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  • In 2013, the government of Kenya abolished all user fees in public dispensaries and health centers. In 2015, the Health Policy Project conducted a nationally representative study to examine how the removal of user fees affected health utilization; whether facilities were adhering to the policy; how health workers and clients perceived the policy; and whether quality of service before and after the policy’s implementation had changed. This evaluation report provides findings from the study and recommendations for the successful implementation of Kenya’s abolition of user fees policy.  

  • HPP worked with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Women’s Rights (MCFDF) to publish the White Paper on the status of women in Haiti, which presents findings and recommendations from county and national-level participatory fora on 5 key themes for women in Haiti: education, health, leadership and political participation, economy, and justice. The briefs present key findings and bring together data from a wide array of sources. They are intended to be a quick reference for a broad audience, including advocates, policymakers, health sector stakeholders, and development partners. 

  • Malawi is one of the fastest-growing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The country’s population has more than tripled over the past 40 years, and is expected to triple again by 2040. This growth is undermining Malawi’s economic development, destroying its natural resources, and placing immense strain on social services such as health and education. Malawi’s population growth is fueled by high fertility, in combination with a lack of access to family planning services. Religious leaders in Malawi have a key role to play in addressing population and family planning issues.  The Health Policy Project worked in partnership with the Government of Malawi to engage religious leaders to become active partners in addressing these issues. With the project’s support, representatives from Malawi’s religious “mother bodies”—the Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), the Malawi Council of Churches (MCC), the Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM), the Seventh Day Adventists (SDA), and the Qadria Muslim Association of Malawi (QMAM)—came together in an interfaith effort to draft this advocacy guide. Two versions of the guide were created, one for Muslim leaders and one for Christian leaders. These guides are intended to serve as tools to support religious leaders’ advocacy efforts on population and family planning. The guides were translated into the local Chichewa language to reach a wider audience of religious leaders.

  • Malawi is one of the fastest-growing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The country’s population has more than tripled over the past 40 years, and is expected to triple again by 2040. This growth is undermining Malawi’s economic development, destroying its natural resources, and placing immense strain on social services such as health and education. Malawi’s population growth is fueled by high fertility, in combination with a lack of access to family planning services. Religious leaders in Malawi have a key role to play in addressing population and family planning issues.  The Health Policy Project worked in partnership with the Government of Malawi to engage religious leaders to become active partners in addressing these issues. With the project’s support, representatives from Malawi’s religious “mother bodies”—the Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), the Malawi Council of Churches (MCC), the Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM), the Seventh Day Adventists (SDA), and the Qadria Muslim Association of Malawi (QMAM)—came together in an interfaith effort to draft this advocacy guide. Two versions of the guide were created, one for Muslim leaders and one for Christian leaders. These guides are intended to serve as tools to support religious leaders’ advocacy efforts on population and family planning. The guides were translated into the local Chichewa language to reach a wider audience of religious leaders.

  • In 2014, USAID requested the Health Policy Project (HPP) to undertake an assessment of the status and extent of FP-HIV integration in Malawi. Since integration at the policy level is important and the first step to a well-guided implementation of health service delivery (EngenderHealth, 2014), HPP undertook a policy analysis to determine the level of FP-HIV integration that appears in government policy documents and explored the extent to which the policies outline and address the integration of services. For the purpose of this review, we defined policies to include policies, strategies, guidelines, action plans, implementation plans, clinical and service delivery standards, and other similar documents. Other research components on the status of FP-HIV integration, including stakeholder interviews and a facility-level assessment, are documented in separate reports (forthcoming).

  • Discrimination against people living with HIV and key populations is a common and challenging problem. A year ago, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in Ghana launched a web-based system to provide a simple way for reporting HIV- and key population–related discrimination with help from the USAID and PEPFAR-supported Health Policy Project (HPP). This brief describes the outcomes of the discrimination reporting system after one year and ways forward. 

    Click here to read a blog on HPP's work on the CHRAJ stigma and discrimination reporting portal.  

  • Over the past two years, the Health Policy Project (HPP) has been working with religious organizations (mother bodies) in Malawi to organize districtwide “Population Weekends.” The purpose of these weekends is for communities to hear about population and development issues, including family planning (FP), in their places of worship. In March and April 2015, HPP worked with the Institute of Public Opinion and Research (IPOR) to conduct public polling in two districts (Salima and Thyolo) to see if any insights could be gleaned to inform future design and implementation of FP programs. The findings in this brief are drawn from a survey of 754 respondents that took place in March 2015 (before implementation of population weekend activities).

  • In Jamaica, Woman Inc., with support from the Health Policy Project (HPP), implemented a pilot project to assess the feasibility of integrating screenings and referrals for gender-based violence (GBV) with clinical services for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The links between GBV and HIV are widely acknowledged, but relatively few people access services for GBV, especially women and key populations with high HIV burdens such as men who have sex with men and sex workers. The pilot project involved gender training for healthcare providers and community agencies, adaptation and implementation of a GBV screening tool, and mapping and strengthening of GBV referral systems. The findings, summarized in this brief, indicate that the pilot enhanced the capacity of HIV healthcare providers to improve access to GBV support services and better meet the needs of their patients, especially women and key populations.

  • At the request of the USAID Mission in Malawi, the USAID-funded Health Policy Project (HPP) undertook a comprehensive facility-based assessment to ascertain the extent to which FP services have been integrated into HIV services in Malawi through different integration models and across various types of facilities (public and non-profit private). The study was also designed to examine how the reproductive rights of people living with HIV (PLHIV) are being respected and addressed through approaches such as PIFP and access to method choice. Finally, the study aimed to identify any systems-level barriers to integration and provide practical recommendations for the Ministry of Health (MOH) and other stakeholders to improve FP-HIV integrated services in Malawi.

  • There have been remarkable improvements in the maternal health over the last 25 years but disparities remain. In June 2014, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) documented its vision for maternal health in Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality: USAID Maternal Health Vision for Action, which lays out key strategic drivers that impact progress. Improving the health policy process has never been more important than in today’s increasingly complex, resource-constrained environment. Advocacy and accountability for the adoption of high-impact maternal health policies and interventions must be at the center of health systems and health service delivery improvements. Overcoming inequitable access to health services demands advocacy and social participation from local communities, as well as the meaningful engagement of global and national groups, including the private sector, who influence health policy decisions. This brief outlines how USAID investments in health policy, governance, finance, and advocacy contribute to ending preventable maternal mortality.

  • Tanzania’s sustained development and transition to middle-income status depend on the health of its people. In recognition of this fact, the Government of Tanzania (GOT) has prioritized reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH), adopting a broad foundation of policies to inform RMNCAH programming. Yet, in recent years, progress toward achieving Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets for child, maternal, and neonatal health has been uneven, in large part due to funding and implementation challenges. To overcome these challenges and accelerate progress, the GOT developed a National Road Map Strategic Plan to Improve Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health in Tanzania (2016-2020): One Plan II. In 2015, the USAID-funded Health Policy Project (HPP) conducted an analysis to project the costs and health impacts of achieving the government’s new commitments outlined in the One Plan II, and to identify the remaining challenges for implementing the plan.

  • With a current population exceeding 170 million, the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the seventh-largest country in the world and the most populous in Africa. Despite the introduction of policies and programs over the last 30 years to address Nigeria’s rapid population growth and the challenges it poses for development, the country is projected to become the third-largest nation in the world by mid-century (United Nations Population Division, 2015). These continuing demographic trends—coupled with emerging national priorities and new international development frameworks—created the need to assess the implementation of Nigeria’s 2004 Policy on Population for Sustainable Development (henceforth NPP, or the policy). Results from this USAID-funded Health Policy Project assessment are intended to guide the formulation of a revised policy and the approaches needed to realize its goals and objectives.

  • The USAID-funded Health Policy Project (HPP), in collaboration with the Family Health Division of the Ministry of Health and Population in Nepal, and members of the multi-sectoral technical working group (TWG), completed applications of three models: ImpactNow, DemDiv, and RAPID Women. The integrated modeling package provided evidence to reinvigorate support for family planning among national-level policymakers. 

    HPP developed three policy briefs to summarize model results around three key themes: family planning, education and gender equality. HPP also developed two booklets. The first booklet, Planning for Nepal’s Demographic Dividend, makes a case for increased investment in family planning, education and economic policies to promote health and development. The second booklet, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion: Investments for Improved Health and Development, presents results from the RAPID Women model and makes the case for investing in women-centered strategies for improved health outcomes. The materials represent the key messages developed by the TWG and family planning stakeholders that participated in HPP’s message development workshop. 

  • Males who have sex with males (MSM), transgender (TG) people, and sex workers (SWs) are at higher risk for HIV transmission than other individuals, even in generalized epidemics. Structural and policy issues have created barriers for MSM/TG/SW in seeking services and adopting individual and community harm reduction strategies. The Policy Analysis and Advocacy Decision Model for HIV-Related Services: Males Who Have Sex with Males, Transgender People, and Sex Workers, published by the Health Policy Project and AMSHeR (African Men for Sexual Health and Rights) with support from USAID and PEPFAR, is a collection of tools that helps users assess and address policy barriers that restrict access to HIV-related services for MSM/TG/SW. In 2012 and 2013, the Decision Model was applied in Burkina Faso and Togo. This brief presents the Decision Model and key policy findings.

  • As global leaders look more critically at how to simultaneously advance women’s health and rights, particularly in light of the Sustainable Development Goals, it is important to examine where the momentum for respectful maternity care has led thus far, lessons learned in the process, and essential components that must be prioritized moving forward. This USAID-funded Health Policy Project and White Ribbon Alliance policy brief – informed by program documents, global and national policies, and interviews with key stakeholders who have worked for years to advance attention to this issue – seeks to review progress and provide recommendations for advancing maternity care that places women at the center. 

  • In recent decades, Ethiopia has made impressive progress in improving socioeconomic outcomes and reducing child and maternal mortality. This brief, prepared by the Health Policy Project, outlines the current status of women and girls in Ethiopia and provides recommendations on how to improve girls' education, gender norms, and family planning to benefit women, their families, and the country.

  • This guide is designed to support communities and, specifically, healthcare providers in confronting D&A during facility-based childbirth and promoting dignity in evidence-based maternity care. This guide has been adapted from the generic guide produced by the Population Council to reflect the Nigerian context and the specific needs of healthcare workers at primary, state, and federal levels in the country.This toolkit was prepared by the White Ribbon Alliance with support from the USAID-funded Health Policy Project.

  • About one-in-four Malawian women of reproductive age have an unmet need for family planning. The 2010 Demographic and Health Survey found that 26 percent of all births in the preceding five years had been unwanted and that an additional 19 percent were mistimed, indicating that nearly half of all women in Malawi are not adequately meeting their reproductive intentions. Unwanted and mistimed pregnancies contribute substantially to high maternal mortality and increase the strain on already limited resources for health, education, natural resources, and food security.

    With over 97 percent of Malawians belonging to an organized religion, faith leaders could be an important conduit of social change. In 2013, to support the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development’s strategy to raise awareness about population and development issues, HPP engaged  Malawi’s six major religious institutions (known locally as “mother bodies”)—the Episcopal Conference of Malawi, Evangelical Association of Malawi, Malawi Council of Churches, Muslim Association of Malawi, Seventh Day Adventists, and Quadria Muslim Association of Malawi—and their local faith leaders. HPP organized training and sensitization meetings with over 1000 faith leaders, to help them speak openly about population and family planning issues. After one year, Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), the governing body of the Catholic Church in Malawi, decided they wanted to further institutionalize these activities and messages. They requested HPP’s assistance with drafting a booklet on family planning for use by Catholic marriage counselors. The booklet, which is available in both English and Chichewa, provides counselors with an introduction to population and development issues, as well as basic information on medical and natural family planning methods. 

  • The Empowering Women Leaders for Country-Led Development program fostered yearly cadres of women champions from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda to engage in family planning and reproductive health decision making and to advocate for policy change. The 70 alumnae represent civil society organizations, government ministries, faith-based organizations, and elected bodies at local and national levels and comprise a wide range of backgrounds and experience. The program included a three-week intensive skills-building workshop focused on personal leadership, advocacy, and networking skills; seed funds to implement local advocacy; one year of south-to-south coaching by a Plan USA-trained coach; and ongoing technical assistance and networking support. This brief explores the program's methods, approach, and results.