CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head profile="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11"><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://prbblog.org:80/?cat=31","20090906072943","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1252222183"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"/> <script type="text/JavaScript">  </script> <title>Behind the Numbers: The PRB blog on population, health, and the environment » PRB News</title> <meta name="generator" content="WordPress 2.3.3"/>  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943cs_/http://prbblog.org/wp-content/themes/prb-blog/style.css" type="text/css" media="screen"/> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Behind the Numbers: The PRB blog on population, health, and the environment RSS Feed" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?feed=rss2"/> <link rel="pingback" href="http://prbblog.org/xmlrpc.php"/> <meta name="type" content="Section"> <meta name="language" content="english"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"/><meta name="CODE_LANGUAGE" content="C#"/><meta name="vs_defaultClientScript" content="JavaScript"/><meta name="vs_targetSchema" content="http://schemas.microsoft.com/intellisense/ie5"/> <link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://www.prb.org/favicon.ico"/></head> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD" href="http://prbblog.org/xmlrpc.php?rsd"/> <link rel="wlwmanifest" type="application/wlwmanifest+xml" href="http://prbblog.org/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml"/> <style type="text/css">.recentcomments a{display:inline !important;padding: 0 !important;margin: 0 !important;}</style> </head> <body> <script type="text/javascript">  </script>  <div class="newheader"> <div class="functional"> <p class="links"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Bookstore.aspx">Bookstore</a>/ <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Contact.aspx">Contact</a>/ <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/SpanishContent.aspx"> Espanol</a>/ <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/FrenchContent.aspx"> Francais</a></p> </div> <div class="banner"> <div class="logo"> <img height="99" width="210" alt="PRB" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://www.prb.org/images/new_banner/logo.gif"/> </div> <div class="title wide"> <img height="63" width="564" alt="Population Reference Bureau" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://www.prb.org/images/new_banner/title.gif"/> </div> <ul class="nav sf-menu sf-js-enabled"> <li class="first home_tab"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/"> <span>Home</span> </a> </li> <li class="data_tab"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/DataFinder.aspx"> <span>DataFinder</span> </a> </li> <li class="educator_tab"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Educators.aspx"> <span>Educators</span> </a> </li> <li class="journalist_tab"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Journalists.aspx"> <span>Journalists</span> </a> </li> <li class="event_tab"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/EventsTraining.aspx"> <span>Events and Training</span> </a> </li> <li class="publication_tab"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Publications.aspx"> <span>Publications</span> </a> </li> <li class="about_tab"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/About.aspx"> <span>About PRB</span> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div align="center" style="margin-top: -20px;"> <br><br><br/><br/><center><table width="960" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td>  <div id="wrap"> <div id="header"><h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/">Behind the Numbers: The PRB blog on population, health, and the environment</a></h1></div> <div class="hr"></div> <div class="hr2"></div> <div class="left"> <h2 class="widgettitle">Authors</h2> <ul> <li class="widget widget_authors"> <ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=4" title="Posts by Bill Butz">Bill Butz</a> (7)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=6" title="Posts by Carl Haub">Carl Haub</a> (5)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=11" title="Posts by Charlie Teller">Charlie Teller</a> (6)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=19" title="Posts by Charlotte Feldman-Jacobs">Charlotte Feldman-Jacobs</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=14" title="Posts by Deborah Mesce">Deborah Mesce</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=10" title="Posts by Eric Zuehlke">Eric Zuehlke</a> (2)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=20" title="Posts by Farzaneh Roudi">Farzaneh Roudi</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=13" title="Posts by Jason Bremner">Jason Bremner</a> (6)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=16" title="Posts by Jay Gribble">Jay Gribble</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=18" title="Posts by Karin Ringheim">Karin Ringheim</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=17" title="Posts by Marissa Yeakey">Marissa Yeakey</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=12" title="Posts by Mark Mather">Mark Mather</a> (4)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=21" title="Posts by Nadwa Mossaad">Nadwa Mossaad</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?author=15" title="Posts by Victoria Ebin">Victoria Ebin</a> (2)</li></ul> </li> </ul> <ul> <li id="categories-1" class="widget widget_categories"><h2 class="widgettitle">Topics</h2> <ul> <li class="cat-item cat-item-3"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=3" title="Blog on the PRB topic- Education">Education</a> (2) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-4"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=4" title="Blog on the PRB topic of Environment">Environment</a> (9) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-5"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=5" title="Blog on the PRB topic of Gender">Gender</a> (3) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-6"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=6" title="Blog on the PRB topic of HIV/AIDS">HIV/AIDS</a> (1) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-7"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=7" title="Blog on the PRB Topic of Immigration/Migration">Immigration/Migration</a> (2) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-8"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=8" title="Blog on the topic of Income/Poverty">Income/Poverty</a> (5) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-9"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=9" title="Blog on the topic of Marriage Family">Marriage/Family</a> (1) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-10"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=10" title="Blog about the topic of Population basics">Population Basics</a> (14) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-31 current-cat"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=31" title="View all posts filed under PRB News">PRB News</a> (18) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-12"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=12" title="Blog on the topic of reproductive health ">Reproductive Health</a> (11) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-13"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=13" title="Blog on the topic of Youth">Youth</a> (6) </li> </ul> </li> <li id="tag_cloud" class="widget widget_tag_cloud"><h2 class="widgettitle">Tags</h2> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=burkina-faso" class="tag-link-61" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">Burkina Faso</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=census" class="tag-link-39" title="6 topics" style="font-size: 15pt;">census</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=cities" class="tag-link-68" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">cities</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=climate-change" class="tag-link-69" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">climate change</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=contraception" class="tag-link-53" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">contraception</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=education" class="tag-link-3" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">Education</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=engage" class="tag-link-55" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">ENGAGE</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=environment" class="tag-link-4" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">Environment</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=ethiopia" class="tag-link-41" title="4 topics" style="font-size: 12.2pt;">Ethiopia</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=europe" class="tag-link-46" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">Europe</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=evaluation" class="tag-link-48" title="2 topics" style="font-size: 9.4pt;">evaluation</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=family-planning" class="tag-link-27" title="9 topics" style="font-size: 19.2pt;">family planning</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=fertility" class="tag-link-45" title="3 topics" style="font-size: 10.8pt;">fertility</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=food" class="tag-link-32" title="2 topics" style="font-size: 9.4pt;">food</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=hivaids" class="tag-link-6" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">HIV/AIDS</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=india" class="tag-link-58" title="2 topics" style="font-size: 9.4pt;">India</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=iran" class="tag-link-65" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">Iran</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=journalism" class="tag-link-42" title="2 topics" style="font-size: 9.4pt;">journalism</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=kenya" class="tag-link-54" title="7 topics" style="font-size: 16.4pt;">Kenya</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=mali" class="tag-link-62" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">Mali</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=malnutrition" class="tag-link-33" title="2 topics" style="font-size: 9.4pt;">malnutrition</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=media" class="tag-link-59" title="7 topics" style="font-size: 16.4pt;">media</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=migrants" class="tag-link-36" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">migrants</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=nano" class="tag-link-63" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">Nano</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=pakistan" class="tag-link-52" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">Pakistan</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=photos" class="tag-link-51" title="3 topics" style="font-size: 10.8pt;">photos</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=policy" class="tag-link-30" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">policy</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=population-growth" class="tag-link-38" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">population growth</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=poverty" class="tag-link-29" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">poverty</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=prb-in-the-field" class="tag-link-50" title="11 topics" style="font-size: 22pt;">PRB in the field</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=recession" class="tag-link-67" title="2 topics" style="font-size: 9.4pt;">recession</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=rwanda" class="tag-link-56" title="2 topics" style="font-size: 9.4pt;">Rwanda</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=senegal" class="tag-link-60" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">Senegal</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=statistics" class="tag-link-44" title="4 topics" style="font-size: 12.2pt;">statistics</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=tanzania" class="tag-link-49" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">tanzania</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=transportation" class="tag-link-64" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">transportation</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=turkey" class="tag-link-57" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">Turkey</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=us" class="tag-link-40" title="6 topics" style="font-size: 15pt;">U.S.</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=unemployment" class="tag-link-66" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">Unemployment</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=urbanization" class="tag-link-70" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">urbanization</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=video" class="tag-link-37" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">video</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=water" class="tag-link-71" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">water</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?tag=women" class="tag-link-43" title="1 topics" style="font-size: 8pt;">women</a></li> <li id="recent-posts" class="widget widget_recent_entries"> <h2 class="widgettitle">Recent Posts</h2> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=73">World Water Week and the Challenges of the Future </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=72">World Population Data Sheet 2009 - 7 Billion People by 2011 </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=71">Fertility Rise for Richest and Climate Change Revisited </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=70">“Like a Wave on Top of a Tsunami”: Have the Food Price and Financial Crises Increased World Hunger and Malnutrition? </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=69">Links Between HIV/AIDS and…the Environment? </a></li> </ul> </li> <li id="archives" class="widget widget_archives"><h2 class="widgettitle">Archives</h2> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?m=200908" title="August 2009">August 2009</a> (3)</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?m=200907" title="July 2009">July 2009</a> (4)</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?m=200906" title="June 2009">June 2009</a> (3)</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?m=200905" title="May 2009">May 2009</a> (3)</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?m=200904" title="April 2009">April 2009</a> (9)</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?m=200903" title="March 2009">March 2009</a> (4)</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?m=200902" title="February 2009">February 2009</a> (1)</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?m=200901" title="January 2009">January 2009</a> (6)</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?m=200812" title="December 2008">December 2008</a> (3)</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?m=200811" title="November 2008">November 2008</a> (3)</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?m=200810" title="October 2008">October 2008</a> (5)</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="right"> <ul> <li> <h2 class="widgettitle">Blog Search</h2> <div id="search"><form method="get" id="searchform" action="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/"> <div><input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s"/> <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="Go"/> </div> </form> </div> <div style="clear: both;"></div> </li> <li id="text-1" class="widget widget_text"> <h2 class="widgettitle">About the PRB Blog</h2> <div class="textwidget"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?page_id=2">The PRB blog is....</a> </div> </li> <li id="recent-comments" class="widget widget_recent_comments"> <h2 class="widgettitle">Recent Comments</h2> <ul id="recentcomments"><li class="recentcomments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://alouettelulu.com/" rel="external nofollow">Anna Gallés</a> on <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=71#comment-457">Fertility Rise for Richest and Climate Change Revisited</a></li><li class="recentcomments">Craig H on <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=70#comment-442">“Like a Wave on Top of a Tsunami”: Have the Food Price and Financial Crises Increased World Hunger and Malnutrition?</a></li><li class="recentcomments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prb/" rel="external nofollow">charles teller</a> on <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=70#comment-441">“Like a Wave on Top of a Tsunami”: Have the Food Price and Financial Crises Increased World Hunger and Malnutrition?</a></li><li class="recentcomments">Craig H on <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=70#comment-438">“Like a Wave on Top of a Tsunami”: Have the Food Price and Financial Crises Increased World Hunger and Malnutrition?</a></li><li class="recentcomments">Eric Zuehlke on <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=72#comment-435">World Population Data Sheet 2009 - 7 Billion People by 2011</a></li></ul> </li> <li id="links" class="widget widget_links"><h2 class="widgettitle">Blogroll</h2> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://blogs.cgdev.org/globalhealth/">Center for Global Development: Global Health Policy Blog</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://blogs.cgdev.org/globaldevelopment/">Center for Global Development: Views from the Center</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://demographymatters.blogspot.com/">Demography Matters</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.globaldashboard.org/">Global Dashboard: Notes from the Future</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://gsionline.csis.org/">Global Strategy Institute Online</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University: Global Health and Foreign Policy Blog</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://geography.about.com/b/">Matt’s Geography Blog</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/">New York Times: Dot Earth Blog</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://populationaction.org/blog/">Population Action International blog</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prcdc.org/blog/">Population Resource Center: Population Counts</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://thecityfix.com/">The City Fix</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://newsecuritybeat.blogspot.com/">The New Security Beat</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://earthtrends.wri.org/">World Resources Institute: EarthTrends</a></li> </ul> </li> <li id="meta" class="widget widget_meta"> <h2 class="widgettitle">Meta</h2> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/wp-login.php">Login</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?feed=rss2" title="Syndicate this site using RSS 2.0">Entries <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr></a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?feed=comments-rss2" title="The latest comments to all posts in RSS">Comments <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr></a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://wordpress.org/" title="Powered by WordPress, state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform.">WordPress.org</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="middle"> <div id="post-72"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=72" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to World Population Data Sheet 2009 - 7 Billion People by 2011">World Population Data Sheet 2009 - 7 Billion People by 2011</a></h2> <p><small>August 13th, 2009 Eric Zuehlke</small> Posted in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=31" title="View all posts in PRB News" rel="category">PRB News</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=10" title="View all posts in Population Basics" rel="category">Population Basics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=13" title="View all posts in Youth" rel="category">Youth</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=72#comments" title="Comment on World Population Data Sheet 2009 - 7 Billion People by 2011">2 Comments »</a> </p> <div class="entry"> <p><em>by Eric Zuehlke, editor</em></p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2009/2009wpds.aspx"><img border="0" align="left" width="117" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/mhtml:file://C:\Documents and Settings\ezuehlke\My Documents\Blog\Behind the Numbers The PRB blog on population, health, and the environment » Blog Archive » World Population Data Sheet 2009 - 7 Billion People by 2011.mht!http://www.prb.org/images09/WPDS09-HPthumb.jpg" height="134"/></a></p> <p>On August 12, PRB launched the annual <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2009/2009wpds.aspx"><em>World Population Data Sheet</em> </a>and accompanying <em><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Publications/PopulationBulletins/2009/worldpopulationhighlights2009.aspx">Population Bulletin</a></em> in Washington, DC, highlighting country, regional, and global population, health, and environment data and patterns. This year’s data sheet places special emphasis on youth.</p> <p>The share of world’s youth population is growing in Africa and shrinking in More Developed Countries (MDCs). In 1950, 9 percent of the world’s youth lived in Africa and 30 percent lived in MDCs (Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan). By 2050, that share will change to 29 percent in Africa and 11 percent in the MDCs. “The great bulk of today’s 1.2 billion youth—nearly 90 percent—are in developing countries,” said Carl Haub, PRB senior demographer and co-author of the data sheet. Eight in 10 of those youth live in Africa and Asia. “During the next few decades, these young people will most likely continue the current trend of moving from rural areas to cities in search of education and training opportunities, gainful employment, and adequate health care.” With the right investments in health, education, agricutlural develomment, and entrepreneurship, a large youth population can be an opportunity for development and change. However, these investments are not being made in many countries. The fundamental question facing many developing countries is whether the needs of their large youth populations will be met. The answer to this question will largely determine the development, stability, and future of developing countries. </p> <p>The data sheet shows just how stark the contrasts are between rich and poor countries in terms of population growth, life expectancy, income, and other indicators. Stay tuned for a webcast on <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/">prb.org</a> of the data sheet launch at the National Press Club over the next week.</p> <p>We welcome your comments, input, questions on our findings and the implications of this on the world’s future. </p> <p>Here are just a few stories on the data sheet launch from around the world:</p> <p><strong>CNN:</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/08/12/world.population/index.html">World population projected to reach 7 billion in 2011</a></p> <p><strong>The New York Times DotEarth:</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/a-billion-teenagers-for-better-or-worse/">A billion teenagers, for better or worse</a></p> <p><strong>National Post:</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2009/08/12/world-population-to-hit-7-billion-by-2011-report.aspx">World population to hit 7 billion by 2011: report</a></p> <p><strong>Daily Dispatch (South Africa):</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=336510">Africa Will Battle for Resources</a></p> <p><strong>Xinhua (China):</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/13/content_11872124.htm"><font color="#551a8b">Global population to hit 7 billion in 2011: US report</font></a></p> <p><strong>Pravda (Russia): </strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://newsfromrussia.com/russia/economics/13-08-2009/108831-population-0">Russian Population To Reduce to 110 Million by 2050 </a></p> <p><strong>The Sofia Echo (Bulgaria): </strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.sofiaecho.com/2009/08/13/769612_world-population-to-reach-94-billion-by-2050-report-says">World population to reach 9.4 billion by 2050, report says</a></p> <p><strong>The Sun (Malaysia):</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.thesundaily.com/article.cfm?id=36902">US teen birth rates higher than rest of developed world </a></p> </div>  <div class="addthis"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=blogohblog&url=http://prbblog.org/?p=72&title=World Population Data Sheet 2009 - 7 Billion People by 2011" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" width="125" height="16" border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button"/></a></div> </div> <div class="br"><br/></div> <div id="post-62"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=62" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to PRB in the Field: Hope is a School in Kajiado, Kenya">PRB in the Field: Hope is a School in Kajiado, Kenya</a></h2> <p><small>May 12th, 2009 Charlotte Feldman-Jacobs</small> Posted in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=31" title="View all posts in PRB News" rel="category">PRB News</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=12" title="View all posts in Reproductive Health" rel="category">Reproductive Health</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=13" title="View all posts in Youth" rel="category">Youth</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=62#respond" title="Comment on PRB in the Field: Hope is a School in Kajiado, Kenya">No Comments »</a> </p> <div class="entry"> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><em>by Charlotte Feldman-Jacobs,</em> <em>program director, Gender</em></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal">Last week, I visited ground zero of hope and it wasn’t in Washington, London, or Geneva. It was 60 kilometers outside of Nairobi, in a small town called Kajiado.</p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal">With 15 journalists in a workshop funded by USAID and organized by PRB, I went to the AIC Girls’ Primary School and Rescue Center and although we were hot, dusty, and grumpy from the traffic jams and rough roads when we arrived, we left hopeful and inspired.</p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal">While we were there we heard from the headmaster, Nicholas Muniu, and a dedicated staff member named Catherine that change is happening: that girls named Emily and Beatrice were among the girls who had come to the school escaping from certain early marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM); that among the 706 girls now at the school, 217 were rescued from early marriage and FGM; that some were brought by uncles, fathers, and mothers who wanted something better for these daughters. Even more amazing, many came by themselves.</p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal">The school began in 1959 with 20 girls and now has more than 700, with a waiting list of girls who want to come. While some of the girls were only rescued after they had already been subjected to FGM or early marriages, the school is now rescuing many before this happens. While the school was formerly viewed with suspicion—and even met with spear-carrying husbands and fathers—the school is gaining respect quickly. The graduates of Kajiado graduate with top academic skills, according to headmaster Muniu. And more importantly, the thinking among chiefs in the region has changed dramatically. “Chiefs now accept that educating girls is more important than getting two cows for them in early marriages,” Muniu says.</p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal">It quickly becomes apparent that the school, which runs through grade 8, is more than a shelter for these girls, it’s a doorway to a brighter future. While customs and laws change slowly in this part of the world, these girls quickly grasp that they can be anything they want. They study hard, they live without many of the amenities expected in the West, they sometimes say goodbye forever to families who would force them to undergo old customs and harmful traditional practices. But they have dreams, these girls. When asked what they want to be, they answer doctors and lawyers and pilots. Though they may never have been on an airplane, I know that some day they will be. For this school has given them wings to fly.</p> </div>  <div class="addthis"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=blogohblog&url=http://prbblog.org/?p=62&title=PRB in the Field: Hope is a School in Kajiado, Kenya" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" width="125" height="16" border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button"/></a></div> </div> <div class="br"><br/></div> <div id="post-63"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=63" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to PRB in the Field: The Rescue Center">PRB in the Field: The Rescue Center</a></h2> <p><small>May 1st, 2009 Administrator</small> Posted in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=31" title="View all posts in PRB News" rel="category">PRB News</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=12" title="View all posts in Reproductive Health" rel="category">Reproductive Health</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=13" title="View all posts in Youth" rel="category">Youth</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=63#respond" title="Comment on PRB in the Field: The Rescue Center">No Comments »</a> </p> <div class="entry"> <p><em>by Yordanos Goushe, senior reporter, Ethiopia Radio TV Agency</em></p> <p>The most effective way of saving young girls from FGM, rape, and early marriage is strengthening the optional center of care that functions within the society. Women in the society remain the vanguard to take actions against the impairing conditions for young girls through a most supporting structure. </p> <p>On Saturday, April 25, 2009 we Women’s Edition journalists visited the Kajiado AIC Rescue Center, a center that was created by people who were committed to educating young girls. The girls in the center have stories to tell about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), early marriage, and rape. These stories make you wonder how such things are done by a parent to his/her own offspring in the name of culture. However, there are also beautiful and rare stories of hope. If we ask the young girls in the rescue center, they will tell us they want to be a lawyer, politician, public figure, and a journalist. </p> <p>Taking these and other difficulties of Kajiado girls into consideration, the AIC Rescue Center has taken the step of working with the chiefs, fathers, and mothers of the community. Now the chiefs are protecting the young girls who go back to their community for school break and fathers are bringing their daughters before the cutting is done to them.</p> <p>The AIC Rescue Center receives girls from all over Kenya, some travelling a long distance after being the victims of rape, others running away from home because they do not want to be cut. The center provides good education, food, and shelter for these young girls who have seen a lot at an early age. The center receives all of them with an open hand even if it has limited capacity; there is always room for one more young girl who comes to the rescue center to have another chance in life.</p> <p>There is a very important message which comes across from the AIC Rescue Center: there are young girls who are saying “no” to the cultural barriers in their communities and these girls need help, so it’s our duty to help them find a solution.</p> </div>  <div class="addthis"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=blogohblog&url=http://prbblog.org/?p=63&title=PRB in the Field: The Rescue Center" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" width="125" height="16" border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button"/></a></div> </div> <div class="br"><br/></div> <div id="post-60"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=60" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to PRB in the Field: Family Planning Workshops for West African Journalists">PRB in the Field: Family Planning Workshops for West African Journalists</a></h2> <p><small>April 29th, 2009 Victoria Ebin</small> Posted in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=31" title="View all posts in PRB News" rel="category">PRB News</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=12" title="View all posts in Reproductive Health" rel="category">Reproductive Health</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=60#respond" title="Comment on PRB in the Field: Family Planning Workshops for West African Journalists">No Comments »</a> </p> <div class="entry"> <p><em>by Victoria Ebin, news media coordinator</em></p> <p>PRB is carrying out three workshops on family planning for West African journalists between January and June of this year. The first workshop, held in Dakar in January, was for 16 print and broadcast journalists; the second, with 19 participants, took place in Ouagadougou in April; and the third workshop will be in Bamako in May. These workshops somewhat resemble a family reunion. They bring together print and broadcast journalists from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal that PRB has worked with for more than a decade. Back in the mid-1990s, many of the editors-in-chief of the current crop of participants were already senior journalists and were part of PRB’s long-running media training project, Pop’Mediafrique, that met regularly until 2005.</p> <p><embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&noautoplay=1&RGB=0xFFFFFF&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2FPopulationReferenceBureau%2Falbumid%2F5330200419604685281%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" height="367" width="500" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943oe_/http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></p> <p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=60#more-60" class="more-link">Read the rest of this entry »</a></p> </div>  <div class="addthis"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=blogohblog&url=http://prbblog.org/?p=60&title=PRB in the Field: Family Planning Workshops for West African Journalists" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" width="125" height="16" border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button"/></a></div> </div> <div class="br"><br/></div> <div id="post-58"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=58" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 4">PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 4</a></h2> <p><small>April 24th, 2009 Administrator</small> Posted in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=31" title="View all posts in PRB News" rel="category">PRB News</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=12" title="View all posts in Reproductive Health" rel="category">Reproductive Health</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=58#respond" title="Comment on PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 4">No Comments »</a> </p> <div class="entry"> <p><em>by Chinyere Fred-Adegbulugbe, senior correspondent, The Punch, Lagos, Nigeria and member of PRB’s Women’s Edition</em></p> <p>The Women’s Edition training continued on Thursday with a field to a Marie Stopes centre in a Nairobian slum called Kanyemi. There are about 27 Marie Stopes centres throughout Kenya. Though small, the Kayemi centre is already making its presence known in the neighbourhood with the comprehensive reproductive services it offers which includes different family planning methods, pap smear, Voluntary Counselling and testing (VCT), and a host of others. A one-stop reproductive health shop, you might say.</p> <p>Records from the staff showed that Kenyan women and men are beginning to make the most profitable journey toward that point where they take their sexual and reproductive health seriously; about 15 women have come for tubal litigation in the centre this April and the month isn’t over yet!</p> <p>The afternoon saw the group back at Fairview hotel where Family Planning in the Africa was analysed using SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The general feeling was that where there is political will and government commitment in any country, many more people whether rich or poor would be able to access family planning services. While realising that there are indeed real threats to effective family planning programs, there is also the need to grab with both hands opportunities (wherever they are found) that could bring more positive results. Everyone seems to be on the same page here.</p> <p>The day ended with a dinner at the Carnivore. Did you say the Carnivore? Yes, the Carnivore and it was quite an experience. The most daring of the pack even got and actually ate crocodile meat and some Kenyan native dance steps. It was fun, fun fun!</p> </div>  <div class="addthis"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=blogohblog&url=http://prbblog.org/?p=58&title=PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 4" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" width="125" height="16" border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button"/></a></div> </div> <div class="br"><br/></div> <div id="post-57"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=57" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Is the Gold Standard for Impact Evaluation Fool’s Gold?">Is the Gold Standard for Impact Evaluation Fool’s Gold?</a></h2> <p><small>April 23rd, 2009 Charlie Teller</small> Posted in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=31" title="View all posts in PRB News" rel="category">PRB News</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=57#respond" title="Comment on Is the Gold Standard for Impact Evaluation Fool’s Gold?">No Comments »</a> </p> <div class="entry"> <p><em>by Charlie Teller, Bixby visiting scholar</em></p> <p><em>(Read Bill Butz’s previous post on Gold Standard Evaluation <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=44">here</a></em>)</p> <p>The international conference, “Perspectives on Impact Evaluation: Approaches to Assessing Development Effectiveness” was held in Cairo in late March/early April and was co-organized by the new (World Bank-associated) <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.impactevaluation2009.org/">Network of Networks on Impact Evaluation </a>(NONIE) and the 10-year-old African Evaluation Association (AfrEA), along with UNICEF and the new International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3IE). It was structured with plenty of time for discussion and networking, in both concurrent and plenary sessions, as well as substantial roundtable lunches and long tea/snack breaks (amidst exhibits of leading international evaluation organizations and publications), along with evening business meetings.</p> <p>I chose the $35/night hotel across the Nile River and two dangerous round-a-bouts over the conference’s $250/night Semiramis Hotel and found myself with a committed group of fellow Africanist evaluation professionals whose only internet connection was in the hotel lobby and lounge that served free and delicious Egyptian breakfast. Each evening we’d gather to finalize our PowerPoint presentations, drink beer, check email and complain about the so-called <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=44">gold standard </a>– the medical, randomized clinical trial (RCT) — and related experimental designs with the “counterfactual”) driving donor evaluations in our countries.</p> <p>Although many of the over 600 attendees were a balance of male and female evaluation practitioners, mostly from less developed countries, most of the first and second day plenary panelists seemed to be white, male British development economists flaunting their gold standard tools, and one even apologized for that bias (it was corrected on the final day by amazingly successful female evaluation leaders from Mexico and South Africa).</p> <p>My long-time Ethiopian colleague/co-author and I were fortunate that our presentation, “Evaluating Population, Health and Nutrition Policies and Programs in Ethiopia: Towards Capacity-Building for National Ownership,” was delivered on the last day, since our topic was subject to previous heated discussions over so-called lack of local capacity and/or ownership of impact evaluations on development effectiveness in Africa and Asia. It followed a session in which two well-known international development economists (sometimes called “randomistas”) complained of the lack of local technical expertise in the so-called “gold standard” RCT methods. One eloquent Ugandan social scientist challenged the speakers on the disrespect for local indigenous and contextual knowledge in donor-driven evaluations, and thus little government uptake.</p> <p>Over the three days, I observed growing consensus that impact evaluation in poor countries should begin with policy-relevant questions and an explicit “theory of change” that is country-driven and contextual. This national “theory of change” might be different for each country, but in most cases should be informed through multisectoral and transdisciplinary dialogue, with full participation from national stakeholders.</p> <p>Repeatedly we shared our real world experiences on approaches and methods that can work: pluralistic, “eclectic”, mixed and from triangulated sources. While strong voices are still calling for attribution and the counterfactual (such as, what would have happened IF there were no intervention), choosing a balance of rigorous and appropriate experimental, quasi-experimental, longitudinal, case study, and participatory methods are both cost-effective and feasible. We also need to know the disparity of impacts among vulnerable groups affected by the program.</p> <p>Poorer countries often now give higher priority to monitoring goal attainment (such as MDGs) than to the more complex, costly rigorous impact evaluations that they perceive might be unethical or even tainted by political and governance issues. Knowing how difficult it is to carry out the “gold standard” in such a diverse country as Ethiopia, we are learning more from contextualized, longitudinal, and multidisciplinary case studies, within the larger institutional, socio-cultural, technological, and political framework.</p> <p>I strongly feel that the explicit purpose of doing policy and program impact evaluation should be national capacity-building for evidence-based policymaking, and the donors should support this type of genuine partnership. For most of use working in poor countries, the gold standard is rigorous pluralism locally owned. Let’s not hide behind the excuse that since we can’t do RCTs, we don’t do impact evaluations!</p> </div>  <div class="addthis"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=blogohblog&url=http://prbblog.org/?p=57&title=Is the Gold Standard for Impact Evaluation Fool’s Gold?" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" width="125" height="16" border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button"/></a></div> </div> <div class="br"><br/></div> <div id="post-56"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=56" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 3 - What is Behind Not Using Condoms">PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 3 - What is Behind Not Using Condoms</a></h2> <p><small>April 22nd, 2009 Administrator</small> Posted in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=31" title="View all posts in PRB News" rel="category">PRB News</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=12" title="View all posts in Reproductive Health" rel="category">Reproductive Health</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=56#respond" title="Comment on PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 3 - What is Behind Not Using Condoms">No Comments »</a> </p> <div class="entry"> <p><em>by Ana Alpirez, editor-in-chief of el Periodico de Guatemala, and member of PRB’s Women’s Edition program.</em> </p> <p>Today I met Theresia, a teenage mother of a six-week old baby. She dropped out of school when she was 13, two years before she met her husband, who was 25 years old. This can be the same story around the world, but when she said that neither she nor her husband knew anything about family planning, I was surprised.</p> <p>For me, that was so difficult to believe. A 25-year-old adult ignores this? What is in the mind of a man when he is a teenager? What do teenage boys talk about? SEX. Can I believe that he never heard about a condom? Theresia maybe, but I do not. What is behind his statement is an expression of power, ignorance, and irresponsibility. He may dislike using the condom and behave as a cool man, but had he ever thought about what it really means to bring a child into the world?</p> <p>On the other hand, Theresia said that she dropped out of school because she didn’t like it. Today she is enjoying her maternal life, but tomorrow? Is there any way to make her understand that Jane (her baby) will live her same life if she doesn’t look for a change? But at least Theresia has learned, maybe a little bit late, what family planning is, but not too late.</p> <p>She is one of the 40 or so women each month who visit the Ruby Medical Centre near Nairobi through a voucher scheme that began in 2006 in three rural districts and two urban slums in Kenya.</p> <p>For a small fee, a poor woman can deliver her baby in the private medical center and receive a long-term family planning method such as implants, IUCD, or surgical sterilization. But first she has to apply for a voucher.</p> <p>When Theresia realized that she was pregnant, her sister-in-law helped her get a voucher, and she chose to attend Ruby Medical Centre because her mother recommended it and it was close to her home. This is where Theresia delivered her baby in March, and then received family planning services.</p> <p>Here in Kenya, everybody knows that the program has an impact on their people, but it will take more than five year to make the difference. Until this happens, the Kenyans will continue hearing stories as the one of Theresia, and for some men it will be easy to continue cheating his partner by saying they don’t know what a condom is.</p> </div>  <div class="addthis"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=blogohblog&url=http://prbblog.org/?p=56&title=PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 3 - What is Behind Not Using Condoms" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" width="125" height="16" border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button"/></a></div> </div> <div class="br"><br/></div> <div id="post-55"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=55" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 2">PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 2</a></h2> <p><small>April 21st, 2009 Administrator</small> Posted in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=31" title="View all posts in PRB News" rel="category">PRB News</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=12" title="View all posts in Reproductive Health" rel="category">Reproductive Health</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=55#respond" title="Comment on PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 2">No Comments »</a> </p> <div class="entry"> <p><em>by Thato Ratsebe, PRB consultant</em></p> <p>Women’s Edition continued its second day of family planning and reproductive health training in Nairobi, Kenya by visiting the Population Council and Family Health International (FHI), and the government-owned Kenyatta National Hospital.</p> <p>Dr. Wilson Liambila of the Population Council led a discussion on Emergency Contraception and Emergency Contraceptive Pills (ECPs). ECPs are safe and easy to use pills recommended for women and girls who have had unprotected sex and have a desire to prevent pregnancy. The 2003 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey indicates that close to half of births in the preceding five years were unwanted. Liambila clarified that ECPs are not to be used as a regular method of contraception. During the post-election strife in Kenya, women and girls were raped. ECPs therefore, are one of the important elements in post-rape care. According to Liambila, over 80 percent of ECP users are between 21 and 29 years old. He concluded by urging journalists to accurately educate the public on the importance of ECPs and other family planning methods. </p> <p>The importance of post-rape care services and service delivery is equally important. Dr. Nduku Kilonzo of the local Liverpool VCT, care, and treatment further discussed the importance of health care systems training and the involvement of civil society as overseers. Her organization helped trained 70 percent of Kenya’s HIV care and treatment counselors.</p> <p>The Women’s Edition group met with staff of the Kenyatta National Hospital, which houses the post-rape care center. A psychiatrist, counselors, and social workers discussed the many cases they dealt with in the upheaval after the elections. The center was established three years ago. From April 2006 to March 2009, they have attended to 962 patients. In all the cases, clients are advised to report cases if they can identify their perpetrators. They are also provided thorough counseling and other options to help them decide how to move forward. FHI Kenya highlighted that the long-term psychosocial effects of sexual assault are severe and influence the recovery of a survivor.</p> <p>Dr. Marsden Solomon of FHI concluded the day by emphasizing the need for improving family planning services. He said clients should be given counseling that will help them understand the different choices they have for family planning. He said pre-counseling provides clients with opportunities of “volunteering, choice and informed decision.”</p> </div>  <div class="addthis"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=blogohblog&url=http://prbblog.org/?p=55&title=PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 2" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" width="125" height="16" border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button"/></a></div> </div> <div class="br"><br/></div> <div id="post-54"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=54" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 1">PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 1</a></h2> <p><small>April 20th, 2009 Administrator</small> Posted in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=31" title="View all posts in PRB News" rel="category">PRB News</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=12" title="View all posts in Reproductive Health" rel="category">Reproductive Health</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=54#respond" title="Comment on PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 1">No Comments »</a> </p> <div class="entry"> <p><em>by Florence Machio, a Kenyan freelance journalist and PRB consultant</em></p> <p>There is an African proverb that says “if you want what is underneath, you have to bend.” This speaks volumes when it comes to building political will for reproductive health services and programs here in Kenya.</p> <p>In Nairobi for their second seminar, Women’s Edition journalists spent a whole morning discussing how to build political will from the case study of Kenya and its Sexual Offences Act, which sets penalties for perpetrators of sexual violence. When leaders make comments like, “we will rape your wives” to silence those who are seeking to advance reproductive health issues, it indicates an uphill task ahead.</p> <p>Atsango Chesoni, a human rights, governance, and gender consultant who is also the vice chair of the committee of experts on Kenya’s constitutional review, explained why it took 15 years to build enough support for the bill to become law. Those were years filled with challenges, years in which journalists took the issue to heart by running campaigns through the media. The Act passed in 2006, but work remains in the justice system to implement the law in a way that benefits women. When it comes to reproductive health, the question for me has always been whether I am angry enough to do something about an issue. But getting the Sexual Offences Act passed taught me that it takes more than that. It also takes patience and goodwill.</p> <p>We spent the afternoon discussing contraceptive security and the absurdities that our governments put themselves in. For example, how do you explain a government allowing women to have free abortions but making it difficult for them to access contraceptives? What about insurance policies that will not cover contraceptives but are willing to cover Viagra? That’s the challenge of dealing with politicians but in the end, the Africa proverb still stands in Swahili: mtaka cha mvunguni sharti ainame (if you want what is underneath, you have to bend).</p> </div>  <div class="addthis"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=blogohblog&url=http://prbblog.org/?p=54&title=PRB in the Field: Women’s Edition Training in Kenya, Day 1" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" width="125" height="16" border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button"/></a></div> </div> <div class="br"><br/></div> <div id="post-53"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=53" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Traditional Agro-Forestry Strategies to Address High Population Pressure and the Livelihoods of Youth in Southern Ethiopia">Traditional Agro-Forestry Strategies to Address High Population Pressure and the Livelihoods of Youth in Southern Ethiopia</a></h2> <p><small>April 17th, 2009 Charlie Teller</small> Posted in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=4" title="View all posts in Environment" rel="category">Environment</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?cat=31" title="View all posts in PRB News" rel="category">PRB News</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/?p=53#comments" title="Comment on Traditional Agro-Forestry Strategies to Address High Population Pressure and the Livelihoods of Youth in Southern Ethiopia">3 Comments »</a> </p> <div class="entry"> <p><em>by Charlie Teller, Bixby visiting scholar</em></p> <p>“Wall-to-wall houses along the dirt road, clinging to the steep mountainsides,” is what I, a demography professor at Addis Ababa University, heard from fellow participants in the bus on a long weekend study tour of two areas with very high population densities in the Southern Region of Ethiopia.</p> <p>The <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.phe-ethiopia.org/index.htm">Ethiopian Consortium for Integration of Population, Health and Environment </a>(CIPHE), coordinated the field trip with the Sustainable Land Use Forum, LEW Ethiopia, and other local NGOs with participation from the Wendo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources and film crews from Ethiopian national TV and radio. The objective was to create understanding between development actors and donors to facilitate the Gedeo indigenous afro-forestry system, a UNESCO-designated cultural heritage site, and enhance the integration of population, health, and environmental issues in highly densely populated areas of Southern Ethiopia.</p> <p>As a social demographer/geographer, I thought it natural to come on this trip armed with up-to-date local area population data and agro-ecological maps: the recently released 2007 National Census results by district; the new 2008 Statistical Abstract; recent maps on rural demographic characteristics at the district level; the latest Health Information System Annual Report health indicators; food/nutrition security data on vulnerable household surveillance websites; survey data on fertility and mortality trends from the DHS and other surveys; and additional migration data from the University of Addis Ababa’s Institute for Population Studies. In fact, my bag was completely stuffed with data and maps.</p> <p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XTTP1t1oa2g/SeiKnfm72uI/AAAAAAAAAU4/uOwBnFBpU04/s400/Charlie%20Ethiopia%202.jpg"/></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>A study tour of the three-tier indigenous agro-forest system in Wenago District, Gedeo Zone, Southern Ethiopia, March 28, 2009. (Photo by Negash Teklu)</em> </p> <p>The data indicated that two of these districts had the highest district crude densities (overall population size per area, one with over 1,000 per square km) in Ethiopia, with high fertility and declining mortality rates, and an almost 3 percent /year population growth rate, while the dryland had reached its carry capacity. But the data don’t tell the whole story. We got a more mixed picture of relationships between people and their environment in casual conversations with locals about their livelihoods. There were interesting histories on the resilience of indigenous agro-forestry systems on the one hand, but clear indications of very high fragmentation of land holdings, invasive eucalyptus tree farming, and forest clearing for highly profitable khat cultivation on the other. Also observed was the drying up of a vast wetland near the booming Southern Regional capita city of Awassa.</p> <p>Most interesting, perhaps, were my conversations with youth in the areas of indigenous agro-forestry systems. These conversations suggested a future of changing attitudes and more interest in education, smaller families, and nonfarm employment then in the traditional agro-forestry practices of their forefathers.</p> <p>While my observations (and “spontaneous focus groups”) were selective, they seem to suggest a future of:</p> <ul> <li>Much greater reliance on new cash crops (khat, eucalyptus, and commercial flowers), in addition to the traditional small coffee holdings (the famous Yerge-cheffa sweet Arabaica)</li> <li>Rapid expansion of schooling and youth interest in nonfarm employment, along with increased migration to urban areas, rising age of marriage, and greater use of contraception</li> <li>Mushrooming of small market towns (although these are still coded among the 84 percent “rural” of the 80 million Ethiopians)</li> <li>Taller and healthier children (where 50 percent of rural kids are still stunted) related to expansion of basic health services to the rural population, including maternal/reproductive health, water/sanitation, and nutrition.</li> </ul> <p>Another reflection I had was that the projects and we the visitors didn’t have enough reliable population data on local trends and spatial distribution to truly understand how population issues were interacting with health and the environment. No one else on the study tour came with existing data either, nor did the local forestry college have them.</p> <p>When addressing these complex dynamics, local universities/colleges, NGOs and planning departments of the local government need to take more holistic approaches to inter-related population, health, and environment issues. It seems that social and demographic change is occurring faster than poverty and food insecurity reduction, and that the youth are going to confront rising population pressure and cultural change by “voting with their feet”. Strengthening access to and use of macro and micro demographic data, as well as developing project M&E systems and media exposure, will help shed light on these rural-urban linkages that are seemingly necessary for effective policy and programs.</p> </div>  <div class="addthis"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=blogohblog&url=http://prbblog.org/?p=53&title=Traditional Agro-Forestry Strategies to Address High Population Pressure and the Livelihoods of Youth in Southern Ethiopia" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" width="125" height="16" border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button"/></a></div> </div> <div class="br"><br/></div> <div> <div class="alignleft"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://prbblog.org/index.php?cat=31&paged=2">« Previous Entries</a></div> <div class="alignright"></div> </div> <br/> </div> </td></tr></table></center>  <br/><br/> <div align="center"> <div align="center" id="ftr"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://www.prb.org/images/footer2.gif" width="3" height="23" align="right"/><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943im_/http://www.prb.org/images/footer1.gif" width="3" height="23" align="left"/><span class="footertext">Services: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Home/EmailSignup.aspx">Get E-Mail News</a>  ·  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Join.aspx">Join/Renew Membership</a>  ·  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Donate.aspx">Donate</a>  ·  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Bookstore.aspx">Bookstore</a>  ·  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Home/Contact.aspx">Contact</a>  ·  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/SpanishContent.aspx">Español</a>  ·  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/FrenchContent.aspx">Français</a></span></div> <span class="footer2text"><b>Copyright 2007, Population Reference Bureau.</b> All rights reserved. • <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www.prb.org/Home/Privacy.aspx">Privacy Policy</a></span><br/> <span class="footer2text">1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW • Suite 520 • Washington, DC 20009-5728 • USA <br/> <b>Phone:</b> 800-877-9881 • <b>Fax:</b> 202-328-3937 • <b>E-mail:</b> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/mailto:popref@prb.org">popref@prb.org</a></span><br/> </div>  </div>  <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/https://ssl." : "https://web.archive.org/web/20090906072943/http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-6730966-1"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}</script>  </body> </html>