Impact of Armed Conflicts on Maternal and Reproductive Health in Sub-Saharan Africa
The study assesses the impact of armed conflicts on maternal and reproductive health in Africa South of the Sahara. It is inter-disciplinary in nature and employs multidisciplinary and mixed research methods to address the key questions.
Our first paper was a quantitative assessment of “The Impact of Armed Conflict on Fertility and Maternal Mortality” using a global time-series cross-national data from 1970–2005. Our results show that armed conflicts are associated with overall higher fertility in low-income countries; maternal mortality is moderately elevated in conflict countries; and conflicts in neighboring countries are associated with lower maternal mortality.
We recently completed a 3-country (Burundi, Uganda and DRC) qualitative study exploring the impact of conflict on maternal and reproductive health through the lenses of women of reproductive age, local health providers and staff of humanitarian NGOs. Our primary methods of data collection were interviews and focus group discussions. We are currently analyzing the huge data we gathered and writing the relevant articles.
Also underway is a Cochrane-supported systematic review on “Interventions for Improving Reproductive, Maternal and Newborn Health in Crises settings”. The protocol for the review has recently been approved and the screening, coding, analysis and writing of the results will soon follow.