Population Reference Bureau

This brief describes they key medical and demographic aspects of reproductive health in the MENA region for which data are readily available.

Each year, millions of women, newborns, and children die from preventable causes.  While the interventions that could save their lives are widely known, they are often not available to those most in need.  This brief looks at the option of a "continuum of care" and how this idea could meet challenges and improve the health and survival of women, newborns, and children worldwide.

The rationale for integrating family planning/reproductive health (FP/RH) and HIV services, especially in high HIV prevalence settings, has long been apparent: Sexually active individuals are at risk of both unintended pregnancies and HIV. The integration of these two sets of services share the key intended health outcomes of prevention of new HIV infections and prevention of unintended pregnancies. Years of experience in reproductive health settings demonstrate that individuals make greater use of services if they are easy to access. Visits to a health facility represent costs to clients and health systems, and making the most of these visits can have enormous benefits in the uptake of services and efficient program operations. One of the biggest challenges to integrating FP and HIV services is generating the political will to bring together programs that have been physically, financially, and managerially separate. When policymakers understand the savings and benefits of integrating FP and HIV services, they are more likely to support it. This policy brief highlights why service integration makes political and program sense, and describes the lessons learned from successful integration strategies in Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, and Uganda. This brief also urges policymakers and program managers to make integrated services routinely and widely available.

Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced an impressive 5% annual economic growth since the late 1990s, outpacing the world average. But other aspects of the region’s development are lagging. The region is behind on many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of goals agreed upon by world leaders at a UN summit in 2000 to reduce poverty, improve health, and foster economic development. Sub-Saharan Africa is especially deficient in areas of reproductive health crucial for meeting MDGs for child and maternal health. This brief examines successes and failures in reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on variations in family planning use and family size, maternal mortality, and HIV/AIDS in major sub-Saharan regions.

A rationale for why it is crucial to measure maternal mortality.  Additionally challenges in measuring maternal mortality are discussed as well as future recommendations.

This policy brief examines how countries in the MENA region are progressing toward achieving the MDGs and highlights how these countries could benefit from greater attention to reproductive health. The region is moving in the right direction on most MDG indicators, but priority attention is needed to increase gender equality, expand quality health services, and address freshwater scarcity.

This report details trends in contraceptive use across the world as well as a detailed country by country report of contraceptive use, preferences and trends.

The widespread adoption of family planning represents one of the most dramatic changes of the 20th century. The growing use of contraception around the world has given couples the ability to choose the number and spacing of their children and has had tremendous lifesaving benefits. Yet despite these impressive gains, contraceptive use is still low and the need for contraception high in some of the world’s poorest and most populous places. Recent research is shedding light on how family planning increases survival, improves the health of millions of people, and helps achieve national goals. Considered a “best buy” among health investments, family planning is one of the most cost-effective, high-yield interventions that exists today. Countries that invest in family planning can reap immediate health benefits, investment savings in the health and education sectors, and social and environmental benefits that extend well beyond a single generation. Family planning could prevent many more deaths—particularly in the poorest countries—if we put current knowledge into practice. This report discusses various family plannning options and their implications.

Long-term investments in comprehensive family planning and MCH services contribute to many economic and health benefits for women and their families. The Matlab experience shows that when a range of family planning methods are easy to obtain, many poor women choose to have fewer children, and with smaller families, they are able to earn higher salaries and accumulate greater wealth.

Understanding why people prefer some contraceptive methods over others can be useful for strengthening family planning programs. Having a broad range of methods available is a key element of the quality of family planning services and raises the overall level of contraceptive use.  Family planning programs ideally should offer choices of methods for all stages of people’s reproductive lives, so that they can have the number of children they want, when they want them.  Making a wide range of methods available improves quality of care in a way that benefits family planning programs. First, offering more choices increases the number of contraceptive users, which can increase the cost-effectiveness of services. Second, some inexpensive methods are underused simply because people aren’t familiar with them.

This policy brief discusses current research needs in the MENA region, drawing in part from a 2007 report produced by the Global Forum for Health Research and the World Health Organization (WHO), Research Issues in Sexual and Reproductive Health for Low- and Middle-Income Countries. It also presents a framework that illustrates how scientific evidence can be used in the policymaking process to change policies and improve programs that will ultimately improve people’s sexual and reproductive health.