Johanne Sundby
Biographic Data
| ID | 195636 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Johanne Sundby |
| GIVEN NAMES | Johanne |
| FAMILY NAME | Sundby |
| SIGNATURE | SUNDBY J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oslo |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6603-0515 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1986 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Maternal mortality and fertility in Myanmar
Many women in developing countries are dying from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. These maternal deaths are attributed to the poor coverage of reproductive health services and high fertility levels. A holistic review of the reproductive health is necessary to reflect the country’s situation and progress of reproductive health and provide recommendations for areas that need an improvement. The aim of this paper is to provid…
Willingness to pay for a National Health Insurance Scheme in The Gambia
In pursuit of universal health coverage, many low- and middle-income countries are reforming their health financing systems and introducing health insurance schemes. As part of these reforms, lawmakers in The Gambia enacted ‘The National Health Insurance Bill, 2021’. The Act will establish a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) that pays for the cost of healthcare services for its members. This study assessed Gambians’ willingness to pay (WTP)…
Understanding women’s decision-making process for birth location in Tanzania based on individual women’s reproductive pathways
BACKGROUND: Determinants for women's care seeking for birth in low-income setting are multifactorial and remain poorly understood. A life course approach can assist to structure the interplay of the different factors that lead to women seeking care or not. OBJECTIVE: In this study we aimed to explore individual women's reproductive pathways, and increase understanding of how important life events including previous pregnancy and birth experiences…
Association between Maternal Origin, Pre-Pregnancy Body Mass Index and Caesarean Section
Women from Sub-Saharan Africa had more than two times the risk of emergency CS compared to women originating from Norway, regardless of pre-pregnancy BMI
Newly Arrived Migrant Women’s Experience of Maternity Health Information
Limited understanding of health information may contribute to an increased risk of adverse maternal outcomes among migrant women. We explored factors associated with migrant women's understanding of the information provided by maternity staff, and determined which maternal health topics the women had received insufficient coverage of. We included 401 newly migrated women (≤5 years) who gave birth in Oslo, excluding migrants born in high-income co…
Uptake of Skilled Maternal Healthcare in Ethiopia
Risk factor approaches are often used when implementing programs aimed at enforcing advantageous health care behaviors. A less frequently-used strategy is to identify and capitalize on those who, despite risk factors, exhibit positive behaviors. The aim of our study was to identify positive deviant (PD) mothers for the uptake of skilled maternal services and to explore their characteristics. Data for the study came from two waves of the Ethiopian…
Self-Medication and Safety Profile of Medicines Used among Pregnant Women in a Tertiary Teaching Hospital in Jimma, Ethiopia
Self-medication is common among pregnant women at JUMC. Most women used medicines classified as safe to use during pregnancy. There is need for enlightenment of pregnant women on the potential dangers of self-medication during pregnancy to prevent foetal and maternal risks
Approaches to protect and maintain health care services in armed conflict – meeting SDGs 3 and 16
The escalation of conflict in the Middle East coincides with an emerging trend of attacks on healthcare. Protection of health personnel, health services and humanitarian workers is no longer respected. This compromises the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 3 - towards health for all, and 16 - towards justice and peace. The Centre for Global Health at the University of Oslo, the Peace Research Institute Oslo and the N…
Unmet Need for Family Planning among Urban and Rural Married Women in Yangon Region, Myanmar—a Cross-Sectional Study
Despite increasing contraceptive use and prevalence, many women who want to avoid or delay pregnancy are not using contraceptives. This results in unintended pregnancies, which increases the risk of unsafe abortions. This study aimed to explore the extent of the unmet need for family planning (FP) among urban and rural married women in Myanmar and their demand for and satisfaction with FP. A cross-sectional survey using adapted Demographic and He…
Coping with a Disruptive Life Caused by Obstetric Fistula
Background : The main symptom of obstetric fistula is urinary and or fecal incontinence. Incontinence, regardless of the type is debilitating, socially isolating, and psychologically depressing. The objective of this study was to explore the strategies that women with obstetric fistula in Malawi use to manage it and its complications. Methods : A subset of data from a study on experiences of living with obstetric fistula in Malawi was used to the…
Community perceptions of obstetric fistula in Malawi
It is well-documented that obstetric fistula, a severe birth injury, is caused by a prolonged obstructed labour that has not been relieved on time. Lay people often understand causation differently. This study sought to explore the awareness and local meanings attached to obstetric fistula in the rural parts of Malawi. We conducted interviews with key informants and focus group discussions with community members in purposively selected communitie…
Acquiring Knowledge about the Use of a Newly Developed Electronic Fetal Heart Rate Monitor
In an effort to reduce newborn mortality, a newly developed strap-on electronic fetal heart rate monitor was introduced at several health facilities in Tanzania in 2015. Training sessions were organized to teach staff how to use the device in clinical settings. This study explores skilled birth attendants' perceptions and experiences acquiring and transferring knowledge about the use of the monitor, also called Moyo. Knowledge about this learning…
I Was Relieved to Know That My Baby Was Safe”
To increase labor monitoring and prevent neonatal morbidity and mortality, a new wireless, strap-on electronic fetal heart rate monitor called Moyo was introduced in Tanzania in 2016. As part of the ongoing evaluation of the introduction of the monitor, the aim of this study was to explore the attitudes and perceptions of women who had worn the monitor continuously during their most recent delivery and perceptions about how it affected care. This…
Inequity in the utilization of antenatal and delivery care in Yangon region, Myanmar
There was no overall inequity in the utilization of ANC but substantial inequities in delivery by CS and SBA were shown. Social determinants of health, particularly age and education, were associated with inequities in the utilization of delivery care. Adolescent pregnant women were found to be particularly vulnerable, and thus should be a target group for strategic plans to reduce inequities in utilization of delivery care
Communities’ perceptions of factors contributing to child sexual abuse vulnerability in Kenya
Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a major global health concern. Although it is prevalent in Kenya, scant literature on factors contributing to CSA vulnerability exists. Using qualitative data from 28 focus groups and ethnographic field notes, we explored and assessed community perceptions of factors contributing to CSA vulnerability in Homa Bay County, Western Kenya. Findings suggest that people living in these communities perceived CSA as being influ…
The use of medicinal plants by pregnant women in Africa
Disrespect and abuse in maternity care
Disrespect and abuse of patients, especially birthing women, does occur in the health sector. This is a violation of women's fundamental human rights and can be viewed as a consequence of women's lives not being valued by larger social, economic and political structures. Here we demonstrate how such disrespect and abuse is enacted at an interpersonal level across the continuum of care in Tanzania. We describe how and why women's exposure to disre…
Perceptions of the effects of armed conflict on maternal and reproductive health services and outcomes in Burundi and Northern Uganda
BACKGROUND: Armed conflict potentially poses serious challenges to access and quality of maternal and reproductive health (MRH) services, resulting in increased maternal morbidity and mortality. The effects of armed conflict may vary from one setting to another, including the mechanisms/channels through which the conflict may lead to poor access to and quality of health services. This study aims to explore the effects of armed conflict on MRH in …
Costs and consequences of abortions to women and their households
Little is known about the costs and consequences of abortions to women and their households. Our aim was to study both costs and consequences of induced and spontaneous abortions and complications. We carried out a cross-sectional study between February and September 2012 in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. Quantitative data of 305 women whose pregnancy ended with either an induced or a spontaneous abortion were prospectively collec…
A rollercoaster of policy shifts
Global trends influence strategies for health-care delivery in low- and middle-income countries. A drive towards uniformity in the design and delivery of healthcare interventions, rather than solid local adaptations, has come to dominate global health policies. This study is a participatory longitudinal study of how one country in West Africa, The Gambia, has responded to global health policy trends in maternal and reproductive health, based on t…
Parenting experiences of couples living with human immunodeficiency virus
The advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has allowed couples living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to live longer and healthier lives. The reduction in the mother-to-child transmission of HIV has encouraged some people living with HIV (PLWH) to have children. However, little is known about the parenting experiences of couples living with HIV (CLWH). The aim of this qualitative study was to explore and describe parenting experiences of …
They Ask Whether This Is Real or Fake”
Women increasingly combine paid work and childbearing, but working full time throughout pregnancy is commonly experienced as overtaxing. We explored access to sick leave or medical care as experienced by Norwegian women suffering from pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy. Through a grounded theory approach we compared results from qualitative interviews and open Internet discussions, and found that women struggled with credibility and that their c…
When female circumcision comes to the West
The study reveals that Somalis in Oslo demonstrate a trend to abandon this practice over time. Nevertheless, the 30% of the people who still support its continuation, and who are primarily newly arrived immigrants, require a targeted intervention that is implemented in the early phase of the immigrants' arrival
HIV and infant feeding in Malawi
The infant-feeding dilemmas for women with HIV are complex. The integration of public health efforts with context-specific socio-cultural understanding is essential. The recent 2010 WHO guidelines offer a possible way of resolving these challenges. They recommend breastfeeding for one year with an adaptation to two years for Malawi. Efforts in the PMTCT programmes to supplement existing support systems, e.g. through the mothers-to-mothers (M2M) p…
P2-473 Present trend of cervical cancer screening in Bharatpur, Nepal
Introduction According to Alliance for Cervical Cancer Prevention (ACCP) 2004, cervical cancer is the most common form of cancer among women in developing countries. According to hospital based data, in Nepalese women it is the most common cancer. Pap smear is the very significant screening test for reduction of incidence and mortality from cervical cancer. WHO recommends high coverage (80%) and screening of the population at risk is utmost impor…
Culture, Identity and Reproductive Failure in Zimbabwe
This article describes findings from a study of reproductive failure conducted in Zimbabwe. It examines the perspectives of men and women who believed they were potential reproductive failures by not having the socially expected numbers and types of children. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were used to explore the meanings of reproductive failure and their links to local beliefs and culture, sexual behaviour and gender identities…
Infertility in the Gambia
Disrespect and abuse in maternity care
Disrespect and abuse of patients, especially birthing women, does occur in the health sector. This is a violation of women's fundamental human rights and can be viewed as a consequence of women's lives not being valued by larger social, economic and political structures. Here we demonstrate how such disrespect and abuse is enacted at an interpersonal level across the continuum of care in Tanzania. We describe how and why women's exposure to disre…
Costs and consequences of abortions to women and their households
Little is known about the costs and consequences of abortions to women and their households. Our aim was to study both costs and consequences of induced and spontaneous abortions and complications. We carried out a cross-sectional study between February and September 2012 in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. Quantitative data of 305 women whose pregnancy ended with either an induced or a spontaneous abortion were prospectively collec…
A Defeat not to Be Ultra-Fit”
Managing work while pregnant has long been a challenge for women in both paid and unpaid work. With Norway as the case in point, the aim of this study was to explore expectations and experiences among women relating to work-life and pregnancy health. Employing the constant comparison method, we drew on interviews, Internet discussions, newspapers, and health information booklets. The findings revealed strong discourses on pregnancy as health, and…
The prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission programme in Lilongwe, Malawi
Mother-to-child transmission of HIV constitutes a substantial burden of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa, and losses to follow-up continue to undermine prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programmes. This qualitative study sought to clarify why some women who were enrolled in a PMTCT programme in Lilongwe, Malawi, did not fully participate in follow-up visits in the first six months after testing HIV-positive. Twenty…
Norway at ICPD+10
Norway has a long history of good reproductive health care, with some of the world's best reproductive health indicators. Early reduction of maternal mortality, good services for abortion, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases, a low rate of adolescent pregnancies and a low number people with HIV are examples, achieved through an integrated, publicly provided and funded health care package. Official Norwegian development assistance star…
Sad not to have children, happy to be childless
I am an infertility doe for and an infertile patient. This paper is about my experience of infertility as a patient, as a mother ofan adopted son, as a medical doctor and infertility counsellor, and as a researcher on infertility in Norway and Africa. Because of my research on infertility as a medical and social issue, I do not see myself as a passive, victimised, infertile woman. Rather, infertility has been the source of my professional develop…
Om jag inte har barn - är jag kvinna då
Infertilitet är inget lyxproblem utan en existentiell kris med psykosociala konsekvenser, som vi till en viss grad kan lösa med medicinsk-teknologiska medel, skriver Johanne Sundby. Vi måste söka mer kunskap om reproduktionen och om hur infertilitet kan förebyggas. Och kvinnorna måste vara med och styra detta arbete
Infertility in the Gambia
Sad not to have children, happy to be childless
I am an infertility doe for and an infertile patient. This paper is about my experience of infertility as a patient, as a mother ofan adopted son, as a medical doctor and infertility counsellor, and as a researcher on infertility in Norway and Africa. Because of my research on infertility as a medical and social issue, I do not see myself as a passive, victimised, infertile woman. Rather, infertility has been the source of my professional develop…
Culture, Identity and Reproductive Failure in Zimbabwe
This article describes findings from a study of reproductive failure conducted in Zimbabwe. It examines the perspectives of men and women who believed they were potential reproductive failures by not having the socially expected numbers and types of children. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were used to explore the meanings of reproductive failure and their links to local beliefs and culture, sexual behaviour and gender identities…
The quality of HIV/Aids case-detection and case-reporting systems in Mozambique
Despite the underlying importance of surveillance systems for the management of HIV/AIDS prevention and control programmes, there has been limited analysis of the quality of HIV/AIDS case-detection and case-reporting systems, beginning with peripheral facilities through to those at national levels. In Mozambique, HIV cases are generally correctly detected despite some unreliable use of test kits beyond their expiry date, uneven distribution of te…
Norway at ICPD+10
Norway has a long history of good reproductive health care, with some of the world's best reproductive health indicators. Early reduction of maternal mortality, good services for abortion, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases, a low rate of adolescent pregnancies and a low number people with HIV are examples, achieved through an integrated, publicly provided and funded health care package. Official Norwegian development assistance star…
Reproductive Health Policy in Norway
Maternal deaths in rural Gambia
The objective of this study was to determine causes and contributing factors to maternal deaths in a poor rural setting. We included all maternal deaths (N =42), identified from January to September 2002, in a remote area of The Gambia. To gain a comprehensive picture of medical causes and contributing factors a combination of audit procedure and verbal autopsy was applied. The results showed that anaemia (n =12) was the leading cause of death fo…
Early menopause, association with tobacco smoking, coffee consumption and other lifestyle factors
This cross-sectional study shows an association between current smoking and early menopause. The data also suggest that the earlier a woman stops smoking the more protected she is from early menopause. Early menopause was not significantly associated with passive smoking, or alcohol or coffee consumption
Potential Initiators of Hiv‐related Stigmatization
HIV/AIDS continues to constitute a serious threat to the social and physical wellbeing of African mothers and their babies. In the hardest hit countries of sub‐Saharan Africa, more than 60% of all new HIV infections are occurring in women, infants and young children. Mother‐to‐child transmission (MTCT) constitutes 90% of new HIV infections among infants and young children. Most of these infections can be prevented. However, the social stigma of H…
The prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission programme in Lilongwe, Malawi
Mother-to-child transmission of HIV constitutes a substantial burden of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa, and losses to follow-up continue to undermine prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programmes. This qualitative study sought to clarify why some women who were enrolled in a PMTCT programme in Lilongwe, Malawi, did not fully participate in follow-up visits in the first six months after testing HIV-positive. Twenty…
Adolescent pregnancies
I don't particularly like the word ‘adolescence.’ To me it sounds as if young people are another species, to be treated as aliens. All of us have been young, and most likely, those of us who grow u
A Defeat not to Be Ultra-Fit”
Managing work while pregnant has long been a challenge for women in both paid and unpaid work. With Norway as the case in point, the aim of this study was to explore expectations and experiences among women relating to work-life and pregnancy health. Employing the constant comparison method, we drew on interviews, Internet discussions, newspapers, and health information booklets. The findings revealed strong discourses on pregnancy as health, and…
P2-473 Present trend of cervical cancer screening in Bharatpur, Nepal
Introduction According to Alliance for Cervical Cancer Prevention (ACCP) 2004, cervical cancer is the most common form of cancer among women in developing countries. According to hospital based data, in Nepalese women it is the most common cancer. Pap smear is the very significant screening test for reduction of incidence and mortality from cervical cancer. WHO recommends high coverage (80%) and screening of the population at risk is utmost impor…
When female circumcision comes to the West
The study reveals that Somalis in Oslo demonstrate a trend to abandon this practice over time. Nevertheless, the 30% of the people who still support its continuation, and who are primarily newly arrived immigrants, require a targeted intervention that is implemented in the early phase of the immigrants' arrival
HIV and infant feeding in Malawi
The infant-feeding dilemmas for women with HIV are complex. The integration of public health efforts with context-specific socio-cultural understanding is essential. The recent 2010 WHO guidelines offer a possible way of resolving these challenges. They recommend breastfeeding for one year with an adaptation to two years for Malawi. Efforts in the PMTCT programmes to supplement existing support systems, e.g. through the mothers-to-mothers (M2M) p…
They Ask Whether This Is Real or Fake”
Women increasingly combine paid work and childbearing, but working full time throughout pregnancy is commonly experienced as overtaxing. We explored access to sick leave or medical care as experienced by Norwegian women suffering from pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy. Through a grounded theory approach we compared results from qualitative interviews and open Internet discussions, and found that women struggled with credibility and that their c…
A rollercoaster of policy shifts
Global trends influence strategies for health-care delivery in low- and middle-income countries. A drive towards uniformity in the design and delivery of healthcare interventions, rather than solid local adaptations, has come to dominate global health policies. This study is a participatory longitudinal study of how one country in West Africa, The Gambia, has responded to global health policy trends in maternal and reproductive health, based on t…
Parenting experiences of couples living with human immunodeficiency virus
The advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has allowed couples living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to live longer and healthier lives. The reduction in the mother-to-child transmission of HIV has encouraged some people living with HIV (PLWH) to have children. However, little is known about the parenting experiences of couples living with HIV (CLWH). The aim of this qualitative study was to explore and describe parenting experiences of …
Perceptions of the effects of armed conflict on maternal and reproductive health services and outcomes in Burundi and Northern Uganda
BACKGROUND: Armed conflict potentially poses serious challenges to access and quality of maternal and reproductive health (MRH) services, resulting in increased maternal morbidity and mortality. The effects of armed conflict may vary from one setting to another, including the mechanisms/channels through which the conflict may lead to poor access to and quality of health services. This study aims to explore the effects of armed conflict on MRH in …
Costs and consequences of abortions to women and their households
Little is known about the costs and consequences of abortions to women and their households. Our aim was to study both costs and consequences of induced and spontaneous abortions and complications. We carried out a cross-sectional study between February and September 2012 in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. Quantitative data of 305 women whose pregnancy ended with either an induced or a spontaneous abortion were prospectively collec…
Acquiring Knowledge about the Use of a Newly Developed Electronic Fetal Heart Rate Monitor
In an effort to reduce newborn mortality, a newly developed strap-on electronic fetal heart rate monitor was introduced at several health facilities in Tanzania in 2015. Training sessions were organized to teach staff how to use the device in clinical settings. This study explores skilled birth attendants' perceptions and experiences acquiring and transferring knowledge about the use of the monitor, also called Moyo. Knowledge about this learning…
I Was Relieved to Know That My Baby Was Safe”
To increase labor monitoring and prevent neonatal morbidity and mortality, a new wireless, strap-on electronic fetal heart rate monitor called Moyo was introduced in Tanzania in 2016. As part of the ongoing evaluation of the introduction of the monitor, the aim of this study was to explore the attitudes and perceptions of women who had worn the monitor continuously during their most recent delivery and perceptions about how it affected care. This…
Inequity in the utilization of antenatal and delivery care in Yangon region, Myanmar
There was no overall inequity in the utilization of ANC but substantial inequities in delivery by CS and SBA were shown. Social determinants of health, particularly age and education, were associated with inequities in the utilization of delivery care. Adolescent pregnant women were found to be particularly vulnerable, and thus should be a target group for strategic plans to reduce inequities in utilization of delivery care
Communities’ perceptions of factors contributing to child sexual abuse vulnerability in Kenya
Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a major global health concern. Although it is prevalent in Kenya, scant literature on factors contributing to CSA vulnerability exists. Using qualitative data from 28 focus groups and ethnographic field notes, we explored and assessed community perceptions of factors contributing to CSA vulnerability in Homa Bay County, Western Kenya. Findings suggest that people living in these communities perceived CSA as being influ…
Medicine (35 works) · Environmental health (19 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (17 works) · Population (16 works) · Nursing (15 works) · Economic growth (14 works) · Psychology (14 works) · Political science (13 works) · Pregnancy (13 works) · Sociology (12 works)