INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ACTIVITY REPORT 2012 © International Centre for Reproductive Health 2013 De Pintelaan 185 UZP114 9000 Gent Belgium Tel. +32 (0)9 332 35 64 Fax +32 (0)9 332 38 67 [email protected] 2 ICRH Annual Report 2012 ICRH BELGIUM 2012 ICRH Annual Report 2012 3 Table of contents Message from prof. Marleen Temmerman 6 Preface 7 The International Centre for Reproductive Health 8 Activities 2012 9 1. Activities of the HIV/STI team 9 1.1 PROJECTS 9 1.1.1 Improved Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Services for Most at Risk Populations (MARP) in Tete, Mozambique 9 1.1.2 Diagonal Interventions to Fast Forward Enhanced Reproductive Health (DIFFER) 11 1.1.3 Assessment by molecular methods of the healthy and disturbed vaginal microbiota of South African women 12 1.1.4 Characterisation of novel microbicide safety biomarkers in East and South Africa (BIOMARKERS) 14 1.1.5 Age-disparity, sexual connectedness and HIV infection in disadvantaged communities around Cape Town, South Africa 16 1.1.6 The potential impact of expanded ART access for HIV prevention 17 1.2 OTHER ACTIVITIES OF THE HIV/STI TEAM 17 1.2.1 Belgian HIV/AIDS working group 17 1.2.2 BREACH 18 2. Activities of the Sexual and Gender Based Violence team 19 2.1 PROJECTS 19 2.1.1 Study to map the current situation and trends of Female Genital Mutilation in the 27 EU member states and Croatia 19 2.1.2 Mapping the multi-sectorial support for survivors of sexual violence in South Kivu Province 20 2.1.3 Training of hospital-based health professionals in caring for women with FGM 21 2.1.4 Girls and Women forced into marriage: understanding the impact of migration on Moroccan communities 21 2.1.5 Registration of FGM in hospitals 23 2.1.6 Focal Point on Harmful Cultural Practices (F ♀OHCUS) 2.1.7 BIDENS-study, a six country study on life-events & fear of mode of delivery, part II 25 2.1.8 Partner violence and pregnancy, an intervention study within perinatal care (MOM-study) 25 2.1.9 Addressing interpersonal violence in Belgian hospitals 27 2.1.10 Coordination of Ghent University Hospital holistic IPV protocol 28 2.2 OTHER ACTIVITIES OF THE SGBV TEAM 29 2.2.1 Flemish Forum for Child Abuse 29 2.2.2 Migrants’ sexual and reproductive health in the EU: a critical review 30 3. Activities of the Maternal Health Team 31 3.1 PROJECTS 31 3.1.1 Missed Opportunities in Maternal and Infant Health (MOMI) 31 3.1.2 Quality of Maternal and Prenatal Care: Bridging the Know-Do Gap (QUALMAT) 34 3.1.3 Reducing maternal mortality trough maternity waiting homes 36 4 ICRH Annual Report 2012 3.1.4 Integrating Post-Abortion Family Planning Services into China’s Existing Abortion Services in Hospital Settings (INPAC) 37 3.2 OTHER ACTIVITIES OF THE MATERNAL HEALTH TEAM 39 3.2.1. Needs assessment of newborn care in selected countries in East Asia and the Pacific 39 4. Activities of the Health Systems Team 40 4.1 PROJECTS 40 4.1.1 Community Embedded Reproductive Care for Adolescents in Latin America (CERCA) 40 4.1.2 Introducing provider-patient communication as a new topic for training and research at health institutes in Cochabamba (Bolivia) and Cuenca (Ecuador) 42 4.1.3 Quality health care in primary health services in Nicaragua 42 4.2 OTHER ACTIVITIES OF THE HEALTH SYSTEMS TEAM 44 4.2.1 Be-cause Health People Centred Care working group (PCC WG) 44 5. Activities of the HPV/cervical cancer team 45 5.1 PROJECTS 45 5.1.1 Surveillance of HPV infections and HPV related disease subsequent to the introduction of HPV vaccination in Belgium (SEHIB) 45 5.1.2 HPV/BV interaction 46 5.1.3 Cervical cancer prevention in Kenya: Introduction of the HPV vaccines 46 5.1.4 Vertical transmission of HPV 47 5.1.5 Evolution of human papillomavirus infection in pregnant women infected with human immunodeficiency virus 48 5.2 OTHER ACTIVITIES 49 5.2.1 ICRH-UZ Ghent HPV platform 49 5.2.2 VLIR-Moi IUC collaboration 49 5.2.3 Capacity building HPV genotyping ICRHK 49 6. Non-team related activities 50 6.1 FWO international coordination 50 6.2 Institutional University Cooperation Programme with the University Eduardo Mondlane of Mozambique (DESAFIO) 50 6.3 Focusing on medical health problems in (post)conflict situations 51 6.4 Millennium development goals campaign: ‘2015 – time is running’ 52 6.5 Ghent Africa Platform 52 6.6 Intercultural Women Network ‘Oog in Oog’ 52 6.7 LuMIMA 53 6.8 Patricia Claeys Award 53 Publications 55 Human resources 81 ICRH and the environment 84 ICRH Group 86 List of abbreviations 89 Contact and donations 91 ICRH Annual Report 2012 5 Message from prof. Marleen Temmerman former director of ICRH Dear ICRH teams in Ghent and elsewhere in the world, it is indeed with mixed feelings that I left “my” ICRH after almost 20 years. I used to call it “my baby”, but ICRH is not a baby anymore; it has grown well and is now a beautiful, strong, young lady, dedicated to improve the world and fight for justice. I am very proud of the accomplishments of ICRH worldwide that is a WHO co-operative centre since 2004. That is why I do not feel like leaving the family. On the contrary: I am grateful for the opportunity to lead the work from a global perspective, working from WHO Head Quarters. Together with many WHO collaborating centres we can take major steps forward in building a better world in which sexual and reproductive rights for all is no longer a remote dream but an everyday reality. I wish to thank all of you, wish you all the best, and I look forward to meeting you along the road. Best regards, Marleen Temmerman 6 ICRH Annual Report 2012 Preface 2012 has been a remarkable year for ICRH. In addition to the ‘business as usual’ evolutions such as finalisation of old projects and starting-up of new ones, and the unavoidable staff turnover, we have been confronted with two very special events: we moved offices and we had to say goodbye to our founder and director prof. Marleen Temmerman. The first event is irrefutably a good thing: we exchanged our worn-out, dark and damp housing in the K3 building for freshly renovated offices on the top floor of K4, with a nice view on Ghent city on one side of the building, and the hospital campus on the other. The second event, the departure of Marleen Temmerman to the WHO, is less fortunate: we will certainly miss her great expertise, her inspiring enthusiasm and her inexhaustible energy. On the other hand, we are proud and happy that she has been selected to take the lead of the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research, and we are looking forward to learning about the great achievements that she will undoubtedly accomplish there. Furthermore we are confident that we will always be able to count on her advice and her moral support. As for ICRH, we are determined to carry on the work that Marleen has put on the rails and to perform a significant role in international multidisciplinary research, education and provision of services in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights. 2012 proved to be a productive year, with 47 articles published in international peer reviewed journals, and more than 20 ongoing projects. However, we feel that the climate for research project funding is worsening due to -among others- savings in public spending for science and development cooperation. For an organisation like ICRH that is largely dependent on project funding, this is bad news, but nevertheless we managed to launch a few exciting new projects, and we have submitted many project proposals of which we hope many will be accepted for funding in the near future. In the course of 2012, ICRH started up an internal process to develop a research strategy for the coming years and to align its organisational structures to it. A new clustering of projects and collaborators has been elaborated and will be fully implemented in 2013. For this 2012 Activity Report we still report along the ‘old’ thematic lines, with five clusters: HIV and STIs, HPV and Cervical Cancer, Health Systems, Maternal and Child Health, and Sexual and Gender Based Violence. As in previous years we give an overview of the projects in which we have been involved in 2012, with a brief description of each project. If you want more information on one of our projects, or on ICRH in general, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Or even better: pay us a visit in our new offices! Olivier Degomme, Dirk Van Braeckel, Scientific Director. Director of Finance and Administration. ICRH Annual Report 2012 7 The International Centre for Reproductive Health The International Centre for Reproductive Health (ICRH) is a multidisciplinary research institute within Ghent University. The Centre was established in 1994 in response to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD, Cairo, 1994). ICRH conducts research and intervention projects in all areas of reproductive health, implements capacity building, provides community education, prevention and HIV testing services, and advocates for sexual and reproductive health and rights. ICRH is active in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe. ICRH is a WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on Sexual and Reproductive Health and has experience in attracting donor funds from a wide range of agencies.