Should we change the focus of health promotion in sexual health clinics?

The effectiveness of sexual behaviour change interventions in sexual health clinics is unknown. Risk factors for poor sexual and reproductive health such as depression, violence, alcohol and smoking in sexual health clinics are all common and can be identified easily in sexual health services. Targeting these risk factors could be as effective as traditional sexual health promotion and could have additional benefits.

Using process indicators to monitor and evaluate obstetric services in developing countries.

Measuring progress toward safe motherhood goals is an increasingly important priority for developing countries and their development partners. A defined set of process indicators is increasingly being used to monitor and evaluate the availability, use, and quality of emergency obstetric services as a practical alternative to maternal mortality (MM) measures. Measuring MM requires either efficient vital registration systems or large expensive surveys.

Monitoring obstetric services: putting the 'UN Guidelines' into practice in Malawi: 3 years on.

The maternal mortality ratio is difficult to use for monitoring short-term progress in safe motherhood programs. UNICEF/WHO/UNFPA have proposed alternative process indicators monitoring the availability, utilization and quality of obstetric services. There is little experience in the large-scale use of these indicators as part of routine health information systems in developing countries.

Monitoring obstetric services: putting the UN guidelines into practice in Malawi. I: developing the system.

The UNICEF/WHO/ UNFPA "Guidelines for Monitoring the Availability and Use of Obstetric Services" was published in 1997 as a guide for implementing process indicators. The Malawi Safe Motherhood Project covers 5 million people and was the first large project to introduce the new indicators as part of a routine monitoring system. A rigorous process of needs assessment, tools development, operations research, field testing and training was conducted.