Conference Proceedings 2000

Findings On Reproductive Health Of Refugees And Displaced Populations

Washington DC, December 5-6, 2000

Co-hosted by

	and
InterAction		The Global Health Council

The RHR Consortium aims to increase access to a broad range of high quality, voluntary reproductive health services for refugees and the displaced around the world. These proceedings may be browsed online by way of the hyperlinked table of contents below; or you may download the PDF version here.

Follow the link for an introductory letter from Sandra K. Krause, Director of the Reproductive Health Project; Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children.

Acknowledgments (Below)

Conference 2000 Highlights

Conference Program

Opening Plenary Session

Reproductive Health for Refugees - Multi-Site Perspectives

• The complex impact of conflict on women's health
• The RH-Kit: A useful tool to implement reproductive health services during an emergency
• Reproductive health indicators of displaced persons in post-emergency phase camps of humanitarian emergencies

Improving Refugee Women's Health During Pregnancy and Delivery

• The burden of mortality due to reproductive health-related causes among Afghan refugees in Pakistan
• Returning to Kosovo, CARE's lessons learned from implementing a region-wide reproductive health training project
• CARE International in Sudan, Basic health assistance for war displaced (BHAWD) impact assessment, July 2000

Using Participatory Data Collection Methods to Plan Reproductive Health Programs

• SGBV as viewed by refugees in Kenya: Learning about sensitive RH issues and developing responses using participatory assessment techniques
• NORPLANT  for Karen refugees on the Thai-Burmese border
• Participatory rapid appraisal (PRA) of the reproductive health needs of Afghan refugees in Pakistan

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence - Size and Scope of the Problem

• Domestic violence among selected Palestinian refugee communities in Lebanon: An exploratory study and ideas for further action
• Factors associated with self-reported forced sex among Azerbaijani women
• Unsafe Haven: Report on the findings of a baseline sexual violence survey among Burundian refugees

Challenges in Implementing Reproductive Health Programs in Complex Emergencies

• Community participatory family planning and reproductive health with internally displaced communities, Sri Lanka
• HIV/STD prevention among the returnee and resettled population of Gitarama, Rwanda, 1996-2000
• Knowledge, attitudes and practices of reproductive health, Kajo Keji County, Southern Sudan

Family Planning - An Ongoing Challenge

• Demographic profile and the reproductive health of internally displaced persons in Angola
• Research on reproductive health: Lessons learned in Khao Phlu refugee camp, Thailand
• A family planning continuation study among Afghan refugees in Pakistan

Improving Service Delivery Systems in Post-Conflict Settings

• Revitalizing health services in northwestern Somalia: CARE's experience
• Responding to Kosovo's reproductive health crisis
• Participatory assessment of women's issues in East Timor, May 2000

HIV/STDs - What Do We Know and What Can We Do?

• Reproductive health KAP survey amongst refugees in Guinea: Findings concerning STIs and AIDS
• HIV/AIDS awareness among Burmese migrant factory workers along the Thai/Burma border, Tak Province, July 2000
• Increased condom practice in the refugee population, Nu Po camp in Thailand

Expanding Our Base - New Audiences, New Services, New Channels

• A qualitative assessment of reproductive health among the displaced communities of Khartoum, Sudan
• Enhancing the use of emergency contraception: A baseline survey in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya 
• Spreading the word: Health on air in the Somali-speaking Horn of Africa

Adolescents - Who Are They and How Do We Serve Them?

• Addressing war-affected adolescents' reproductive health needs
• Reproductive health KAP survey of refugee adolescents in the Kigoma region of Tanzania
• The "Health of adolescent refugees project" (HARP): A peer education project in Egypt, Uganda and Zambia

Using Data to Improve Reproductive Health Programs 

• Are IDPs at increased risk of reproductive ill health? Measuring RH risk in a displaced setting using a reproductive health risk index (RHRI)
• Improving reproductive health services among Roma women refugees in Macedonia through program monitoring
• How-To Guide: Monitoring and evaluation of sexual and gender-based violence programs

Closing Plenary Session

Abstracts of Poster Presentations

• RHR Consortium survey of refugee and IDP reproductive health services 
• Findings from a pilot study to develop a comprehensive research agenda in the area of fertility and reproductive health among asylum seekers and refugees in Cairo, Egypt 
• Using quantitative and qualitative research techniques to design a sustainable RH project for the Roma population in Shito-Rizari, Macedonia
• Current overview of reproductive health assistance in Albania for coordination and planning services through questionnaire survey
• Childbearing and birth control experiences among Somali refugee women in Finland: A social and cultural challenge
• Providing minimum reproductive health services to refugee populations: Evaluation of the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP)
• A comprehensive family planning and sexually transmitted disease service for Karen refugees
• Expanding reproductive health services in refugee settings: Post-abortion care in two Kenyan refugee camps
• Sexual and gender-based violence in the Dadaab refugee camps: The challenges of FGC
• Differences between refugee/internally displaced and local Azerbaijani women: A comparison of demographics, behavioral factors and reproductive history
• Child mortality estimation techniques in refugee and host populations

Participant List

Index [Available in offline, PDF version of the Proceedings, downloadable here.]
 

The Reproductive Health Response in Conflict Consortium, and its co-hosts Global Health Council and InterAction, wish to thank all of the 250 conference attendees representing local and international nongovernmental organizations, research organizations, governments, donors and others for their participation in Conference 2000:  Findings on Reproductive Health of Refugees and Displaced Populations.  In particular, we would like to thank the conference presenters who worked hard to collect the data and share their information at Conference 2000.  We would also like to thank the conference moderators whose expertise on the panel topics was vital to the success of the conference.

To all of the volunteers who generously donated their time before and during the conference, very grateful thanks are extended.  The RHR Consortium also thanks Columbia University School of Public Health interns Sara Casey, Mona Selim and Mariana Zantop for their exceptional contributions in organizing this conference.

The research presented at Conference 2000 could not have been done without the support of a multitude of donors.  We would particularly like to thank the following donors whose generous support made this conference possible:  Ford Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

The Reproductive Health Response in Conflict Consortium and its co-hosts, InterAction and the Global Health Council, are pleased to present these proceedings of Conference 2000:  Findings on Reproductive Health of Refugees and Displaced Populations, the first international meeting reporting on this topic.

Concern for the reproductive health of forced migrants has been growing in the last several years, especially following the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development.  National, international, intergovernmental and nongovernmental agencies have worked together to develop guidelines for practice.  It is imperative that valid data are used to ensure that refugees and displaced persons have access to good quality services.  The papers reported at this conference are one step in the process of using data to that end.  In furthering that aim, we encourage all who care to support the reproductive rights of forced migrants to use these proceedings for advocacy or as the basis for further research.