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The introduction of progesterone vaginal ring (PVR) in sub-Saharan Africa calls for insights on the product's role in promoting women's autonomy regarding their reproductive decision-making and behaviour. Such insights could inform the positioning of the method within family planning programmes in the region. In this paper, we explore husbands' experiences with PVR as perceived by their wives and as reported by husbands of a subset of women users in Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal. We discuss how such experiences might influence women's rights and autonomy regarding their reproductive decisions and contraceptive behaviour. We use a mixed-methods approach drawing on data from quantitative interviews with 174 women and qualitative in-depth interviews with 10 husbands of a subset of the women in the three countries. The findings show that husbands appreciated PVR's attributes relating to user-control (women could insert and remove the method themselves), ease of use, and non-interference with sex and flow of breast milk. Wives' perceptions of their husbands' experiences regarding PVR's non-interference with sex were consistent with the husbands' own reports. In addition, health care providers played important roles in supporting sustainable use of the method through giving information, counselling, and assisting women who experienced ring slippage to manage those challenges. The findings suggest that self-managed health technologies such as PVR could expand women's choices and control over their reproductive decisions. The findings further suggest that sustainable use of such products could require linkages with appropriate health systems structures to address challenges with use if and when they arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Growing demand for Global Health (GH) training and the internationalisation of education requires innovative approaches to training. Blended learning (BL, a form of e-learning combining face-to-face or real-time interaction with computer-assisted learning) is a promising approach for increasing GH research capacity in low- to middle-income countries. Implementing BL, however, requires additional skills and efforts from lecturers. This paper explores lecturers' views and experiences of delivering BL courses within the context of two north-south collaborative research capacity building projects, ARCADE HSSR and ARCADE RSDH. Design: We used a qualitative approach to explore the experiences and perceptions of 11 lecturers involved in designing and delivering BL courses collaboratively across university campuses in four countries (South Africa, Uganda, India and Sweden). Data were collected using interviews in person or via Skype. Inductive qualitative content analysis was used. Results: Participants reported that they felt BL increased access to learning opportunities and made training more flexible and convenient for adult learners, which were major motivations to engage in BL. However, despite eagerness to implement and experiment with BL courses, they lacked capacity and support, and found the task time consuming. They needed to make compromises between course objectives and available technological tools, in the context of poor Internet infrastructure. Conclusions: BL courses have the potential to build bridges between low- and middle-income contexts and between lecturers and students to meet the demand for GH training. Lecturers were very motivated to try these approaches but encountered obstacles in implementing BL courses. Considerable investments are needed to implement BL and support lecturers in delivering courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Growing demand for Global Health (GH) training and the internationalisation of education requires innovative approaches to training. Blended learning (BL, a form of e-learning combining face-to-face or real-time interaction with computer-assisted learning) is a promising approach for increasing GH research capacity in low- to middle-income countries. Implementing BL, however, requires additional skills and efforts from lecturers. This paper explores lecturers' views and experiences of delivering BL courses within the context of two north-south collaborative research capacity building projects, ARCADE HSSR and ARCADE RSDH. Design: We used a qualitative approach to explore the experiences and perceptions of 11 lecturers involved in designing and delivering BL courses collaboratively across university campuses in four countries (South Africa, Uganda, India and Sweden). Data were collected using interviews in person or via Skype. Inductive qualitative content analysis was used. Results: Participants reported that they felt BL increased access to learning opportunities and made training more flexible and convenient for adult learners, which were major motivations to engage in BL. However, despite eagerness to implement and experiment with BL courses, they lacked capacity and support, and found the task time consuming. They needed to make compromises between course objectives and available technological tools, in the context of poor Internet infrastructure. Conclusions: BL courses have the potential to build bridges between low- and middle-income contexts and between lecturers and students to meet the demand for GH training. Lecturers were very motivated to try these approaches but encountered obstacles in implementing BL courses. Considerable investments are needed to implement BL and support lecturers in delivering courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant health workers fill care gaps in their destination countries, but they also actively engage in improving living conditions for people of their countries of origin through expatriate professional networks. This paper aims to explore the professional links that migrant health workers from sub-Saharan African countries living in five African and European destinations (Botswana, South Africa, Belgium, Austria, and the United Kingdom) have to their countries of origin. Qualitative interviews were conducted with migrant doctors, nurses, and midwives from sub-Saharan Africa (N=66). A qualitative content analysis of the material was performed using the software ATLAS.ti. Almost all migrant health workers have professional ties with their countries of origin supporting health, education, and social structures. They work with non-governmental organizations, universities, or hospitals and travel back and forth between their destination country and country of origin. For a few respondents, professional engagement or even maintaining private contacts in their country of origin is difficult due to the political situation at home. The results show that African migrant health workers are actively engaged in improving living conditions not only for their family members but also for the population in general in their countries of origin. Our respondents are mediators and active networkers in a globalized and transnationally connected world. The research suggests that the governments of these countries of origin could strategically use their migrant health workforce for improving education and population health in sub-Saharan Africa. Destination countries should be reminded of their need to comply with the WHO Global Code of Practice for the international recruitment of health professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]