More From the Blog

  • June 6, 2018

    A personal perspective on the Syrian refugee crisis

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Saria was a young teenager when conflict broke out in Syria. His school was closed and converted into a military base, forcing him to abandon his education. He was captured by three different groups, the Syrian Intelligence, the Free Syrian Army and Jabhat al-Nusra, before fleeing to Jordan.

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  • May 7, 2018

    Reducing commodity costs when scaling up contraceptive implants … A classic chicken vs. egg dilemma

    Written by
    Markus J. Steiner, Senior Epidemiologist and Project Director, Sino-Implant (II)/Levoplant, FHI 360
    Kate H. Rademacher, Technical Advisor, Contraceptive Technology Innovation, FHI 360

    A version of this post originally appeared on Exchanges, the Contraceptive Technology Innovation Exchange blog. Reprinted with permission.

    Listen to an interview with Markus Steiner and Kate Rademacher on the reductions in the prices of implant commodities.

    Contraceptive implants have been available for over 30 years and are one of the most effective methods available. Until recently, however, international donors did not procure significant quantities, and use of the method in developing countries was very low. This access barrier was largely due to the high cost of implant commodities. The situation mirrored the classic, paradoxical question: which came first, the chicken or the egg? In this case, without lower commodity prices, procurements of implants would not increase in many international settings. But without higher volumes, manufacturers couldn’t lower their prices and still achieve a sustainable business model.

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  • May 3, 2018

    A case study on using data and technology in crisis response

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    When there is an emergency, conflict or disaster, communities affected by the crisis are often the best source of information for what is happening on the ground. Early engagement with people from these affected communities is crucial.

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  • April 11, 2018

    R&E Search for Evidence: Quarterly recap of FHI 360’s blog on research and evaluation, January–March 2018

    Written by
    Annette N. Brown, Editor-in-Chief, R&E Search for Evidence blog, and Director, Research and Evaluation Strategic Initiative

    We are officially knee-deep into 2018, although many of us are still waiting for spring! The R&E Search for Evidence blog already has 13 new posts written by FHI 360 thought leaders and focused on innovative tools, research and evaluation methodologies, and new evidence related to some of our most pressing human development needs. Here are some of the highlights.

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  • April 4, 2018

    The evolution of the U.S. role in crisis response

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    The United States has been a leader in humanitarian response since the end of World War II, but how is this role changing and what are the implications?

    In this episode of A Deeper Look, I speak about the evolving U.S. role in humanitarian response with Andrew Natsios, currently executive professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service and director of the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at Texas A&M University. As the former head of both the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and the U.S. Agency for International Development, Professor Natsios has a keen understanding of the complexity of international development and its place in U.S. foreign policy.

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  • March 23, 2018

    There’s no more time to waste: Let’s find the missing cases of TB

    Written by
    Otto Chabikuli, Director, Global Health, Population and Nutrition, FHI 360
    Robert Makombe, Technical Advisor, FHI 360

    Tuberculosis (TB) has now overtaken HIV as the world’s leading cause of mortality. There were about 10.4 million TB cases in 2016, despite the fact that TB is an old and often curable disease whose incidence declined in industrialized countries long before the introduction of the TB vaccine and anti-TB drugs. TB continues to disproportionately affect low-income countries. For those of us who work in public health, this is tragic — we ought to be moving forward at a much faster pace to end TB for good.

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  • March 22, 2018

    Three ways to help female teachers in conflict and crisis contexts

    Written by
    Paul Frisoli, Associate Director, Education in Conflict and Crisis, FHI 360
    Anne Smiley, Technical Advisor, Research in Education, FHI 360

    In education in conflict and crisis (EiCC) situations, community members often take on new roles to provide essential education and psychosocial support services to children. This is especially true for female teachers, who are expected to provide academic and nurturing care to their students while also caring for their families and coping with their own social, emotional and material needs. This is a tall order, and female teachers do not receive the support they need to be as effective — and engaged — as possible.

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  • March 7, 2018

    Women as leaders in conflict response

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    The international community is not giving enough attention to the impact that humanitarian crises have on women and girls or to the role they play in emergency response. We need to. It’s time to examine how women are disproportionately affected by conflict and emergencies and how they fill the roles of first responders, caregivers and peacebuilders.

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  • February 15, 2018

    To achieve equity in education, we need the right data

    Written by
    Carina Omoeva, Director, Research and Evaluation, Global Education, and Education Policy and Data Center

    A version of this post originally appeared on FHI 360’s R&E Search for Evidence blog.

    As we work to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to education, it is the responsibility of every funding, implementing and research organization internationally to be asking questions about our own contributions to building equity in education. While a great amount of data gets produced in the course of education projects, only a fraction provides the detail that is needed to assess intervention impact on different equity dimensions. At the technical and implementation level, organizations need to capture and use the necessary evidence to understand and respond to inequity in education provision and outcomes.

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  • February 12, 2018

    Building the case for contraceptive technology innovation

    Written by
    Laneta Dorflinger, Distinguished Scientist and Director, Contraceptive Technology Innovation, FHI 360

    Why do women who do not want to get pregnant choose not to use modern family planning methods? While this question is not bounded by geographies, the most recent Guttmacher Institute report, which focused on the low- and middle-income countries, is most illuminating. The two most common answers given by married women were health reasons/side effects or fear of side effects (26 percent) and claims of infrequent sex or not being sexually active (24 percent). Among unmarried women, infrequent sex (49 percent) was the top reason.

    Equally informative are recent FHI 360 findings from a user preference study in Uganda and Burkina Faso showing that 75 percent of women currently using a method would be open to trying new technologies. It quickly becomes clear that existing methods do not satisfactorily address the changing needs of women throughout their 30- to 40-year reproductive journey.

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