Newsletter May 2015

28th of May, 2015

Global Early Adolescent Study in Ecuador

Training of researchers in Ecuador and meeting with UNFPA
Within the scope of a bilateral research cooperation, financed by FWO (Research Fund – Flanders) and SENESCyT (Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación), ICRH and the University of Cuenca (UCuenca) in Ecuador joined the international consortium of the Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS).
Both institutions work closely together to implement GEAS in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador, which objective is to understand the impact of gender socialization in early adolescence on sexual health and wellbeing during late adolescence. In April 2015, ICRH and UCuenca staff, organized a 3-days training to prepare investigators to conduct narrative interviews with young adolescents and their parents in poor neighbourhoods of Cuenca. After the training, a meeting was organized between staff of UCuenca and ICRH and Marcia Elena Álvarez and Mario Vergara who represent UNFPA in Ecuador. The financial support of UNFPA to the GEAS study was discussed and additional technical aid was planned to implement the study in Cuenca.
More information: Sara De Meyer, saraa.demeyer@ugent.be, http://www.geastudy.org/

Sexuality education in Uganda

Mitigating adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes through a comprehensive primary school sexuality education program in South-Western Uganda.
Uganda’s adolescents experience unfavourable SRH outcomes. Young people (10-24 years) constitute over 33.5% of Uganda’s population, with about 47% below the age of 15. Nevertheless, this age group carries the highest disease burden, particularly in the SRH area. To address this problem, ICRH, in collaboration with Mbarara University and Martyrs University in Uganda, and the Free University of Brussels, developed a research project to mitigate adverse SRH problems. In this project, the researchers will develop a comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programme, based on existing initiatives, targeting young adolescents in primary schools in South-Western Uganda. The programme will be delivered using a university student outreach programme. It is innovative for two reasons. Firstly, it focusses on young adolescents: even though the stage of early adolescence is one of the most crucial phases of human development, it is often overlooked in SRH research. Secondly, the project pays specific attention to the process of development and implementation of a comprehensive SRH program. While effectiveness studies have been done on this topic, good process and implementation research is rare. Nevertheless, it is crucial for the advancement of the study field. The project will start in Spring 2015 and is funded by VLIR-UOS.
More information: Kristien Michielsen, Kristien.michielsen@ugent.be
 

Seminar on child and early marriage

The practice of forced child marriages is also in Belgium a reality.
On the 25th of March, a seminar on child and early marriage was organized by the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men, Plan Belgium and the International Centre for Reproductive Health (ICRH). ‘Many assume that this is an archaic practice, but this is not the case’ said Liesbet Stevens, deputy director of the Institute, ‘we should have. At the seminar, Els Leye presented the results of a qualitative study on the topic among professionals (MATRIFOR project), that describes the characteristics of forced marriage in Belgium.

The study showed that forced marriage is an issue among ethnic minorities that are resident in Belgium since a long time, as well as newcomers. In some communities, such as Roma or Afghan communities, child marriage is practiced. Women have less opportunities than men to escape or refuse a forced marriage. The persistence of the practice is due to strong psychological pressure from the family and community, in Belgium or from abroad, causing loyalty conflicts in the (potential) victims.  The study also demonstrated that professionals do not feel comfortable to deal with child and forced marriages, due to a lack of intercultural competencies, lack of information and of practical instruments to detect and recognise a forced marriage, lack of intervention protocols and insufficient knowledge of the current legal framework and the rights of the victims. Moreover, legislation does exist, but it is insufficiently known and its application remains difficult.

A national action plan, drawn up by the Institute, will be submitted to the competent governments. It includes recommendations for the development of concrete instruments to quickly and effectively detect forced marriages.

More news on the Belgian news sites (in Dutch):

http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20150323_01595092
http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/binnenland/1.2281412
http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20150323_01594896 http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20150323_01594877 http://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20150324_01595473

MOMI Field visit in Kaya District, Burkina Faso

MOMI Research project staff, Els Duysburgh (ICRH-Belgium) and Halima Tougri (IRSS) conducted a field visit to five primary health care facilities in Kaya District in Burkina Faso from the 28th to 30th of April, 2015.
The purpose of the visit was to assess the implementation process of the selected interventions, as well as the data collection process for monitoring and evaluation of the project. MOMI will begin evaluation of its interventions in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique in July 2015. Preparation for the evaluation and selection of health facilities for the case studies, and other technical issues and challenges were also discussed with the Burkina Faso project staff.

Sexual Behaviour Survey results showcase

On 27 March, the results from a survey on sexual behaviour dynamics in three urban areas of Cape Town with a high prevalence of HIV were made public  at a free, public event in Khayelitsha.
Members of the community could come, eat a snack, enjoy music played by a local DJ, peruse pamphlets, and listen to speakers, including the principle investigator, Prof. Wim Delva and Shiela Mc Cloen, Deputy Director of comprehensive health programs in Khayelitsha.
The survey, conducted by ICRH, involved 878 participants, as well as in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 participants from the same communities in 2011 and 2012. The results were analysed in collaboration with researchers from the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA) and Hasselt University in Belgium.
Prof. Wim Delva, principal investigator, says the objective of the study was to describe relationship characteristics, which have previously been identified as risk factors for the transmission and acquisition of HIV.
‘Although many studies into sexual risk behaviours have been conducted in South Africa, our survey is unique in that we used touch screen computers and a visual time line to reconstruct the last year of participants’ sexual relationship history. In this way we were able to study sensitive behaviours such as engaging in multiple concurrent relationships without having to ask questions about concurrency directly,” prof Delva remarks.
Ms Roxanne Beauclair, study coordinator and PhD candidate, thinks it is the duty of researchers to let the public know what is found and to help aid in the correct interpretation of the results.
“Even though the event was an open-house, it was a pleasure to see that so many of the attendees from the community stayed to listen to all the speakers. To me it demonstrates that residents in Khayelitsha are hungry for information and they take a general interest in what researchers have to say,” she adds.
More information: Roxanne Beauclair roxanne.beauclair@gmail.com
 

ICRH Belgium Activity Report 2014

The 2014 Activity Report of ICRH Belgium is available and can be downloaded from the ICRH website.

The report contains among others a full overview of projects and publications of 2014. A PDF version can be downloaded at HERE.