Outcomes by birth setting and caregiver for low risk women in Indonesia: a systematic literature review.

Background: Care for women during pregnancy, labour, birth and the postpartum period is essential to reducing maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity, however the ideal place and organisation of care provision has not been established. The World Health Organization recommends a two-tier maternity care system involving first-level care in community facilities, with backup obstetric hospital care. However, evidence from high-income countries is increasingly showing benefits for low risk women birthing outside of hospital with skilled birth assistance and access to backup care, including lower rates of intervention.

Determinants of Elongation of the Labia Minora in Tete Province, Central Mozambique: Findings of a Household Survey.

A WHO-supported provincial-level population-based survey was conducted in 2007 to understand the determinants and implications for health of vaginal practices. A total of 919 women aged 18-60 were selected randomly for enrolment. This is the first population-based study of females in Tete Province, Mozambique.

Prevalence, motivations, and adverse effects of vaginal practices in Africa and Asia: findings from a multicountry household survey.

Background: Women worldwide use various vaginal practices to clean or modify their vulva and vagina. Additional population-level information is needed on prevalence and motivations for these practices, characteristics of users, and their adverse effects.

Methods: This was a household survey using multistage cluster sampling in Tete, Mozambique; KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; Yogyakarta, Indonesia; and Chonburi, Thailand.

Health care utilization, cost burden and coping strategies by disability status: an analysis of the Viet Nam National Health Survey.

There is a need for nationally representative information on the affordability of health care by disability status to assist in the design of equitable health systems in developing countries. Using the Viet Nam National Health Survey (2001-2002), this paper analyses health care utilization, cost burden and coping strategies for people with disabilities versus the population at large. The results clearly show that the disabled population are more prone to hospitalization, and spend more on inpatient stays and pharmaceuticals.

A cross cultural study of vaginal practices and sexuality: implications for sexual health.

Between 2005 and 2006, we investigated vaginal practices in Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Tete, Mozambique; KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; and Bangkok and Chonburi, Thailand. We sought to understand women's practices, their motivations for use and the role vaginal practices play in women's health, sexuality and sense of wellbeing. The study was carried out among adult women and men who were identified as using, having knowledge or being involved in trade in products.

The way forward.

Good public-health decisionmaking is dependent on reliable and timely statistics on births and deaths (including the medical causes of death). All high-income countries, without exception, have national civil registration systems that record these events and generate regular, frequent, and timely vital statistics. By contrast, these statistics are not available in many low-income and lower-middle-income countries, even though it is in such settings that premature mortality is most severe and the need for robust evidence to back decisionmaking most critical.

Unintended pregnancy and women's psychological well-being in Indonesia.

Few studies have examined the impact of unintended pregnancy on women in developing countries. This paper examines the impact of unintended pregnancy on Indonesian women's psychological well-being. It is hypothesized that experiencing unintended pregnancy is associated with lower psychological well-being and that use of family planning and small family size are associated with higher levels of psychological well-being.

"Peer" educator initiatives for adolescent reproductive health projects in Indonesia.

Since the ICPD in 1994, the Government of Indonesia has struggled with the challenge of providing sexual and reproductive health education to adolescents. Following an attempt at a family-centred approach, a pilot project was carried out in Central and East Java to train peer educators, coordinated by the National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN). A total of 80 peer educators (male/female teams) carried out small-group information sessions in ten different districts.