EVENTS REPORT
Issue 3 – June 2006
Conferences/ workshops on RPC related topics attended

EngenderHealth staff attended: A Global Health Council Meeting – May, Virginia USA,
Poster Presentations:
o Quality of Maternal Health Services in Bolivia: Results of a Baseline Study, R. Goldberg, et
al.
o Feasible and Rigorous: Experiences from Evaluations in Tanzania and Bolivia, Jain et al.
Roundtable Presentation:
o Using PDAs to Capture Survey Data, Ines Escandon (Note: none were funded with RPC
funds)

The 97th Annual Conference on What Determines Public Health (organized by Canadian Public
Health Association, Canada) – May 28th - June 1st , Vancouver, Canada
Presentation: “Reaching the Grassroots: Experiences of BRAC in implementing Community Based
Health Interventions in Bangladesh” ,Kasoar Afsana

Johannes John-Langba, Joanna Crichton, and Chi-Chi Undie attended: The Second Africa
Conference on Sexual Health and Rights, 19th -21st June , Nairobi, Kenya. Susie Jolly from IDS
also participated.
The following papers were presented:
o Gender-based violence and unmet sexual and reproductive health needs in Nairobi,
Crichton, J. and Ngugi, A.
o Coercive First Sex Among Adolescent Females in Sub-Saharan Africa: Prevalence and
Context, Crichton, J. and Ngugi, A.,
o Disparities in Economic Development and Perceptions of Condoms in Ethiopia, JohnLangba, J. and Woubalem, Z.
o Metaphors We Love By: Conceptualisations of sex among young people in Malawi, Undie,
C. and Crichton, J.

Mushtaque Chowdhury, Morseda Chowdhury attended: Sharing meeting of a study on Community
Based Kangaroo Care to Prevent neonatal & infant mortality, (Save the Children USA), June 15th,
(Study conducted by: BRAC, Population Council, Focus: Neo-natal thermoregulation and its impact)

John Cleland gave a seminar to Population Association of Iran, Tehran and to University of Shiraz
on population and family planning issues, May 27 th & 29th, (Attended by 50 Iranian academics and
officials)

John Cleland made a presentation at the African Regional Forum on Youth Reproductive Health &
HIV on condoms and social marketing, Dar es Salaam. 6th -9th June (Attended by USAID, FHI WHO
and project managers (about 100))

Evidence given by John Cleland and Hilary Standing to All Parliamentary Group on Population and
Reproductive Health concerning population growth, family planning and MDGs, May 22.

Presentation by John Cleland on Trends in Protective Behaviour Among Young African Women at
an international workshop on condoms, 21st -23rd June, London. (Attended by 30 participants
including DFID staff, social marketing experts, NGOs and project mangers)
Citations of published work

E Pitchforth, E van Teijlingen, W Graham, M Dixon-Woods and M Chowdhury, “Getting women to
hospital is not enough: a qualitative study of access to emergency obstetric care in Bangladesh”
Qual. Saf. Health Care 2006;15;214-219

Sabina Faiz Rashid, “Emerging Changes in Reproductive Behaviour among Married Adolescent
Girls in an Urban Slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh” “Reproductive Health Matters Volume 14 number 27
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May 2006.”

Rashid, SF (2006), Urban poverty & challenges to improving the reproductive health of married
adolescent women living in a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Was submitted to:
Country Scoping Paper on Bodily Integrity and Women’s Empowerment [BRAC Empowerment
Project] - maybe published as monograph series)

Cleland & Sinding paper cited by Population Action Int. and in MDG Report “Public Choices: Private
Decision” 2006
New publications:

Having the rug pulled from under your feet: one project’s experience of the US policy reversal on
sex work, Busza, J. Health Policy and Planning, 2006; 21(4):329-332

Men's involvement in the South African family: Engendering change in the AIDS era. Montgomery,
C.; Hosegood, V.; Busza, J. and I. Timæus. Social Science & Medicine, 2006; 62(10): 2411-2419.

Crichton, J. Nyamu-Musembi, C. John-Langba, J. & Theobald, S. (2006) Contextualising sexual and
reproductive health rights in Africa The Lancet Vol 367 - pp: 2043-2045

3 papers on the HPV research theme were accepted for publication/are in press; 2 of the papers
relate to research undertaken prior to the RPC and conducted in Burkina Faso - so RPC leaders will
have to decide whether to report or not:
o
o
o

Didelot-Rousseau MN, Nagot N, Costes-Martineau V, Vallès X, Ouedraogo A, Konate I,
Weiss HA, Van de Perre P, Mayaud P, Segondy M for the Yerelon Study Group. Human
papillomavirus genotype distribution and cervical dysplasia among high-risk women with
and without human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection in Burkina Faso. Brit J Cancer
2006 (in press)
Didelot-Rousseau MN, Courgnaud V, Nagot N, Mayaud P, Vande Perre P, Segondy M.
Comparison of INNO-LiPA HPV genotyping v2 with PCR product subcloning and
sequencing for identification of genital human papillomavirus genotypes. J Virol Methods
2006 2006 (in press)
One paper has been accepted that describes the possible research framework for HPV
vaccine introduction in developing countries, and should definitely be reported under both
RPC's:
Lehtinen M, Herrero R, Mayaud P, Barnabas R, Dillner J, Paavonen J, Smith P. Studies to assess
long-term efficacy and effectiveness of HPV vaccination in developed and in developing countries.
Chapter in: “HPV vaccines, towards a new paradigm in cervical cancer prevention”, Bosch X et al
(eds). Monograph published in Vaccine 2006 (suppl) (in press).This important book will be launched
with press conference during the international HPV meeting in Budapest, Sept 2006.
Meetings or other personal contacts with key stakeholders – e.g. policy makers, advocates:

The following key stakeholders were consulted in the development of a proposed study on
menstruation and menstrual cups in Kenya: Meetings with Dr. Peju Olukoya, WHO; Fiona Duby,
Division of Reproductive Heatlh, Kenyan Ministry of Health; and Wanjiku Khamasi, Institute for
Gender Equity, Research and Development (IGERD), Moi University. Email contact with Dr Angela
Corea, Division of Reproductive Health, Kenyan MoH; and David Walker, PSI, concerning the
proposal. Telephone meeting with Kath Clements, Mooncup, UK. These individuals have all advised
on the study design, and Wanjiku Khamasi and Kath Clements are interested in further involvement
in the study.

A meeting on an HPV vaccine introduction research agenda was organised in Ghana on behalf of
the two RPC's (RH&HIV and Realising Rights) on 26th June 2006 by Dr. Sarkodie and Philippe
Mayaud of LSHTM. Collaborating institutions in Ghana all participated; this included representatives
of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Sciences & Technology of Kumasi (KNUST), the Navrongo
Health Research Centre, EngenderHealth and InDepth. The meeting gathered a number of national
stakeholders from the Ghana Health Services (maternal and child health unit, EPI programme,
Reproductive health, AIDS Commission, Health Services Research Unit, Non-Communicable
Diseases Unit) as well as representatives from other Ghanaian research institutions (Accra teaching
hospital, Noguchi Virology lab) international organisations (WHO, UNFPA, FHI, etc). Presentations
were made by various members of the two RPC's: Dr Adu-Sarkodie (KNUST) introduced the topic
of HPV research that is a common research focus of both RPC's; Dr Cornelius Debpuur (Navrongo)
highlighted the activities undertaken by the RH&HIV RPC, whilst Ayawa Bagwa (InDepth network)
did the same for the Realising Rights RPC. Philippe Mayaud and Susie Mayhew (LSHTM)
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presented a framework for a research agenda on introduction of HPV vaccine. Ghanaian
stakeholders appear supportive of the proposed research agenda with priority given to proposals
made on epidemiological studies (HPV prevalence studies; determination of HPV types among
cancer cases in Ghana) as well as some of the social science components (expectations from
communities and services and potential attitudes of recipients of vaccines, their families and
communities).

Susie Mayhew visited EngenderHealth office in Ghana to discuss various strands of the research
proposed under the Realising Rights RPC. She will report separately.

Kaosar Afsana (Discussant of the paper) attended “Gender sensitivity and budget (July 2006-June
2007) for health, nutrition and population sector” organized by Steps toward Development,
Bangladesh. The meeting was attended by government and NGOs officials, academics, activists,
civil society and media

Sabiha Chowdhuri attended “Dissemination of Research on “Domestic violence: In search of a
Legal Framework” on June 21st. The event was organized by the Bangladesh National Women
Lawyers Association (BNWLA), under the program: “Combating Violence against Women and
Children” funded by Manusher Jonno and was attended by judges, lawyers, police officials,
journalists, and representatives of various NGOs and media.

On May 3rd, John Cleland met Duff Gillespie, consultant to Gates Foundation, and discussed
contents of Cleland/Ali paper on trends in condom use and abstinence in Africa.

John Cleland met Amy Coen, president of Population Action Int., the leading US advocacy NGO on
May 16 and shared with her a draft of a forthcoming paper on population and family planning. It
was subsequently reported that the paper would be extremely useful for PAI.

Suzie Mayhew held a meeting with Nana Oye Lithur, a lawyer active on reproductive and women’s
rights. She is preparing a paper commissioned by In-Depth for the RPC which will highlight rightspolicy priorities for Ghana.

Joanna Busza and colleagues from South Africa presented results of the Intervention with
Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity (IMAGE) study at DFID; official launch to coincide with
AIDS Conference in August.

Hilary Benn requested an opportunity to present his approach to health-related aid at the London
School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine which led to his participation in a debate on health systems
strengthening held by LSHTM’s Director on 15 June.

Two teleconference calls were organised between EngenderHealth, NY (Marcia Mayfield) and
LSHTM (Susie Mayhew and Philippe Mayaud) to discuss approaches and progress regarding the
various research agendas falling under the heading 'Access to New technologies' - regular
conference calls will be organised to maintain coordination and focus on the identified research
priorities and activities

The afternoon of 26 June was dedicated to organising closer collaboration between the 2 RPC's in
Ghana. A joint meeting was held during which the appointment of a joint Technical Advisory Group
(TAG) for both RPC's was decided and constituency agreed upon. Terms of Reference for the TAG
were subsequently drafted and circulated. It is expected that TAG will meet twice annually - first
date to be agreed soon.

Hilary met with DFID Bangladesh Health Adviser and updated her on RR RPC work

Hilary met with Hajiya Bilkisu, of Advocacy Nigeria in Abuja to exchange information on SRHR
issues

Hilary met with Sara Seims, Hewlett Foundation to discuss possible funding of SRH related work at
IDS
Contacts with media, e.g. journalists, radio

Women Journalists across Bangladesh (who are recipients of Salma Sobhan fellowships) were
invited to share with the BRAC RPC team, their experiences of investigating the situation of SRHR
at the grassroots level of Bangladesh. (Earlier, the journalists were sensitized on SRHR issues
pertaining to Bangladesh by the BRAC RPC team and subsequently, they wrote articles on SRHR
and submitted them to BRAC with many of these articles being published in regional and national
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newspapers.) Five of the journalists were randomly selected to describe their experiences as they
collected information on their chosen topic on SRHR. Topics included Silence of women and their
RTI problems, fistula and social ostracization, sex determination of unborn child through
ultrasonography in a patriarchal society, male involvement in reproductive health awareness, and
adolescent mothers at the tea gardens.

On June 30, John Cleland was interviewed by the BBC World Service on problems of high fertility
and population growth in Africa.
Requests for information/advice/technical input on RPC related work

Johannes John-Langba was contacted by the Social Science Research Council (New York) to be a
“Proposal Selection Committee Member” for the 2006-07 Fellowship for HIV/AIDS and Public
Health Policy Research in Africa. The programme is open to African researchers, policy analysts,
programme planners and practitioners to support research on health and social policy in Eastern
and Southern Africa relating to (1) political economy of care giving and HIV/AIDS, with particular
emphasis on gender analysis; or (2) sexual violence and HIV/AIDS.

Joanna Crichton was contacted by DFID Kenya, who requested that she help with formulating the
ToRs for a study on voice and accountability in service delivery in Kenya. Joanna met with the
consultant producing these ToRs on 22/06/06.

The Women’s Rights Awareness Programme (WRAP) requested that Joanna Crichton assist with
proposal writing for research on SRH and violence in Kenya. Joanna met with the director, Anne
Ngugi, and provided assistance with the design of the proposed study and with writing the proposal.

Requests from two leading RH peer-review journals International Family Planning Perspectives and
Studies in Family Planning to review RH papers for their journals (SM). Request from Health and
Human Rights to review paper for their journal (SM).

In response to her paper on USAID policy and sex work, Joanna Busza was contacted by an ILO
researcher for further information and possible contacts for his upcoming work in Vietnam.

UNICEF has approached John Cleland and Joanna Busza to develop a proposal for provision of
technical assistance and capacity building to a 6-country programme to reduce vulnerability among
young people in South and East Europe.

Hilary had a request for assistance from WHO Child and Adolescent Health Department for support
in developing tools for community and demand side responses to improving adolescent SRH

Hilary had a request for assistance from Hewlett Foundation on developing next steps for work on
the global economic costs of unsafe abortion
Membership of and attendance at any forums related to SRHR

Mushtaque Chowdhury attended “ A Panel Discussion on Partnership on Maternal, Newborn &
Child Health” on the 24th May at the World Health Assembly, Geneva Switzerland

Ongoing membership of UK NGO-SRH Network and the Population and Sustainability Network –
both of which act as forums to promote SRHR advocacy, particularly among UK Parliamentarians
(CPS-SM).
Cross RPC contacts and arrangements

A joint Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for Ghana to advise both the Rights and the RH-HIV RPCs
will be established in Ghana following a stakeholder meeting in Accra on June 26 th (LSHTM).

Discussions underway with the HIV/AIDS RPC on collaborative work related to HPV vaccine
introduction (EngenderHealth)

Hilary worked on the development of TORs for concept paper on gender and SRH joint with
Women’s Empowerment RPC

Hilary accepted an invitation to join the MNCH RPC (4+5) Consortium Advisory Group and attended
first meeting
Others

Sally Theobald inputted into the ELDIS Health Resource Guide on Gender (consultancy)
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