Research At-A-Glance: Conceptualizing and Measuring Agency for SBC Programs

As family planning programs prioritize reproductive empowerment over reproductive behaviors, we need new, person-centered measures to capture and track progress toward these new goals. One measurement gap is the degree to which individuals find contraceptive use acceptable. East and West Africa are key contexts for exploring contraceptive acceptability—women are pressured to bear children early and often amid high levels of contraceptive-related fear, stigma, and misinformation.

Research At-A-Glance: Designing and Implementing a Gender Transformative Adaptation of the Husband’s Schools in Niger

The Husband’s Schools intervention piloted in Niger in 2007, engaging men as model husbands to promote and support women’s use of reproductive health services and foster behavior change in individuals and couples. While it improved health outcomes in and beyond Niger, deeply entrenched gender norms and power dynamics remain, along with an increasing concern the intervention has inadvertently increased men’s dominance in domains related to health and nutrition. Learn What We’re Doing, What We’re Learning, and the Impact of this work.

Research At-A-Glance: Reducing Infertility Stigma and Improving Reproductive Agency in Cameroon and Kenya

Globally, one in six people experiences infertility in their lifetime, with sub-Saharan Africa reporting the highest instances of period infertility. Individuals and couples with infertility are stigmatized and suffer social, health, and economic consequences. This can result in early marriage, short birth spacing, and limited contraceptive use. Despite this, infertility-related stigma is rarely addressed in programming.

Activity At-A-Glance: Capacity Strengthening of Local Institutions to Accelerate the Ouagadougou Partnership Research Agenda

Since 2011, the Ouagadougou Partnership has sought to increase the availability and use of modern contraception, reduce maternal and infant mortality, and improve the overall health and well-being of women and children in nine Francophone countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. A 2022 Research Agenda is supporting three West African research institutions to inform future investments in family planning and sexual and reproductive health programs and policy efforts. Read more about this initiative and its two-year, field-supported activity led by USAID’s Agency for All Project.

Research At-A-Glance: Developing a Measure of Contraceptive Acceptability

Family planning programs are evolving to prioritize reproductive empowerment over reproductive behaviors. As existing measures cannot fully capture and track progress toward these new goals, we need new, person-centered measures. A gap in current measures is the degree to which individuals find contraceptive use acceptable, an area that may be informed by conceptual underpinnings of vaccine hesitancy. East and West Africa are key contexts for exploring contraceptive acceptability, given pressure to bear children early and often and high levels of contraceptive-related fear, stigma, and misinformation.

Research At-A-Glance: COVID-19 Vaccination Communication in Nigeria

Despite the demonstrated effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in limiting the spread of the virus, as well as reducing associated morbidity and mortality, many Nigerians remain unvaccinated due to hesitancy or refusal to accept a vaccine despite its availability. The reasons for vaccine hesitancy in Nigeria are numerous and complex. A deeper understanding of drivers of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, as well as social and behavioral pathways to increase vaccine acceptance, is needed to bolster COVID19 vaccination rates in Nigeria.

Program Assessment At-A-Glance: Complexity, Context, and USAID-Supported Social and Behavior Change Programming in Ethiopia

Over the past decade, there has been considerable emphasis on social and behavior change (SBC) in Ethiopia with USAIDfunded investments improving demand for quality health services. Despite this progress, health service utilization in Ethiopia is still relatively low. Assessments show a lack of awareness of available health services, weaknesses in service provision, and poor uptake of health behaviors by providers.

Program Assessment At-A-Glance: Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Assessment of the ACCESS Project in Madagascar

Despite recent progress, Madagascar faces pressing public health issues—high rates of maternal mortality (392 deaths per 100,000 live births) and infant mortality (45 deaths per 1,000 live births). In response, USAID’s Accessible Continuum of Care and Essential Services Sustained (ACCESS; 2018–2023) project sought to improve the capacity and quality of health services and integrate social and behavior change (SBC) practices into health activities across 14 regions of Madagascar.

Research At-A-Glance: Fostering Respectful Maternity Care in India

Globally many women experience disrespect and abuse during childbirth. Disrespect and abuse are not only human rights violations but can also compromise clinical outcomes. While national policies in India include guidelines on provision of respectful maternity care, structural and social barriers within facilities and communities impede progress for provision of respectful maternity care across the country.

Research At-A-Glance: Impact of SBC Media on Youth Agency in Kenya

Young Kenyans face many challenges that prevent them from reaching their potential, including high incidences of HIV/AIDS and early pregnancies. Emerging evidence suggests that strategies to increase agency among young people might be most effective in bringing about sustained changes in attitudes, norms, and behaviors.

Program Assessment At-A-Glance: A Review of Social and Behavior Change Programs Addressing Early Childbearng Among Very Young Adolescents in Bangladesh

High rates of adolescent childbearing contribute to poor economic, social, and health outcomes. Very young adolescent (VYA) mothers, aged 10–14 in particular, face higher-risk pregnancy complications, maternal mortality, and infant mortality. Although the Government of Bangladesh aspires for young people to delay childbearing to at least the age of 20, those aged 10–19 years old continue to experience pregnancy and childbearing.

Research At-A-Glance: Addressing Reproductive Coercion in Health Settings (ARCHES) India Adaptation

Reproductive coercion (RC) is a form of gender-based violence, comprising behaviors by a male partner or family members that reduce women’s and girls’ reproductive autonomy by interfering with contraceptive access or use or pregnancy decisions. RC is associated with intimate partner violence (IPV). Women receiving reproductive services report higher rates of RC and IPV than the general population. In India, RC is often perpetuated by husbands and in-laws to exert pressure to conceive early in marriage, have large families, and conceive sons. In Madhya Pradesh, approximately two in five women report physical, sexual, or emotional abuse in their lifetime.

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