ABSTRACT
Globally, millions of people are affected by war and conflicts every year. However, women have increasingly suffered the greatest harm by war in more different ways than men. We conceptualize a reproductive rights approach toward examining the effects of war on women's reproductive health in developing countries. Given the rising concerns of exclusion to adequately address women's rights, sexual and gender-based violence, and post-conflict accountability, we specifically focus on the limitations of the Minimum Initial Service Package, a UN-sponsored reproductive health service program in conflict zones while offering a broad reproductive rights-based conceptual lens for examining reproductive health care services in war-torn areas. In addition, we discuss the roles social workers may play at both micro and macro levels in war-torn areas to bring about both short term and long term gains in women's reproductive health.
Subject(s)
Reproductive Health , Sexual Behavior/psychology , Warfare , Women's Health , Adult , Developing Countries , Female , Humans , Middle Aged , Socioeconomic Factors , Young AdultABSTRACT
This study examines the predictive value of individual, interpersonal, and community factors for consistent condom use among university students in Taiwan. The analytic sample for this cross-sectional study comprised 105 sexually active students, a subgroup of the respondents in a survey on university students in mid-Taiwan, with a mean age of 21, and 51.4% being female. The outcome variable was assessed as the proportion of times a condom was used in sex with steady sex partners. Risky sex appeared less related to having multiple sex partners (8.57%) than with inconsistent condom use (71.4%). Hierarchical regression analysis showed that 47.4% of variance in the outcome variable could be explained by AIDS knowledge, class adjustment, perception of good friends' condom use, and discussion of condom use with good friends. This study found that predictors across different levels may work in combination to influence students' condom use. Enhancing HIV/AIDS knowledge, improving class adjustment, facilitating peer norm of condom use may work in combination to increase students' condom use.
Subject(s)
Condoms/statistics & numerical data , HIV Infections/prevention & control , Sexual Behavior , Sexual Partners , Students/psychology , Adult , Attitude to Health , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , HIV Infections/psychology , HIV Infections/transmission , Humans , Individuality , Interpersonal Relations , Male , Social Environment , Students/statistics & numerical data , Surveys and Questionnaires , Taiwan , UniversitiesABSTRACT
This commentary on Potts et al provides a critical view on their thesis that increasing the level of education among women is likely to reduce terrorism. Presence of a strong family planning program enables women to control family size resulting in women's public participation more likely and facilitating the emergence of small birth cohorts who are less likely to become unemployed. In spite of the several theoretical insights their paper offers, they have not adequately described the multiple social and economic linkages that may exist between fertility rates and lowering frequency of wars, terrorism, etc.
