TY - JOUR T1 - The Open Birth Interval: A Resource for Reproductive Health Programs and Women's Empowerment JF - Global Health: Science and Practice JO - GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT SP - 355 LP - 370 DO - 10.9745/GHSP-D-19-00056 VL - 7 IS - 3 AU - John Ross AU - Kristin Bietsch Y1 - 2019/09/23 UR - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/7/3/355.abstract N2 - The open birth interval is the time since a woman's last birth. It reflects not only desire for contraception and child health services but also freedom for outside activities, employment, and personal autonomy. It merits attention from policy makers, program managers, and service providers.Every woman who has ever given birth has a most recent birth, and she now stands at some point removed from it, in an “open interval.” Some women go on to another pregnancy and birth, but some never do, remaining permanently in the open interval. This interval is entirely different from the well-known “closed interval,” which pertains only to the time between 2 births in the past. The open interval can be determined from a simple question: “How long has it been since your last birth?” Recent national surveys can provide a current snapshot, and changes through time can be detected by reference to earlier surveys.We undertook research on the open interval, with the expectation that it holds promise for a deeper understanding of reproductive behavior, women's status, and demographic processes. This study was exploratory in nature, rather than an investigation of a specific hypothesis. It required assembling the first general body of empirical information on interval lengths, and it included the following research questions: Currently, how are women distributed by the age of their youngest child?How does this distribution vary over time, by region, and by fertility levels?How does the open interval distribution relate to personal characteristics (age, wealth quintiles, etc.) and to reproductive health variables (contraceptive use, unmet need for contraception, intention to use a method)?How do these variables change within the first year after birth and in each ensuing year for the age of the youngest child?Has the declining percentage of women having children been offset by the … ER -