International Research Fellowship Program: Gender and Reproduction in Rural Gambia: Men and Women's Contributions to Children

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0107311RatcliffeThe International Research Fellowship Awards Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty--four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will provide twelve months of support to Dr. Amy Ratcliffe to work with Dr. Gijs Walraven at the United Kingdom Medical Research Council (MRC) in Banjul, The Gambia. They will do research focused on gendered interests in reproduction and contributions by men and women to their children and households in a rural West African population.This project is part of an on-going demographic study with the Reproductive Health Program at the United Kingdom MRC, Farafenni Field Station in The Gambia. The PI has been involved in work describing men and women's diverse experience with reproduction in this population. The PI will examine differences between men and women in terms of interests in reproduction as well as in personal resources, social networks, and household spending. It will provide a foundation for future work comparing reproductive experiences of both sexes across rural and urban areas of The Gambia. The understanding of changes in cultural norms will provide useful grounding for policy development that empowers women and encourages family communication and planning. This will have implications for public health policy in Africa and elsewhere.Dr. Walraven has an extensive background in epidemiology and reproductive health and has worked at the MRC Gambia since 1995.