STUDY OBJECTIVES To describe the utilisation of reproductive health services (family planning, antenatal care, and delivery services) and the socioeconomic determinants for utilisation of health services. DESIGN This was a cross sectional survey, using a multistage sampling technique. SETTING Tien Hai district, Thai Binh Province, Vietnam. Altogether 1132 mothers with children under 5 years...

OBJECTIVES To explore contextual factors that increase vulnerabilities to negative sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes and possible differences in SRH-related behaviours and the needs of women who use drugs (WUD) through non-injecting and injecting routes. DESIGN Qualitative study design using semi-structured in-depth interviews. PARTICIPANTS Twenty women who injected drugs in the...

BACKGROUND Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) needs of young people remains a big challenge. This study explored experiences and perceptions of young people in Kenya aged 10-24 with regard to their SRH needs and whether these are met by the available healthcare services. METHODS 18 focus group discussions and 39 in-depth interviews were conducted at health care facilities and...

We assessed women's satisfaction with the reproductive health services in the population laboratory of Urmia University of Medical Sciences in 2003. A random sample of 600 married women aged 15-49 years completed a satisfaction questionnaire based on Bruce's criteria. Overall 76.2% of women were satisfied and 15.8% were completely satisfied with the total reproductive health service; however 34...

BACKGROUND Although social franchising has been shown to enhance the quality of reproductive health services in developing countries, its effect on nutrition services remains unexamined. This study assessed the effects of incorporating elements of social franchising on shaping the quality of infant and young child feeding (IYCF) counselling facilities and services in Vietnam. METHODS Process-...

BACKGROUND The target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is now closer than ever. There is lack of sufficient progress in achieving the MDG targets in many low- and middle-income countries. Furthermore, there has also been concerns about wide spread inequity among those that are on track to achieve the health-related MDGs. Bangladesh has made a notable progress towards a...

With the advent of the AIDS epidemic the focus of family planning programmes has shifted from an emphasis on pregnancy prevention to include disease prevention. The move towards integration has meant a major re-orientation in the role of health providers. This article seeks to expand knowledge about the implementation of integrated services from the perspective of providers. It focuses more spe...

OBJECTIVE This study aims to assess inequity in expenditure on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in India and Kenya. In addition, this analysis aims to measure the extent to which payments are catastrophic and to explore coping mechanisms used to finance health spending. METHODS Data for this study were collected as a part of the situational analysis for the "Diagonal Intervention...

BACKGROUND Maternal health services have a potentially critical role in the improvement of reproductive health. In order to get a better understanding of adolescent mothers'needs we compared health seeking practices of first time adolescent and adult mothers during pregnancy and early motherhood in Wakiso district, Uganda. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study conducted between May and Aug...