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The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of harmful cultural practices and its implications on stigmatization and the spread of HIV infection among people diagnosed with HIV in North Central Nigeria. It will help to identify the cultural values that pose a threat to the social, health and psychological well-being of the members of the society. This study will provide recommendations through educational teachings to community leaders and policymakers for health-care protection through Human Rights Act.

This study uses the qualitative phenomenological research design through a face-to-face in-depth interview to collect data using the audio recorder and field notes. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit, from three selected hospitals, 20 participants aged 18 years–56 years who gave their consent by filling the informed consent form between April 2019 and July 2019. The data collected were analyzed through thematic analysis using ATLAS.ti 8 software. Also, thematic network analysis was used to visualize the themes, sub-themes and quotations.

The study findings indicate that sociocultural factors and HIV stigma in Nigeria are significant psychosocial problems that have adverse implications for health and psychological well-being. These problems contribute to the harmful traditional practices, thereby making people vulnerable to contracting HIV infection. The nontherapeutic practices of female genital mutilation, sexual intercourse during menstruation and tribal marks or scarification cause medical complications such as vesicovaginal fistula, rectovaginal fistula and HIV infection. Also, the practice of 18 months of sexual abstinence during breastfeeding predisposes couples to extramarital affairs and HIV infections. The findings also reveal that lack of education contributes to gender inequality.

The research uses a scientific method using ATLAS.ti 8 software for the transcription, organization and thematic analysis of the qualitative data. The study findings will benefit specifically the young girls and women who are usually the victims of the harmful cultural practices of female genital mutilation, gender inequality, sexual intercourse during menstruation and lack of female education in North Central Nigeria. Also, this study will serve as a relevant document and guide for policy implementation of Human and Child Rights Acts against all harmful cultural practices and gender inequality.

Family planning is one of the services that has positive influence on the social welfare and health of the mothers and directly contributes to reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality. Family planning is a major health issue in Africa and it has degenerated more into socioeconomic problems like poverty, overpopulation, delinquent children, and so on. Studies have shown that family planning is safe to use but this has remains obscure to most women in developing countries such as Nigeria. Fewer numbers of women have knowledge and access to family planning but majority of Nigerians failed to adopt the habit as a result of many factors such as education, age, culture, religion, income, and health status which influence their attitude toward family planning among others. Social Action Theory was used as the theoretical guide in examining the behavior, attitude, and perception of women toward family planning as well as to give a clear knowledge about the importance of family planning on individual, family, and society at large. This chapter reveals that population explosion, malnutrition, and diseases such as HIV (and other diseases) are trending in Nigeria. Hence, it was recommended that every health worker should engage more in community-based awareness and enlightenment on the utilization of family planning; also, there is a need to intensify information dissemination and educational campaigns through the media. Furthermore, importance should be placed on modern contraceptives.

The purpose of this paper is to describe standards for evidence-based reproductive healthcare for incarcerated women.

The literature on reproductive healthcare in the US criminal justice system and recommendations from professional organizations were reviewed and critical areas of concern were identified. Within these areas, studies and expert opinion were synthesized and policy recommendations were formulated through an iterative process of group discussion and document revision. This brief specifically addresses women’s incarceration in the USA, but the recommendations are grounded in a human rights framework with global relevance.

Women who are incarcerated have health needs that are distinct from those of men, and there is a clear need for gender-responsive reproductive healthcare within the criminal justice system. This brief identifies five core domains of reproductive healthcare: routine screening, menstruation-related concerns, prenatal and postpartum care, contraception and abortion, and sexually transmitted infections. The recommendations emphasize the continuity between the criminal justice system and the community, as well as the dignity and self-determination of incarcerated women.

This brief provides a unique synthesis of the available evidence with concrete recommendations for improving the reproductive healthcare for incarcerated women.

Family planning (FP) services through the lens of human rights are not well known in Nepal. This study aims to assess Family Planning 2020: Rights and Empowerment Principles for Family Planning and identify factors affecting contraceptive use among HIV-infected women living in rural Far Western Nepal.

This study conducted a cross-sectional survey using self-designed proforma. To assess the association between contraceptive use and independent variables, this study calculated adjusted odd ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) V.20.

Only 37.8% of participants had access to full range of contraceptive methods, and only 57.5% of participants received proper counseling. Agency/autonomy, transparency/accountability and voice/participation were practiced by 43.7%, 23.4% and 19.7% of participants, respectively. Husband’s support (AOR = 4.263; 95% CI: 1.640–11.086), availability of FP services in their locality (AOR = 2.497; 95% CI: 1.311–4.754), employment (AOR = 3.499; 95% CI: 1.186–10.328) and postpartum period (AOR = 0.103; 95% CI: 0.023–0.475) were significantly associated with contraceptive use.

Health-care providers’ and program managers’ perspectives were not examined.

Findings of this study will be useful for making strategic plan on human rights-based approach to FP.

Expanding access to contraceptive information and services and strengthening autonomy, accountability and participation are key to human rights-based approach to FP.

This study identified that inadequate counselling, nonavailability of full range of contraceptive methods, low level of autonomy, accountability and participation were key bottlenecks in fulfilling human rights-based approach to FP.

This case study examines unique overdose risks and prevention strategies for women who have used heroin during pregnancy in New York City. The overdose crisis has resulted in increased efforts to implement drug user health services; yet, pregnant and parenting women who use drugs continue to be left behind. Three women who currently use heroin and had experienced at least one pregnancy during their heroin use history were interviewed using semi-structured qualitative interviews. Their experiences documented in this case study illustrate several gender-specific considerations when responding to the overdose crisis in New York City. Overwhelmingly, barriers to healthcare and overdose prevention were correlated with perceived stigma and the fear of or actual loss of child custody. Compassionate, gender-responsive interventions remain largely absent in policy and practice, especially for pregnant women. The shared experiences highlighted in this case study should be used to develop improved drug user health policies and practices as well as increase overall advocacy efforts for women of reproductive age who use drugs.

Purpose – This chapter describes the “Teen Alliance for Prepared Parenting–SPIN” (TAPP-SPIN) unwanted pregnancy prevention intervention for pregnant/parenting adolescents and their adult parent(s) in primarily African American and Latino communities in the District of Columbia (DC).

Methodology/approach – We augment TAPP services with SPIN Video Home Training (VHT)11Called Video Interaction Guidance in the United Kingdom., an intervention to build Parent–Child Connectedness (PCC). SPIN VHT aims to (1) improve adult–teen interaction to strengthen the supports teen parents need to continue to progress toward life success and (2) build the teen's ability to engage in warm, attuned, and skillful parenting of her child.

SPIN VHT uses a guided, strengths-based analysis of videotaped parent–child interactions to identify examples of the parent's competencies that support the child's well-being and optimal development. Collaborative review of an edited collection of video helps guide participants to integrate what has been effective into their daily patterns of interaction and communication.

Findings – The randomized experiment compares TAPP to TAPP-SPIN with a sample of 400 15- to 18-year-olds and their parents (dyads). After a baseline survey, we collect follow-up data at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months post-baseline. We collect outcome data on health information-seeking, pregnancy prevention communication, cognitions related to parenting and subsequent pregnancy, improved parenting, and clinical outcomes including subsequent pregnancy.

Social implications – The TAPP-SPIN intervention aims to advance the state of pregnancy prevention research in a population facing multiple health disparities.

Originality/value of chapter – This chapter describes the first ever randomized controlled trial of the SPIN approach to improving PCC.

Women with mental illness, substance-dependence or dual diagnosis are at increased risk of losing care of their children which leads to poorer outcomes for mothers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the service response to substance-dependent mothers, many of whom had a dual diagnosis, and reports outcomes for their infants from the perinatal period to the end of each infant's first year.

This was a longitudinal case study of 20 women substance-dependent women and their associated care. Semi-structured interviews were held with mothers recruited from a specialist alcohol and other drug obstetric service at infant age six weeks, six and 12 months. Structured interviews were also held with counsellors from the obstetric service at infant age six weeks. Child protection (CP) workers were interviewed at infant age six weeks, six and 12 months regarding mothers involved with the service.

By 12-month follow-up, CP services had been involved with 14 mothers and eight had lost the legal care of their infant. Mothers who retained legal care were more likely to have addressed their drug use and less likely to be in a domestically violent relationship. Domestic violence, homelessness and maternal recidivism to crime tipped the scales in favour of protection of the infant through removal from maternal care, essentially leaving mothers with minimal support for reunification and reduced incentive for treatment.

Reliance on mothers’ self-reports was a limitation of the study. The small sample size restricts generalisability of findings.

Key workers should engage women (and their partners) during the perinatal period to provide support, advocacy and case-management to enable substance-dependent mothers to safely parent.

This is one of few studies to report long-term outcomes for mother/infant dyads when substance-dependence and/or mental health are present that allows women to speak for themselves. The prospective design provides a contemporaneous account of events as they unfolded in situ.

The shared language of youth includes understandings of concepts that can be different from those of adults. Researchers, in their efforts to explore and illuminate the health behaviours and decision‐making processes of young people, use generic terms in their data collecting protocols. This study aims to explore what adolescents understand by the words “healthy” and “happy”.

Semi‐structured interviews were conducted in three post‐primary schools with 31 students aged 12 and 13 years. Drawing on a grounded theory approach, interviews were transcribed and subjected to thematic content analysis.

The students provided a description and explanation of what health and happiness meant to them and how they intended to maintain both as they grew older. Perceptions of these two concepts were found to contain gendered nuances. This was clear in relation to descriptions of how friends were part of well‐being; the girls were more likely to talk about feeling restricted and resentment at being treated like children and only the boys talked of looking forward to things.

In order to gain an understanding of young people's perspectives about what matters and what influences their health behaviour, a clearer view of the different perspectives held by researcher and researched needs to be established so that more accurate conclusions can be drawn from data generated by young people.