Health Topics
- Improving Maternity Care Where Home Births Are Still the Norm: Establishing Local Birthing Centers in Guatemala That Incorporate Traditional Midwives
Comadronas (traditional midwives) strongly advocate for and participate in attending their clients’ births in local birthing centers in rural Guatemala, where Indigenous women have previously preferred home births because of geographic, sociocultural, and economic barriers to giving birth at a higher-level health facility.
- Establishment of the First Institution-Based Poison Information Center in Nepal Through a Multilateral International Partnership
Through an innovative local and international partnership model, the first institution-based poison information center in Nepal was established in response to a mandate from the Nepal government, the high burden of toxicological emergencies in Nepal, and the known economic and health benefits of poison information centers.
- Promoting Male Involvement in Family Planning: Insights From the No-Scalpel Vasectomy Program of Davao City, Philippines
The no-scalpel vasectomy program in Davao City, Philippines, serves as a promising model for engaging men in family planning and addressing gender disparities in such initiatives.
- Learnings From an Innovative Model to Expand Access to a New and Underutilized Nonhormonal Contraceptive Diaphragm
Experiences with early introduction of the contoured Caya diaphragm provide a new model for increasing access to new and underutilized methods, especially through private-sector partners.
- Family Planning, Reproductive Health, and Progress Toward the Sustainable Development Goals: Reflections and Directions on the 30th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development
Investing in family planning and reproductive health—broadly defined as the services, policies, information, attitudes, practices, and commodities, including contraceptives, that help individuals achieve their fertility intentions—is integral to attaining many Sustainable Development Goals.
- National Politics’ Role in Developing Primary Health Care Policy for Maternal Health in Papua New Guinea: A Qualitative Document Analysis
This article examines the factors and mechanisms that influenced the development of the free primary health care policy for maternal health in Papua New Guinea.
- Adapting the Social Norms Exploration Tool in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Identify Social Norms for Behavior Change
The Social Norms Exploration Tool is a rapid assessment tool for programs that research can adapt to help determine how to explore social norms and identify which norms and population interventions to address to facilitate the behavior of interest.
- Can the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action and Cairo Consensus Normalize the Discourse on Population?
The International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action and its Cairo Consensus can help ensure that policy responses uphold human rights and gender equality, thereby serving as the singular global reference that could bring opposing voices in the population debate together.
- FP2020 and FP2030 Country Commitments: A Mixed Method Study of Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health Components
While FP2030 commitments better articulate strategies and activities to reach adolescents and youth with family planning (FP) information and services compared to FP2020 commitments, gaps remain. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, countries should continue to invest in creating and funding comprehensive FP commitments that meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents and youth.
- Antenatal Care Interventions to Increase Contraceptive Use Following Birth in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis
Interventions delivered during the antenatal period that included a multifaceted package of initiatives appeared to be most likely to be effective at increasing voluntary postpartum contraception. By contrast, interventions with minimal counseling did not appear to be effective.

