Stigma among key populations living with HIV in the Dominican Republic: experiences of people of Haitian descent, MSM, and female sex workers.

Objective(s): To describe stigma among seropositive MSM, female sex workers (FSWs), and Haitian-descent individuals in the Dominican Republic, and to assess whether stigma is associated with HIV treatment outcomes.

Design: Cross-sectional survey using Stigma Index 2.0.

Safer conception for female sex workers living with HIV in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Cross-sectional analysis of needs and opportunities in integrated family planning/HIV services.

Background: With the advent of effective treatment, women living with HIV can plan for pregnancy while minimizing risk of transmission to infants and seronegative partners. Family planning (FP) services tend to focus solely on addressing contraceptive need, but HIV-positive women-including female sex workers-often plan to have children someday. Various "safer conception" strategies are now available to support women living with HIV achieve fertility intentions, and integrated HIV/FP services may be a promising platform to offer these services.

Reproductive health and desire for children among young female sex workers in Bangladesh brothels.

Globally, reproductive health research among female sex workers (FSWs) often focuses on pregnancy prevention, but many women who sell sex aspire to have children in the future. In Bangladesh, where early marriage and parenthood is the norm, we examine reproductive histories and childbearing desires of young women who sell sex in brothels. We interviewed 1061 FSWs aged 18 to 24 in eight brothels in three Bangladesh divisions.

Pregnancy Experiences of Female Sex Workers in Adama City, Ethiopia: Complexity of Partner Relationships and Pregnancy Intentions.

Research and programs for female sex workers (FSWs) tend to focus exclusively on HIV prevention, with little attention paid to how pregnancy affects their lives. We examine the circumstances surrounding pregnancy and childbirth among women selling sex in Ethiopia. In Adama City, researchers asked 30 FSWs aged 18 and older who had ever been pregnant to participate in in-depth interviews.

Paying for Sex by Young Men Who Live on the Streets in Dhaka City: Compounded Sexual Risk in a Vulnerable Migrant Community.

Purpose: Dhaka City is home to thousands of migrants from Bangladesh's rural areas who often live in the streets. Prior studies examine street youth's practice of selling sex as a survival mechanism. We assess their less-studied practice of paying for sex and its association with sexual risk behaviors and outcomes.

Kenyan female sex workers' use of female-controlled nonbarrier modern contraception: do they use condoms less consistently?

Objectives: To examine whether nonbarrier modern contraceptive use is associated with less consistent condom use among Kenyan female sex workers (FSWs).

Study Design: Researchers recruited 579 FSWs using respondent-driven sampling. We conducted multivariate logistic regression to examine the association between consistent condom use and female-controlled nonbarrier modern contraceptive use.

Use of dual protection among female sex workers in Swaziland.

Context: Female sex workers are at heightened risk of both HIV infection and unwanted pregnancy. Nonbarrier modern contraceptives are highly effective at preventing pregnancy, but offer no HIV protection. A better understanding of sex workers' use of condoms and nonbarrier methods is needed to help them meet their contraceptive and STI protection needs.

Use of emergency contraceptive pills among female sex workers in Swaziland.

Objectives: Female sex workers (FSW) often have unprotected sex. Emergency contraceptive pills (ECP) are an important back-up method to prevent unwanted pregnancy among FSW. We examine ECP use among FSW in Swaziland.

Association between condom use and use of other contraceptive methods among female sex workers in Swaziland: a relationship-level analysis of condom and contraceptive use.

Objectives: Nonbarrier modern contraceptive users often are less likely to use condoms, particularly with more intimate sex partners. We examine whether female sex workers (FSWs) in Swaziland who use nonbarrier contraception use condoms less consistently and whether this inverse association varies by relationship type.

Methods: In 2011, we conducted a survey among 325 Swazi FSWs using respondent-driven sampling.

Contraception and condom use among Bolivian female sex workers: relationship-specific associations between disease prevention and family planning behaviors.

We examined data from a clinic-based survey of 1,222 Bolivian female sex workers (FSWs) to assess whether use of nonbarrier modern contraception is associated with less consistent condom use with clients and noncommercial partners. Women who were using nonbarrier modern contraception were less likely than nonusers to consistently use condoms with noncommercial partners (AOR 0.393, 95% CI 0.

Induced abortion, contraceptive use, and dual protection among female sex workers in Moscow, Russia.

Objective: To describe abortion history and current contraceptive use among female sex workers (FSWs) in Moscow, Russia.

Methods: A clinic-based survey was conducted among 147 FSWs in Moscow during an 8-month period in 2005.

Results: In total, 83 of 143 (58.

The role of the Standard Days Method in modern family planning services in developing countries.

Background: The mere availability of family planning (FP) services is not sufficient to improve reproductive health; services must also be of adequate quality. The introduction of new contraceptive methods is a means of improving quality of care. The Standard Days Method (SDM) is a new fertility-awareness-based contraceptive method that has been successfully added to reproductive health care services around the world.

Women's experiences with legal abortion in Mexico City: a qualitative study.

In April 2007, elective first-trimester abortion was legalized in Mexico City. As of June 2011, more than 60,000 women from Mexico City and other Mexican states have obtained legal abortions in the city's public hospitals and health centers, with private facilities providing additional abortion services. This study examines women's experiences of abortion services in one public and two private clinic settings in 2008.

Analizing successful condom use among factory workers and students in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

Although condoms can prevent sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies, use remains low worldwide. Rather than continue to investigate the barriers to use, this study sought to obtain information from students and factory workers who identify themselves as successful condom users. After developing a novel successful condom use scale, we conducted 793 interviews among students and factory workers in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Young Mexicans' hopes and fears about abortion and abortion law: a qualitative study in two cities.

Background: In Mexico, abortion is legal only in limited, specific circumstances and unsafe abortion complications are estimated to be the fourth leading cause of maternal mortality. Our study sought to understand the opinions Mexicans hold about abortion and sexuality and to learn about their fears and hopes about more liberalized abortion laws in Mexico.

Methods: We carried out 12 focus groups with a total of 87 women and men, aged 18-24.

Challenges accessing legal abortion after rape in Mexico City.

Introduction: Although highly legally restricted, abortion is legal in cases of rape throughout Mexico. This study describes women's and physicians' experiences obtaining/providing legal abortion services in cases of rape in Mexico City.

Material And Methods: We interviewed five women who experienced a pregnancy as a result of rape.

Jamaican and Barbadian health care providers' knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding emergency contraceptive pills.

Context: Little is known about health care providers' knowledge of, attitudes toward and provision of emergency contraceptive pills in the English-speaking Caribbean, where sexual violence and unplanned pregnancies are persistent public health problems.

Methods: We conducted interviewer-administered surveys of 200 Barbadian and 228 Jamaican pharmacists, general practitioners, obstetrician-gynecologists and nurses in 2005-2006. For each country, Pearson's chi-square tests were used to assess differences in responses among the four provider groups.

Introducing birth plans in Mexico: an exploratory study in a hospital serving low-income Mexicans.

Background: Increased medicalization of childbirth in Mexico has not always translated into more satisfactory childbirth experiences for women. In developed countries, pregnant women often prepare written birth plans, outlining how they would like their childbirth experiences to proceed. The notion of expressing childbirth desires with a birth plan is novel in the developing world.

Abortion opinion research in Latin America and the Caribbean: a review of the literature.

Abortion laws in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are highly restrictive and may not reflect public opinion on the issue. This article synthesizes the survey literature on attitudes toward abortion in the region. We searched standard computer indexing services and polled colleagues at regional meetings to identify every methodologically sound quantitative study of abortion opinion in LAC published between 1985 and 2005.

Demonstrating public health at work: a demonstration project of congenital syphilis prevention efforts in Bolivia.

Objectives: We introduced syphilis immunochromatic strip (ICS) tests into antenatal care (ANC) settings in Bolivia and evaluated feasibility, patient and provider acceptability, and introduction costs. We conducted complementary studies on related topics, strengthened quality of care, and aided the response to sensitive aspects of maternal/congenital syphilis control (e.g.

"No party hat, no party": successful condom use in sex work in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

Sex workers and their clients are particularly vulnerable to HIV/STI transmission. Most research on condom use has focused on barriers preventing use; less is known about attitudes, motivations and strategies employed by those who feel positively about condoms and who use them successfully. For this qualitative study, we conducted focus group discussions with sex workers (14), both female and transvestite, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and female sex workers (17) and male clients (11) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, who identified themselves as successful condom users in a condom use questionnaire.

Emergency contraception in Honduras: knowledge, attitudes, and practice among urban family planning clients.

Emergency contraception (EC) has the potential to improve women's reproductive health significantly. In Honduras, where nearly one-fourth of pregnancies are unplanned, the need for EC is substantial. To increase awareness of this option, nongovernmental organizations launched countrywide EC outreach activities in 2001-03.