Reproductive Health and Bodily Integrity in Tanzania

Several policy initiatives support the empowerment of women to improve their reproductive health. Little is known, however, about the inverse effect that reproductive health might have on women’s empowerment. Women are pressured to conform to their reproductive role, and an inability to do so might affect their empowerment, including control over their own body. This study uses a panel dataset of 504 married women in Northern Tanzania. We find that women who suffered a pregnancy loss show more tolerant views of partner violence (regr. coefficient -0.363; p-value: 0.001), and that child mortality lowers their perceived control over the sexual relationship with their spouse (odds ratio 0.262; p-value: 0.016). The number of children alive did not affect bodily integrity. These results confirm that women’s bodily integrity is partly dependent on the ability to fulfil their reproductive role. They strengthen the case for policies and programmes that improve women’s reproductive health, and underline the importance of counselling after pregnancy or child loss

How Economic Empowerment Reduces Women’s Reproductive Health Vulnerability: Evidence from Northern Tanzania

This article uses data from Northern Tanzania to analyse how economic empowerment helps women reduce their reproductive health (RH) vulnerability. It analyses the effect of women’s employment and economic contribution to their household on health care use at three phases in the reproductive cycle: before pregnancy, during pregnancy and at child birth. Economic empowerment shows a positive effect on health seeking behaviour during pregnancy and at child birth, which remains robust after controlling for bargaining power and selection bias. This indicates that any policy that increases women’s economic empowerment can have a direct positive impact on women’s RH

Does Marketisation of Aid Reduce the Country-level Poverty Targeting of Private Aid Agencies?

This article addresses the question whether private aid agencies (PAAs) that operate in a market-like environment prefer to target different countries compared to their counterparts that operate in a more protected environment. The mainstream view is that competition for funds leads to a focus on middle-income countries where PAAs can easily obtain results. An alternative view considers PAA country choice more dependent on donor priorities. We collected data on aid allocation from 15 private agencies in Germany, Norway and the United States. The German organisations, which operate in the most protected environment, are least focused on the politically and economically poorly performing countries, whereas Norwegian and US-based private agencies show a higher degree of poor-country targeting. These results suggest that critics of marketisation may overestimate its pitfalls regarding country allocation. The poor-country targeting of PAAs proved to be related to the country choices made by bilateral donors, indicating the merit of the slipstream hypothesis. Cet article pose la question de savoir si les destinataires de l'aide des agences priv�es qui travaillent dans un environnement concurrentiel sont diff�rents de ceux des agences d'aide qui travaillent dans un environnement plus prot�g�. Traditionnellement on consid�re que la concurrence pour l'obtention des fonds tend � favoriser les pays � revenus interm�diaires o� les agences d'aide priv�es peuvent plus facilement obtenir des r�sultats. Une vision alternative consid�re que le choix des pays par les agences d'aide priv�es d�pend plus des priorit�s des donateurs. Nous avons rassembl� des donn�es sur l'allocation de l'aide par 15 agences priv�es d'Allemagne, de Norv�ge et des Etats Unis. Les organisations allemandes qui op�rent dans un environnement plus prot�g� sont moins centr�es sur les pays peu performants d'un point de vue �conomique et politique alors que les agences provenant de Norv�ge et des Etats Unis ciblent plus facilement les pays pauvres. Ces r�sultats sugg�rent que les critiques de la marchandisation de l'aide surestiment probablement les �cueils li�s � son allocation. Le ciblage des pays pauvres par les agences d'aide priv�es est fortement induit par les choix des donateurs bilat�raux indiquant ainsi les m�rites de l'hypoth�se alternative.

Understanding Sexual Agency. Implications for Sexual Health Programming

Debates on human agency, especially female and sexual agency, have permeated the social scientific literature and health educational practice for multiple decades now. This article provides a review of recent agency debates illustrating how criticisms of traditional conceptions of (sexual) agency have led to a notable diversification of the concept. A comprehensive, inclusive description of sexual agency is proposed, focusing on the navigation of goals and desires in the wider structural context, and acknowledging the many forms sexual agency may take. We argue there is no simple relation between sexual agency and sexual health. Next, we describe the implications of such an understanding of sexual agency for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and for sexual health and rights (SHR) programming more generally. We put forward validation of agentic variety, gender transformative approaches, meaningful youth participation, and multicomponent strategies as essential in building young peoples’ sexual agency and their role as agents of wider societal change. We also show that these essential conditions, wherever they have been studied, are far from being realized. With this review and connected recommendations, we hope to set the stage for ongoing, well-focused research and development in the area

Understanding Sexual Agency. Implications for Sexual Health Programming

Debates on human agency, especially female and sexual agency, have permeated the social scientific literature and health educational practice for multiple decades now. This article provides a review of recent agency debates illustrating how criticisms of traditional conceptions of (sexual) agency have led to a notable diversification of the concept. A comprehensive, inclusive description of sexual agency is proposed, focusing on the navigation of goals and desires in the wider structural context, and acknowledging the many forms sexual agency may take. We argue there is no simple relation between sexual agency and sexual health. Next, we describe the implications of such an understanding of sexual agency for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and for sexual health and rights (SHR) programming more generally. We put forward validation of agentic variety, gender transformative approaches, meaningful youth participation, and multicomponent strategies as essential in building young peoples’ sexual agency and their role as agents of wider societal change. We also show that these essential conditions, wherever they have been studied, are far from being realized. With this review and connected recommendations, we hope to set the stage for ongoing, well-focused research and development in the area