RESUMO
Background: Gender inequity, a deeply-rooted driver of poor health globally, is expressed in society through gender norms, the unspoken rules that govern gender-related roles and behavior. The development of public health interventions focused on promoting equitable gender norms are gaining momentum internationally, but there remain critical gaps in the evidence about how these interventions are working to change behavioral outcomes. Methods: A four-arm cluster randomized control trial (cRCT) was conducted to evaluate the effects of the Reaching Married Adolescents in Niger (RMA) intervention on modern contraceptive use and intimate partner violence (IPV) among married adolescent girls and their husbands in Dosso, Niger (T1: 1042 dyads; 24 mos. follow-up: 737 dyads, 2016-2019). This study seeks to understand if changes in perceived inequitable gender norms among husbands are the mechanism behind effects on modern contraceptive use and IPV. We estimated natural direct and indirect effects via these gender norms using inverse odds ratio weighting. An intention-to-treat approach and a difference-in-differences estimator in a hierarchical linear probability model was used to estimate prevalence differences, along with bootstrapping to estimate confidence intervals. Results: The total effects of the RMA small group intervention (Arm 2) is estimated to be an 8% reduction in prevalence of IPV [95% CI: -0.18, 0.01]. For this arm, the natural indirect effect through gender inequitable social norms is associated with a 2% decrease (95% CI: -0.07, 0.12), accounting for 22.3% of this total effect, and the natural direct effect with a 6% decrease (95% CI: -0.20, -0.02) in IPV. Of the total effect of the RMA household visit intervention (Arm 1) on contraceptive use (20% increase), indirect effects via inequitable gender norms were associated with an 11% decrease (95% CI: -0.18, -0.01) and direct effects with a 32% increase (95% CI: 0.13, 0.44) in contraceptive use. For the combination arm, of the total effects on contraceptive use (19% increase), indirect effects were associated with a 9% decrease (95% CI: -0.20, 0.02) and direct effects with a 28% increase (95% CI: 0.12, 0.46). Conclusion: The present study contributes experimental evidence that the small group RMA intervention reduced IPV partially via reductions in perceived inequitable gender norms among husbands. Evidence also suggests that increases in perceived inequitable gender norms resulted in decreased contraceptive use among those receiving the household visit intervention component. Not only do these results open the "black box" around how the RMA small group intervention may create behavior change to help inform its future use, they provide evidence supporting behavior change theories and frameworks that postulate the importance of changing underlying social norms in order to reduce IPV and increase modern contraceptive use.
RESUMO
The purpose of this paper is to examine the current status of malaria in pregnancy (MiP) in India and review current control measures, programmes and interventions that work, and to suggest areas that need to be addressed. MiP can have serious health consequences for both the mother and infant, and thus presents a major public health challenge. Roll Back Malaria (RBM), a supporting agency of the World Health Organization (WHO), recommends reducing the burden of MiP through the following control measures: insecticide treated nets (ITNs), intermittent preventive therapy (IPTp), and effective case management. Even though India has a comprehensive national malaria programme, specific control measures aimed at decreasing the burden of MiP are limited in availability or are not adequately available. Components of the national malaria programme, which may serve to alleviate the MiP burden include the integration of malaria control with general health services and use of indoor residual spraying (IRS). These control strategies are beneficial because they reduce overall malaria exposure, both for pregnant women and the general population. However, there are several challenges and issues that India still faces regarding MiP. Major among them are the lack of ITNs, socio-cultural issues, growing resistance to antimalarials and insecticides, a new, yet to be fully implemented drug policy, and a highly centralized malaria control programme. A review of the current control measures for MiP in India indicates that these challenges and issues must be addressed in order to alleviate the MiP situation in India.
