Welcome to the fifth newsletter of the Realising Rights Research Programme Consortium. Our newsletter keeps you up to date with the work of the partners in Kenya, Bangladesh, Ghana and the UK.  Do get in touch if you want more information.
With best wishes, Samantha Reddin, Communications Officer

QUICK LINKS

African parliamentarians, Research to Policy, Bangladesh workshop, Unsafe abortion, Men and masculinities, Strange bedfellows

Parliamentarians in Africa

In 2008, Members of Parliament from twelve countries in East and Southern Africa pledged to advance health equity and sexual and reproductive health in the region. How much progress had been made a year later? This was the question that was in focus in a follow up regional meeting in September 2009 organized by the Southern and East African Parliamentary Alliance of Committees on Health (SEAPACoH) in partnership with African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Partners in Population and Development-Africa Regional Office (PPD-ARO), and EQUINET.
>> Read more

Research to policy update

We have been working with the other Research Programme Consortia focussed on sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS to review the ways we have communicated our work to influence policy and practice. You can now watch videos, read reports and view powerpoint presentations that tell you more about our research into influencing policy and practice. This work has been nominated by DFID in the evidence into practice section of this year’s BMJ awards.>> More

Sexuality workshop in Bangladesh

Colleagues from the James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University hosted a workshop on promoting sexuality and rights issues in society in relation to HIV/AIDS and this was reported in the Bangladesh Independent newspaper. The participants said the workshop provided them with an opportunity to share and reflect upon their efforts to weave sexuality and rights concerns into their professional and personal lives.
>> Read the newspaper article

Unsafe abortion

The UK Government has launched its updated policy position on unsafe abortion, a policy that draws on research published by Realising Rights on the economic costs of unsafe abortion.
>> Read more

Hilary Standing, Director of Realising Rights made a presentation on the economic costs of unsafe abortion at the EuroNGOs meeting, “Investing in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Times of Economic Crisis”.
>> Read the presentation
>> Read about the EuroNGOs meeting

Strange bedfellows?

The UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Debt, Aid and Trade, the Institute of Development Studies Sexuality and Development Programme and the Realising Rights Research Programme Consortium co-sponsored an event in the House of Commons in July this year. Asking the question: Sex and International Development, strange bedfellows? This meeting offered an exciting opportunity to explore the ways in which poverty reduction efforts and work on sexuality and sexual rights intersect with a view to improved policy and programming.
>> Read more

Menstruation in Kenya

Our partner The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) and the Division of Reproductive Health of the Kenyan Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation have entered into a partnership to carry out research on menstruation with adolescent girls and women in Kenya. The project seeks to provide policymakers and program managers with a better understanding of menstruation and associated practices of adolescent girls and young women in Kenya, including their experiences, attitudes and the problems they encounter. The second phase, a pilot of menstrual cups with girls and women aged 15 plus in Nairobi, is due to start in the new year. For more information contact jcrichton@aphrc.org

Men, Masculinities and Power

The Institute of Development Studies and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Debt, Aid and Trade organised a recent seminar in their Dangerous Ideas in Development series called ‘Troubling Developments? Men, Masculinities and Power’. Recent years have seen growing attention being paid in social and health policy to men and masculinities. The argument that working with gender must include work with men to create more equitable societies has given rise to a host of initiatives.
>> Read more
>> Listen to the podcast of Jerker Edstrom speaking at the meeting

RR annual meeting

The Realising Rights annual planning meeting will be held in Dhaka this year on 24 November, hosted by our partner James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University. We are looking forward to reviewing progress and planning future work with consortium partners. It will be preceded by a two day researcher’s workshop on the PEER methodology.

Endnote...

Send questions and feedback to j.vaghadia@ids.ac.uk
Anyone can subscribe to the Realising Rights Newsletter by sending an email to s.reddin@ids.ac.uk with ‘subscribe’ in the subject box. If you wish to unsubscribe to the Newsletter email s.reddin@ids.ac.uk with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject box.
Realising Rights is a Research Programme Consortium supported by the UK Department for International Development. The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of DFID.

Our partners:

African Population and Health Research Center, James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, INDEPTH Network,
Institute of Development Studies and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

This is the fourth newsletter of the Realising Rights Research Programme Consortium. Our newsletter is designed to keep you up to date with the work of the partners in Kenya, Bangladesh, Ghana and the UK. Do get in touch if you want more information.
With best wishes, Samantha Reddin, Communications Officer

QUICK LINKS

African drama, Unsafe abortion, SRH rights in Africa, How babies are made, Gender-based violence, Writing workshop, STI’s in Pakistan

African drama

Our partners APHRC in Kenya have been working with the makers of African drama Mukatano Junction on a storyline about abortion. This was aired in February, and they also helped produce a follow up information comic on the issue that viewers could request. The response from viewers was very positive with over 1000 texting in to the programme.
>> Read the comic

Research to policy

The true test of health and development research is whether people use it - for reference, for influence and, most importantly, for change. When researchers do work actively to influence policy and practice the process and outcomes are rarely rigorously documented and analysed. The four DFID funded Research Programme Consortia (RPC) that focus on sexual and reproductive health and HIV are joining together to try to better understand and learn from the strategies they have used to influence policy through primary research and a collaborative lesson learning workshop (Liverpool 18-19 May, 2009). We will feedback from this meeting in the next newsletter.

Unsafe abortion

A new research report ‘Economic Impact of Unsafe Abortion-Related Morbidity and Mortality: Evidence and Estimation Challenges’ has recently been published by the Institute of Development Studies. This report is an outcome of work commissioned by the Hewlett Foundation to try and estimate the global economic costs of unsafe abortion.
>> Read a summary of the report

SRH rights in Africa

An article written by Rose Oronje from APHRC explores why sexual and reproductive health rights remain an issue of controversy and misunderstanding in Africa and what can be done to address this.
>> Read the article.

How babies are made

Can someone tell me how babies are made? An article by Realising Rights Communications Officer Kate Hawkins, who is struck by the increasing conservatism of maternal health advocates and policy makers.
>> Read the article

Gender-based violence

Eram Cooper and Shuborna Camellia, researchers from the James P grant School of Public Health, BRAC University attended the  '3rd National Course on Violence Against Women and Role of health Care Providers' in Mumbai, India.
>> read the meeting report

Writing workshop

APHRC held a Realising Rights Writing Workshop in Nairobi in November, 2008. Ten early career researchers working on sexual and reproductive health, attended including 2 from Bangladesh, 3 from Ghana, 1 from Ethiopia, 3 from Kenya and 1 from Malawi. Participants said found the workshop a useful source of motivation and encouragement towards writing and publishing.
>> Read the workshop report

STI’s in Pakistan

Understanding sexual health and rights, and identifying feasible and appropriate interventions for improving sexual health and wellbeing benefits from a multidisciplinary approach. A recent study from Realising Rights published as a special issue in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections seeks to understand the drivers of sexually transmitted infections in Pakistan.
>> Read the dedicated page on the RR website

Endnote...

Send questions and feedback to j.vaghadia@ids.ac.uk
Anyone can subscribe to the Realising Rights Newsletter by sending an email to s.reddin@ids.ac.uk with ‘subscribe’ in the subject box. If you wish to unsubscribe to the Newsletter email s.reddin@ids.ac.uk with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject box.
Realising Rights is a Research Programme Consortium supported by the UK Department for International Development. The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of DFID.

Our partners:

African Population and Health Research Center, James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, INDEPTH Network,
Institute of Development Studies and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

This is the third newsletter of the Realising Rights Research Programme Consortium. Our newsletter is designed to keep you in touch with the work of the partners in Kenya, Bangladesh, Ghana and the UK. We are currently preparing for our annual meeting which will be hosted by the INDEPTH Network in Ghana so if we are a little quiet over the next couple of months you know why.
With best wishes, Kate Hawkins, Communications Officer

GHANA

Our partners in Ghana have been holding stakeholder meetings to engage with opinion shapers and decision makers. One of their workshops was covered by Ghanaweb. In the article Nana Oye argues that legal abortion and family planning should be factored into the National Health Insurance Scheme to reduce the maternal mortality rate in Ghana. 
>>Read more

VIOLENCE

A recently published working paper ‘Painful Tradeoffs: Intimate partner violence and sexual and reproductive health and rights in Kenya’ is the result of research work by our partner African Population and Health Research Center.
>>Read more
>>Download the Working Paper (pdf)

IMPACT

'Metaphors we Love By' suggests that analysing the metaphors young people use while talking about sex can provide valuable insights into the ways in which youth understand sex, sexual behaviour, and sexual relationships.
>> Talking about sex: Using youth language in sexuality education
>> Read about it on the Communication Initiative website

SEXUALITY

The latest ID21 insights explores the link between sexuality and the norms that are set for sexual relations by policies and politics.
>>Read more (pdf)

WEB 2.0

Our PowerPoint presentations are now available through SlideShare.
>> Take a peek

POPULATION AND DEMOGRAPHICS

Research from our partners in Kenya and the Population Reference Bureau shows that even as African women use family planning more and bear fewer children, the continent’s youthful population will fuel the continent’s growth for many decades to come.
>> Read the 2008 Africa Population Data Sheet (pdf)
>> Media briefing available (pdf)

WORLD AIDS DAY

Many of our partners were involved in events for World AIDS Day. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine held an event ‘HIV/AIDS Prevention Gaps: Whose Responsibility? Whose Role?’. The Institute of Development Studies hosted a parliamentary event entitled ‘Children and AIDS: Prevention and/or Protection?’.

URBAN AREAS

Our colleagues in Kenya have been featured in a number of news stories on sanitation and access to healthcare in urban areas.
>> Interview with Dr. Alex Ezeh on water and sanitation problems in slums, Inter-press Service News Agency
>> Interview with Dr. Eliya Zulu on Healthcare hurdles in Nairobi slums with IRIN news

Endnote...

Send questions and feedback to j.vaghadia@ids.ac.uk
Anyone can subscribe to the Realising Rights Newsletter by sending an email to k.hawkins@ids.ac.uk with ‘subscribe’ in the subject box. If you wish to unsubscribe to the Newsletter email k.hawkins@ids.ac.uk with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject box.
Realising Rights is a Research Programme Consortium supported by the UK Department for International Development. The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of DFID.

This is the second e-newsletter of the Realising Rights Research Programme Consortium. This edition provides information about our research, events and publications. Further detail can be found on our website or you can contact us if you want to know anything in particular.
With best wishes, Kate Hawkins, Communications Officer

Married Men

Access to services in Bangladesh
Our partner in Bangladesh, BRAC, has been conducting research into the sexual health concerns of married men and where they access services. Their findings suggest ways in which healthcare providers could better meet men’s needs and desires.
>> Read an update on this work from Dr Farah Mahjabeen.

Action on HIV and AIDS

XVII International AIDS Conference
Realising Rights was active at the AIDS conference that took place in Mexico in August.
>> A complete listing of our involvement
>> News reports on the Crossing blog
>> Coverage on the IDS website
>> Write up of the MenEngage satellite session

Abortion

Media coverage
As part of our efforts to keep the issue of access to safe abortion high on the policy agenda Realising Rights partners, IDS, have been monitoring domestic debates to bring the learning from developing countries.
>> Our letter to the Guardian
>> Local UK coverage

New factsheet

Focus on syphilis
12 million people are infected with syphilis each year despite the means to prevent onward transmission and the existence of screening technologies and inexpensive treatment.
>> Read our factsheet for policy makers

Population

Nature podcast
Our partner, John Cleland of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, was featured in an interview by the journal Nature.
>> Listen to John

Maternal Health

Realising Rights and MDG 5
We have been busy engaging with national and international maternal health debates.
>> Read our evidence to the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Population Development and Reproductive Health on maternal health
>> INDEPTH Network presented at the Annual Health Forum of Civil Society Organizations in Health on mapping health outcomes and what civil society could do to prevent maternal and child deaths

Meet the Team

Get to know the members of Realising Rights
This edition of the newsletter introduces you to Jo Crichton of the African Population and Health Research Center, Kenya.

Coming soon!

Keep checking our website for upcoming news, events and products including:
Our paper on maternal health in the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Reference Report, the official publication of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers meeting.
  

Endnote...

Send questions and feedback to j.vaghadia@ids.ac.uk
Anyone can subscribe to the Realising Rights Newsletter by sending an email to k.hawkins@ids.ac.uk with ‘subscribe’ in the subject box. If you wish to unsubscribe to the Newsletter email k.hawkins@ids.ac.uk with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject box.
Realising Rights is a Research Programme Consortium supported by the UK Department for International Development. The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of DFID.

First Edition

Welcome to the first newsletter of the Realising Rights Research Programme Consortium. Our newsletter is designed to keep you in touch with the work of the partners in Kenya, Bangladesh, Ghana and the UK. If you are interested in meeting the challenge of achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights the Consortium can keep you up to date with cutting edge research and support your campaigning and media efforts with evidence.
With best wishes, Kate Hawkins, Communications Officer

Breaking News!

Makutano Junction
The work of one of our partners, The African Population and Health Research Center, has been featured in the new UK Department for International Development Research Strategy. Click here if you want to know more...

Making safe sex fun...

Global Mapping of Pleasure
Realising Rights, in partnership with the Pleasure Project, is proud to bring you the ‘Global Mapping of Pleasure’ a collection of 45 case studies describing innovative programmes, organizations, media and individuals around the world working to show that safer sex can still be enjoyable. Download the report...

Let’s talk about health

Promoting Healthy Communications
From 7-11 April 2008 participants from Bangladesh, China, Ghana, India, UK, US, Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria came together to build their communication skills at a workshop held at IDS.  Find out more...

Survey the landscape

The MDGs – how are we doing?
Scarcity of data is one challenge hampering progress towards Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for most African Countries. An INDEPTH Network Meeting heard how Demographic Surveillance Systems can meet this challenge. Find out more...

Decision time

APHRC: transforming research to policy
At a meeting convened by APHRC at the 5th African Population Conference, December 2007, policymakers, Members of Parliament and Heads of Population Secretariats met to discuss ways of using research in policy-making. Read their write up…

Sex education

Realising Rights in the News
An article by our colleagues Elizabeth Kahurani & Rose Oronje was featured in the Uganda Daily Monitor. Recent evidence shows that in sub-Saharan Africa, young adolescents aged 12-14 years are normally sexually aware and by age 15, nearly 1 in 5 girls have had sex. To read more about why comprehensive sexuality education is so important for them click here...

Meet the Team

In our new feature you can now get to know the members of the Realising Rights team. Our first victim is Jas Vaghadia. Click here to read more…

Coming soon!

Keep checking our website for upcoming news and events including:

• The launch of our communications workshop report
• More on how we track the influence of our work in changing national and international policy

Endnote...

Send questions and feedback to j.vaghadia@ids.ac.uk
Anyone can subscribe to the Realising Rights Newsletter by sending an email to k.hawkins@ids.ac.uk with ‘subscribe’ in the subject box. If you wish to unsubscribe to the Newsletter email k.hawkins@ids.ac.uk with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject box.