Improving Health and Gender Outcomes for First-Time Parents in Cross River State, Nigeria (Brief)
In 2018, the Evidence to Action (E2A) Project and Pathfinder International, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, launched a new effort to improve postpartum health and gender outcomes for young first-time parents (FTPs) in Cross River State, Nigeria. Now you can see the results.
Implemented through the Saving Mothers, Giving Life initiative, the FTP component focused on healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies (HTSP), family planning (FP), exclusive breastfeeding, positive parenting, and related gender outcomes for young FTPs. E2A designed multiple, coordinated interventions for this vulnerable youth population, targeting young first-time mothers, their key influencers—especially partners/husbands and older women—and their communities, including a network of community- and facility-based health care providers to achieve these outcomes:
- Increase voluntary contraceptive use
- Improve HTSP/FP knowledge, attitudes, and intentions
- Increase knowledge and foster positive attitudes and intentions for exclusive breastfeeding
- Improve knowledge and attitudes for positive parenting
- Increase support from partners, families/households, and communities to create an enabling environment
