Abstracts Open for Presentations at Technical Meeting: "Throughout the Reproductive Life Course"

USAID, in partnership with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the MCHIP and Evidence to Action Project (E2A) are now accepting abstracts for possible inclusion as individual presentations or preformed panels at the upcoming technical meeting: Throughout the Reproductive Life Course: Opportunities and Challenges for Empowering Girls and Women. The April meeting will highlight a range of issues related to healthy reproductive decision-making throughout the life course, in both U.S. and global contexts, and seeks to achieve the following goals:

• Disseminate knowledge and identify gaps about effective approaches for empowered decision-making throughout the reproductive life course; and
• Explore the use of these findings to strengthen programs, and stimulate new interventions and research opportunities

From USAID, abstracts for presentations or panels will be considered through February 3 on the following:

1.       Using Family Planning to Prevent High-Risk Pregnancies   This includes: adolescent pregnancies, rapid, repeat pregnancies, postpartum or post miscarriage/induced abortion, advanced maternal age pregnancies, high-parity pregnancies.

2.       Influencing Short Intervals and Fertility Intentions   Successes or challenges of community-based programs and activities to influence interpregnancy length and/or intendedness of conceptions, including improved couple communication and joint/respectful decision-making.

3.       Youth   This could include: addressing positive youth development, self-esteem, goal-setting, reaching first-time parents, HIV prevention, engaging boys, preventing child marriage, or responding to the needs of married adolescents.

4.       Family Planning Integration with Health Services  Integrating FP with other health services (e.g., maternal health [antenatal, safe delivery, postpartum care], nutrition services, child health and immunization services, addressing postpartum depression, GBV, or reproductive coercion).

5.       Family Planning Links with Non-Health Activities  FP linkages with non-health activities (e.g., life skills, literacy, microcredit, income generation, education promotion [keeping girls in school] and skills needed for productive employment).

6.       Empowerment or Motivational Components Integrated, or holistic FP-MNCH services that include empowerment or motivational components (through use of reproductive life planning and other innovations to overcome barriers to empowerment).

Abstracts must be evidence-based (quantitative or qualitative), with substantive content and no more than 300 words

Individual and preformed panel abstracts will be accepted through February 3, 2014. Please submit all abstracts to Salwa Bitar at SBitar@e2aproject.org.