Suchergebnisse

Recent data indicate that adolescent fertility rates in Peru remain high and that Peruvian adolescents and young adults account for a disproportionate share of new HIV infections. The present study was undertaken to identify key risk and protective factors for early sexual activity and unprotected sex among secondai‐y‐school students in nine large cities in Peru. Survey data from 6,962 students aged 13–18 are consistent with existing research in indicating that behaviors of Peruvian youth are influenced in important ways by many factors. In the present study, these included region of residence, family economic position, family structure, working for pay, peei‐ behaviors, and self‐esteem. Knowledge of pregnancy and of the risks of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases and of the means of avoiding both did not, however, differentiate risk‐takers from non‐risk‐takers. The study findings suggest a need fen‐ adolescent health programs to broaden their focus beyond the immediate proximate determinants of behavior, such as sexual and reproductive health knowledge and access to contraceptives, and also to target some of the key contextual factors influencing adolescent behavior.

Although the extent to which organized family planning programs influence reproductive preferences remains a subject of debate, most observers would grant that such programs play a key role in helping individuals to realize their contraceptive and reproductive intentions. However, few prior studies have quantified the magnitude of this facilitating or enabling effect of family planning services, given existing demand for contraception. This study takes advantage of panel survey data and linked information on the supply environment for family planning services in Morocco in order to bridge this research gap. In the analysis, contraceptive use during the 1992–95 period is related to contraceptive intentions in 1992; individual‐, household‐, and community‐level determinants of contraceptive behavior; and family planning supply factors. Estimation procedures are used that control for unobserved joint determinants of contraceptive intentions and use. Evidence of a significant enabling or facilitating role of family planning services is found, and the results also suggest that family planning program factors influence contraceptive intentions in important ways.

SummaryThis study examines effects and interactions of socioeconomic status, access to water supply and sanitation, and breast-feeding practices in relation to child growth in two provincial cities in the Philippines. Multivariate analysis identified food expenditure per head, education of the household head and gender of the child as significant predictors of nutritional status. The duration of partial and full breast-feeding was negatively (though non-significantly) associated with growth. Sanitation facilities and breast-feeding are, however, important determinants during the first year of life. Among children over 1 year of age, socioeconomic variables and gender are the most important predictors. Breast-feeding is shown to provide more important health benefits for children in lower income households. The need for further studies on the causes of gender differences in nutritional status was apparent.

There are a number of reasons for anticipating that contact by women in developing country settings with modern maternal–child health (MCH) services will lead to increased use of family planning services. Indeed, the expectation of such a relationship underlies the integrated service delivery strategy that has been adopted on a more or less global basis. However, the available empirical evidence in support of this proposition is inconclusive. This study re-examines this issue in Morocco. Household survey data and data on the supply environment for health and family planning services gathered in 1992 are analysed in the study. A full-information maximum likelihood estimator is used to control for the possible endogeneity of health care and contraceptive choices. The findings indicate a substantial and apparently causal relationship between the intensity of MCH service use and subsequent contraceptive use. Policy simulations indicate that sizeable increases in contraceptive prevalence might be realized by increasing the coverage and intensity of use of MCH services.