment

Technical assistance and training for PROCOSI operations research program, Bolivia

In September 1999, PROCOSI, a Bolivian network of 24 nongovernmental organizations that provide health services, invited the Population Council Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS) program to provide technical assistance for designing and conducting operations research aimed at increasing the quality and impact of their reproductive health programs. In collaboration with PROCOSI, FRONTIERS conducted four training workshops on design of operations research projects, qualitative research methods, utilization and dissemination of research results, and preparing research reports. Technical assistance on other topics, such as developing research instruments, creating databases, and using EpiInfo for transcribing and analyzing data was provided on-site to each organization. The operations research projects implemented by the organizations addressed a series of topics that can be grouped into two major categories: a) strategies for increasing access to and quality of reproductive health programs, and b) adolescents. The experience of this collaborative PROCOSI/FRONTIERS project was very positive: high-quality research projects were carried out; programs benefited from the research projects; and a group of technicians was formed that with a small amount of help will be able to conduct new research projects from a managers’ perspective

Effects and cost of implementing a gender-sensitive reproductive health program in Bolivia

The Integral Health Coordination Program (Programa de Coordinación en Salud Integral or PROCOSI), a network of 24 Bolivian NGOs, and the Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS) program evaluated the effects of interventions on clinic clients and their partners, and estimated the costs of incorporating a gender perspective into service delivery. Results show that sexual and reproductive health service organizations can implement action plans to change organizational policies and service delivery practices and to improve their infrastructure and equipment to make them more convenient for clients. The results further show that the intervention made modest but important changes in partner dynamics. No evidence was found that the incorporation of a gender perspective had an effect on the demand for sexual and reproductive health services. In the context of the current study, if change in unmet need is posited as the measure of success, then the question for program managers is whether this expenditure is justified to achieve the resulting changes in unmet need

The risk of COVID-19 death is much greater and age dependent with type I IFN autoantibodies

International audienceSignificance There is growing evidence that preexisting autoantibodies neutralizing type I interferons (IFNs) are strong determinants of life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia. It is important to estimate their quantitative impact on COVID-19 mortality upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, by age and sex, as both the prevalence of these autoantibodies and the risk of COVID-19 death increase with age and are higher in men. Using an unvaccinated sample of 1,261 deceased patients and 34,159 individuals from the general population, we found that autoantibodies against type I IFNs strongly increased the SARS-CoV-2 infection fatality rate at all ages, in both men and women. Autoantibodies against type I IFNs are strong and common predictors of life-threatening COVID-19. Testing for these autoantibodies should be considered in the general population

The risk of COVID-19 death is much greater and age dependent with type I IFN autoantibodies

International audienceSignificance There is growing evidence that preexisting autoantibodies neutralizing type I interferons (IFNs) are strong determinants of life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia. It is important to estimate their quantitative impact on COVID-19 mortality upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, by age and sex, as both the prevalence of these autoantibodies and the risk of COVID-19 death increase with age and are higher in men. Using an unvaccinated sample of 1,261 deceased patients and 34,159 individuals from the general population, we found that autoantibodies against type I IFNs strongly increased the SARS-CoV-2 infection fatality rate at all ages, in both men and women. Autoantibodies against type I IFNs are strong and common predictors of life-threatening COVID-19. Testing for these autoantibodies should be considered in the general population