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

国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行为期三到24个月的研究。该项目的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，并利用国外独特或互补的设施、专业知识和实验条件。该奖项将为艾米·拉特克利夫博士在冈比亚班珠尔的英国医学研究理事会(MRC)与Gijs Walraven博士合作提供12个月的支持。他们将在西非农村人口中进行研究，重点关注生殖方面的性别兴趣以及男性和女性对子女和家庭的贡献。该项目是英国生殖健康项目正在进行的人口研究的一部分，该项目位于冈比亚的法拉芬尼野外站。PI参与了描述男性和女性在这一群体中不同的生殖经历的工作。PI将考察男性和女性在生殖兴趣以及个人资源、社交网络和家庭支出方面的差异。它将为今后的工作提供基础，比较冈比亚农村和城市地区两性的生育经验。了解文化规范的变化将为制定赋予妇女权力和鼓励家庭沟通和计划生育的政策奠定有益的基础。这将对非洲和其他地区的公共卫生政策产生影响。Walraven在流行病学和生殖健康方面有广泛的背景，自1995年以来一直在MRC冈比亚工作。

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.