Evaluation of Berhane Hewan: a program to delay child marriage in rural Ethiopia.

Context: Early marriage limits girls' opportunities and compromises their health, yet in Sub-Saharan Africa many girls are married before the age of 18, and few programs have sought to increase the age at marriage on the continent.

Methods: Berhane Hewan was a two-year pilot project conducted in 2004-2006 that aimed to reduce the prevalence of child marriage in rural Ethiopia, through a combination of group formation, support for girls to remain in school and community awareness. A quasi-experimental research design with baseline and endline surveys was used to measure changes in social and educational participation, marriage age, reproductive health knowledge and contraceptive use.

What is youth-friendly? Adolescents' preferences for reproductive health services in Kenya and Zimbabwe.

While there has been increased attention to youth-friendly reproductive health services, little research has been conducted among adolescents in developing countries to assess what characteristics of reproductive health services are most important to them. Large scale population-based surveys were carried out among youth in Kenya and Zimbabwe. A list of characteristics that programmers often think of as youth-friendly was read to respondents, after which they were asked to assess the importance of those characteristics in choosing their reproductive health services.

Differential use of adolescent reproductive health programs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Purpose: Adolescent reproductive health programs in Africa have largely remained as small-scale pilot programs, however, there is increasing interest in bringing programs to scale. Evaluations have focused on individual programs and few have gathered population-based information on the reach of program models and the profile of adolescents who utilize services, versus those who do not. This study examines the coverage and utilization of existing adolescent programs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The experience of sexual coercion among young people in Kenya.

Context: Studies of sexual behavior among young people in the developing world have generally neglected the circumstances in which sex takes place, most often assuming that when young people have sex, it is wanted and consensual. The few published studies on non-consensual sex have often used highly selective samples, ignoring the experience of males and of married young people.

Methods: A 2001 population-based survey of young people in Nyeri, Kenya, included a special module on sexual coercion.

Behavior change evaluation of a culturally consistent reproductive health program for young Kenyans.

Context: Few rigorous evaluations have been conducted of locally designed, culturally consistent adolescent reproductive health programs.

Methods: A quasi-experimental research design was used to measure behavioral changes associated with a culturally consistent reproductive health program for young people in Kenya. Baseline and endline surveys were conducted in 1997 and 2001, respectively, in the project and control areas.

The reporting of sensitive behavior by adolescents: a methodological experiment in Kenya.

Does audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) produce more valid reporting of sexual activity and related behaviors than face-to-face interviews or self-administered interviews? This analysis, based on data collected from over 6,000 unmarried adolescents in two districts of Kenya--Nyeri and Kisumu--indicates substantial and significant differences in reported rates of premarital sex across interview modes, although not always in the expected direction. Our assumption that girls underreport sexual activity in face-to-face interviews by comparison with ACASI is not confirmed by the Nyeri data, but our results from Kisumu are considerably more promising. As for boys, who we believe exaggerate their level of sexual activity in face-to-face interviews, a more nuanced set of expectations regarding the reporting of sensitive behaviors was offered; our results from Kisumu, although not always significant, by and large conform to expectations.