Susheela Singh
Biographic Data
| ID | 3594636 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Susheela Singh |
| GIVEN NAMES | Susheela |
| FAMILY NAME | Singh |
| SIGNATURE | SINGH S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Guttmacher Institute |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9108-6206 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 92 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 450 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 92 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1979 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 12 |
Abortion and unintended pregnancy in Pakistan
BACKGROUND: Despite induced abortion being highly legally restricted in Pakistan, studies in 2002 and 2012 showed that many women rely on abortion when faced with an unintended pregnancy. Following the 2012 study, concerted efforts were made to improve contraceptive services and to strengthen postabortion care. The availability and use of misoprostol also expanded in the past decade. Our primary objective was to provide new evidence on the rates …
Progress in providing legal abortion services after law reform
Argentina’s 2021 abortion law grants the right to abortion on-request up to 14 weeks’ gestation, as well as continuing to allow abortion after 14 weeks on specific grounds. The early years after law reform provide a unique opportunity to assess progress and identify barriers, to both inform program improvements and guide other countries undergoing reform. This study assesses the first two years of law implementation. We surveyed a purposive sampl…
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Global Development
The ICPD Programme of Action and the Sustainable Development Goals both underscore the essential role of sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in development. Despite significant progress on many aspects of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), challenges remain, and they are exacerbated by rising anti‐rights movements in many countries. At a time when SRHR is under threat, it is important to surface evidence that spe…
Incidence of treatment for postabortion complications in India, 2015
Abortion has been legal under broad criteria in India since 1971. However, access to legal abortion services remains poor. In the past decade, medication abortion (MA) has become widely available in India and use of this method outside of health facilities accounts for over 70% of all abortions. Morbidity from unsafe abortion remains an important health issue. The informal providers who are the primary source of MA may have poor knowledge of the …
Estimating the Incidence of Induced Abortion in Java, Indonesia, 2018
CONTEXT: In Indonesia, maternal mortality is high and abortion is restricted. Reliable information on induced abortion is needed; however, the difficulty of measuring abortion in settings where it is legally restricted and highly stigmatized calls for innovation in approaches to measuring abortion incidence. METHODS: The data were from three original surveys conducted in Java among health facilities, knowledgeable informants and women aged 15-49,…
Global Developments in Laws on Induced Abortion
CONTEXT: Evidence shows that laws that restrict abortion do not eliminate its practice, but instead result in women having clandestine abortions, which are likely to be unsafe. It is important to periodically assess changes in the legal status of abortion around the world. METHODS: The criteria for legal abortion as of 2019 for 199 countries and territories were used to distribute them along a continuum of six mutually exclusive categories, from …
Provision of medical methods of abortion in facilities in India in 2015
Medical methods of abortion, MMA, has been legal in India since 2002. Guidelines stipulate that it should be administered by a provider or acquired via prescription. 1.2 million women having abortions in India use MMA acquired from health facilities [Singh, S., Shekhar, C., Acharya, R., Moore, A. M., Stillman, M., Pradhan, M. R., ... Browne, A. (2018). The incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy in India, 2015. The Lancet Global Health , 6…
Estimating Abortion Incidence
Induced abortion is a reproductive behavior that remains difficult to measure in countries where the procedure is highly restricted by law. Additionally, in some countries where abortion is broadly legal, a high proportion of abortions are carried out by illegal and untrained providers. In these contexts, official statistics are non-existent or highly incomplete. Measurement of the incidence of induced abortion is essential to inform sexual and r…
Abortion Worldwide 2017
Executive Summary The situation of induced abortion has changed markedly over the past few decades. This report provides updated information on the incidence of abortion worldwide, the laws that regulate abortion and the safety of its provision. It also looks at unintended pregnancy, its relationship to abortion, and the impact that both have on women and couples who increasingly want smaller families and more control over the timing of their bir…
Accelerate progress—sexual and reproductive health and rights for all
Securing the right to safe and legal abortion
In March 2018, the Democratic Republic of Congo moved to enact the Maputo Protocol, under which signatory states agree to authorise legal access to abortion in a range of circumstances. Two months
Global, regional, and subregional classification of abortions by safety, 2010–14
BACKGROUND: Global estimates of unsafe abortions have been produced for 1995, 2003, and 2008. However, reconceptualisation of the framework and methods for estimating abortion safety is needed owing to the increased availability of simple methods for safe abortion (eg, medical abortion), the increasingly widespread use of misoprostol outside formal health systems in contexts where abortion is legally restricted, and the need to account for the mu…
Contraceptive Failure in the United States
These broad-based declines in failure rates reverse a long-term pattern of minimal change. Future research should explore what lies behind these trends, as well as possibilities for further improvements
The Impact of Contraceptive Use and Abortion on Fertility in sub-Saharan Africa
With the exception of sub-Saharan Africa, fertility has declined substantially in all regions of the developing world.The fertility decline, which started in Latin America and Asia in the 1960s, progressed rapidly through the decades that followed, reaching close to replacement level in these two regions (2.3 births per woman) in 2005-2010(Bongaarts and Casterline 2013).An incipient decline in fertility in sub-Saharan Africa was first observed in…
Abortion incidence between 1990 and 2014
The Estimated Incidence of Induced Abortion in Ethiopia, 2014
CONTEXT: In 2005, Ethiopia's parliament amended the penal code to expand the circumstances in which abortion is legal. Although the country has expanded access to abortion and postabortion care, the last estimates of abortion incidence date from 2008. METHODS: Data were collected in 2014 from a nationally representative sample of 822 facilities that provide abortion or postabortion care, and from 82 key informants knowledgeable about abortion ser…
Abortion Incidence and Unintended Pregnancy in Nepal
CONTEXT: Although abortion has been legal under broad criteria in Nepal since 2002, a significant proportion of women continue to obtain illegal, unsafe abortions, and no national estimates exist of the incidence of safe and unsafe abortions. METHODS: Data were collected in 2014 from a nationally representative sample of 386 facilities that provide legal abortions or postabortion care and a survey of 134 health professionals knowledgeable about a…
The cost of post-abortion care in developing countries
Over the last five years, comprehensive national surveys of the cost of post-abortion care (PAC) to national health systems have been undertaken in Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Colombia using a specially developed costing methodology-the Post-abortion Care Costing Methodology (PACCM). The objective of this study is to expand the research findings of these four studies, making use of their extensive datasets. These studies offer the most complete …
Adolescent Pregnancy, Birth, and Abortion Rates Across Countries
PURPOSE: To examine pregnancy rates and outcomes (births and abortions) among 15- to 19-year olds and 10- to 14-year olds in all countries for which recent information could be obtained and to examine trends since the mid-1990s. METHODS: Information was obtained from countries' vital statistics reports and the United Nations Statistics Division for most countries in this study. Alternate sources of information were used if needed and available. W…
The Incidence of Abortion in Nigeria
CONTEXT: Because of Nigeria's low contraceptive prevalence, a substantial number of women have unintended pregnancies, many of which are resolved through clandestine abortion, despite the country's restrictive abortion law. Up-to-date estimates of abortion incidence are needed. METHODS: A widely used indirect methodology was used to estimate the incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy in Nigeria in 2012. Data on provision of abortion and p…
The health system cost of post-abortion care in Rwanda
Based on research conducted in 2012, we estimate the cost to the Rwandan health-care system of providing post-abortion care (PAC) due to unsafe abortions, a subject of policy importance not studied before at the national level. Thirty-nine public and private health facilities representing three levels of health care were randomly selected for data collection from key care providers and administrators for all five regions. Using an ingredients app…
The health system cost of post-abortion care in Uganda
This article presents estimates based on the research conducted in 2010 of the cost to the Ugandan health system of providing post-abortion care (PAC), filling a gap in knowledge of the cost of unsafe abortion. Thirty-nine public and private health facilities were sampled representing three levels of health care, and data were collected on drugs, supplies, material, personnel time and out-of-pocket expenses. In addition, direct non-medical costs …
Induced Abortions and Unintended Pregnancies in Pakistan
During the past decade, unmet need for family planning has remained high in Pakistan and gains in contraceptive prevalence have been small. Drawing upon data from a 2012 national study on postabortion‐care complications and a methodology developed by the Guttmacher Institute for estimating abortion incidence, we estimate that there were 2.2 million abortions in Pakistan in 2012, an annual abortion rate of 50 per 1,000 women. A previous study esti…
Intended and Unintended Pregnancies Worldwide in 2012 and Recent Trends
Periodic estimation of the incidence of global unintended pregnancy can help demonstrate the need for and impact of family planning programs. We draw upon multiple sources of data to estimate pregnancy incidence by intention status and outcome at worldwide, regional, and subregional levels in 2012 and to assess recent trends using previously published estimates for 2008 and 1995. We find that 213 million pregnancies occurred in 2012, up slightly …
The Incidence of Induced Abortion in Malawi
CONTEXT: Abortion is legally restricted in Malawi, and no data are available on the incidence of the procedure. METHODS: The Abortion Incidence Complications Methodology was used to estimate levels of induced abortion in Malawi in 2009. Data on provision of postabortion care were collected from 166 public, nongovernmental and private health facilities, and estimates of the likelihood that women who have abortions experience complications and seek…
Factors Associated with Contraceptive Use and Nonuse, United States, 2004
Providers could better help women avoid unintended pregnancy by initiating regular assessments of method use difficulties, improving counseling on method choice and pregnancy risk, and identifying and assisting women at higher risk for inconsistent method use because of disadvantage, relationship characteristics or ambivalence about pregnancy prevention. In addition to providers' efforts, broader societal commitment is critical for increasing con…
Unintended Pregnancy
Unintended pregnancy can carry serious consequences for women and their families. We estimate the incidence of pregnancy by intention status and outcome at worldwide, regional, and subregional levels for 2008, and we assess recent trends since 1995. Numbers of births are based on United Nations estimates. Induced abortions are estimated by projecting from recent trends. A model‐based approach is used to estimate miscarriages. The planning status …
Intended and Unintended Pregnancies Worldwide in 2012 and Recent Trends
Periodic estimation of the incidence of global unintended pregnancy can help demonstrate the need for and impact of family planning programs. We draw upon multiple sources of data to estimate pregnancy incidence by intention status and outcome at worldwide, regional, and subregional levels in 2012 and to assess recent trends using previously published estimates for 2008 and 1995. We find that 213 million pregnancies occurred in 2012, up slightly …
Trends in the timing of first marriage among men and women in the developing world
The timing of first union merits investigation not only because of the close temporal link between marriage and the onset of childbearing, but also because the age when men and women marry has implications for the organization of family life and for gender relations within society. This paper begins by reviewing the contributions of various social science disciplines to an understanding of the timing of marriage. Using current status data from 73…
Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions
Explaining Recent Declines in Adolescent Pregnancy in the United States
Objectives. We explored the relative contributions of declining sexual activity and improved contraceptive use to the recent decline in adolescent pregnancy rates in the United States. Methods. We used data from 1995 and 2002 for women 15 to 19 years of age to develop 2 indexes: the contraceptive risk index, summarizing the overall effectiveness of contraceptive use among sexually active adolescents (including nonuse), and the overall pregnancy r…
Contraceptive Failure in the United States
These broad-based declines in failure rates reverse a long-term pattern of minimal change. Future research should explore what lies behind these trends, as well as possibilities for further improvements
U.S. Women’s One‐Year Contraceptive Use Patterns, 2004
Strategies for reducing gaps in contraceptive use include improved counseling to help women both choose the right method and continue method use, especially when they have periods of infrequent sexual activity or are experiencing method-related side effects or problems
Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions
Challenging and Changing Gender Attitudes among Young Men in Mumbai, India
This article presents findings from a pilot intervention in 2005–6 to promote gender equity among young men from low-income communities in Mumbai, India. The project involved formative work on gender, sexuality and masculinity, and educational activities with 126 young men, aged 18–29, over a six-month period. The programme of activities was called Yari-dosti, which is Hindi for friendship or bonding among men, and was adapted from a Brazilian in…
Youth Migration and Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries
Archined est l’archive ouverte institutionnelle et la base patrimoniale des publications, communications et autres travaux scientifiques produits par les chercheur.e.s, y compris les chercheur.e.s associé.e.s, et ingénieur.e.s de l’Ined
The Proximate Determinants of Fertility
In this paper changes in the relative importance of the proximate determinants of fertility, as modernization increases, are analysed Educational attainment and type of place of current residence are used as indicators of modernization. We concentrate on the three most important proximate variables: marriage, contraception and breastfeeding, and the analysis is performed on 29 World Fertility Survey countries. Bongaarts's multiplicative model is …
The Impact of Contraceptive Use and Abortion on Fertility in sub-Saharan Africa
With the exception of sub-Saharan Africa, fertility has declined substantially in all regions of the developing world.The fertility decline, which started in Latin America and Asia in the 1960s, progressed rapidly through the decades that followed, reaching close to replacement level in these two regions (2.3 births per woman) in 2005-2010(Bongaarts and Casterline 2013).An incipient decline in fertility in sub-Saharan Africa was first observed in…
Changes in Formal Sex Education
Factors Associated with the Content of Sex Education in U.S. Public Secondary Schools
Abortion Incidence and Postabortion Care in Rwanda
Abortion is illegal in Rwanda except when necessary to protect a woman's physical health or to save her life. Many women in Rwanda obtain unsafe abortions, and some experience health complications as a result. To estimate the incidence of induced abortion, we conducted a national sample survey of health facilities that provide postabortion care and a purposive sample survey of key informants knowledgeable about abortion conditions. We found that …
Legal Abortion Worldwide in 2008
High abortion rates in some countries, and small increases in rates in others, indicate a great need for more effective family planning services for these populations. Reliable data collection systems, needed to ensure that trends can be effectively monitored, are lacking in many countries
Legal Abortion Worldwide
The abortion rate varies widely across the countries in which legal abortion is generally available and has declined in many countries since the mid-1990s
Induced Abortions and Unintended Pregnancies in Pakistan
During the past decade, unmet need for family planning has remained high in Pakistan and gains in contraceptive prevalence have been small. Drawing upon data from a 2012 national study on postabortion‐care complications and a methodology developed by the Guttmacher Institute for estimating abortion incidence, we estimate that there were 2.2 million abortions in Pakistan in 2012, an annual abortion rate of 50 per 1,000 women. A previous study esti…
Factors Associated with Abortion‐Seeking and Obtaining a Safe Abortion in Ghana
Although Ghana's abortion law is fairly liberal, unsafe abortion and its consequences remain among the largest contributors to maternal mortality in the country. This study analyzes data from the 2007 Ghana Maternal Health Survey to identify the sociodemographic profiles of women who seek to induce abortion and those who are able to obtain safe abortion services. We hypothesize that women who have access to safe abortion will not be distributed r…
Islands and the demographic transition
The health system cost of post-abortion care in Uganda
This article presents estimates based on the research conducted in 2010 of the cost to the Ugandan health system of providing post-abortion care (PAC), filling a gap in knowledge of the cost of unsafe abortion. Thirty-nine public and private health facilities were sampled representing three levels of health care, and data were collected on drugs, supplies, material, personnel time and out-of-pocket expenses. In addition, direct non-medical costs …
Variation in State Unintended Pregnancy Rates In the United States
State programs and policies should pay particular attention to increasing support for family planning services for minority groups. Findings also suggest that insurance coverage and receipt of Medicaid among women of reproductive age deserve further exploration as potentially important mechanisms for reducing state unintended pregnancy rates
Estimating the Incidence of Abortion in Pakistan
This study applies an indirect estimation method to develop comprehensive national and provincial estimates of the prevalence of abortion and abortion‐related morbidity in Pakistan. Data from a health facilities survey and a health professionals survey from 2002 are analyzed to develop estimates of postabortion hospitalizations and of the abortion rate, abortion ratio, and unwanted pregnancy rate. We estimate that 890,000 induced abortions are pe…
The health system cost of post-abortion care in Rwanda
Based on research conducted in 2012, we estimate the cost to the Rwandan health-care system of providing post-abortion care (PAC) due to unsafe abortions, a subject of policy importance not studied before at the national level. Thirty-nine public and private health facilities representing three levels of health care were randomly selected for data collection from key care providers and administrators for all five regions. Using an ingredients app…
Demographic variables and the recent trend in fertility in Guyana, 1960–1971
In Guyana during 1960–71, fertility declined not only among all women, but among all union status groups including married women, and also among both ethnic sub-groups, East Indians and non-East Indians. Discussion of the differing trends in cumulative and current fertility shows that the decline in fertility was very recent, dating from the mid-1960s, so that while cumulative fertility increased at older ages between 1960 and 1970, age-specific …
Demographic Variables and the Recent Trend in Fertility in Guyana, 1960- 1971
Islands and the demographic transition
Urbanization and Urban Growth in the Caribbean
Fertility, Union Status and Partners in the WFS Guyana and Jamaica Surveys, 1975-1976
In this paper differences in the level of fertility are examined according to women's union status and their number mf partners. A number of approaches are used to analyse these relationships: differentials by current union status, the pattern of union history, and a measure of the sum synthetic composed of periods spent in each type of union, are discussed. The trend in these differentials is also analysed; using earlier surveys and census data …
The Proximate Determinants of Fertility
In this paper changes in the relative importance of the proximate determinants of fertility, as modernization increases, are analysed Educational attainment and type of place of current residence are used as indicators of modernization. We concentrate on the three most important proximate variables: marriage, contraception and breastfeeding, and the analysis is performed on 29 World Fertility Survey countries. Bongaarts's multiplicative model is …
Comparability of questionnaires
The Sexual and Reproductive Behavior of American Women, 1982-1988
Comparison of 1988 data from the National Survey of Family Growth with 1982 data reveals that the proportion of U.S. women who have had sexual intercourse rose slightly, from 86 percent to 89 percent. Among teenagers, the proportion sexually active rose from 47 percent to 53 percent; most of the change is attributable to increases occurring among white and nonpoor teenagers, thus narrowing racial and income differences. Among women aged 15-44 in …
Today's Adolescents, Tomorrow's Parents
The report presents a descriptive overview of teenage childbearing based on data from the Demographic and Health Surveys in Brazil. Colombia and Peru as well as information from the Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Guatemala Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago with comparisons to the US and Canada. Chapters include topics on education employment marriage consensual norms and sexual activity childbearing and consequences of teenage childbearing. …
Early Marriage Among Women in Developing Countries
This study examines trends in first marriage consensual unions and cohabiting unions among adolescents. Data were obtained for 40 countries from Demographic and Health Surveys. Marriage timing was grouped for the proportion of all women aged 20-24 years who married by ages 15 18 and 20 years. Women were most likely to marry at young ages in sub-Saharan Africa. 60-92% of women aged 20-24 years married by age 20. High proportions of early marriage …
Early Marriage Among Women in Developing Countries
This study examines trends in first marriage consensual unions and cohabiting unions among adolescents. Data were obtained for 40 countries from Demographic and Health Surveys. Marriage timing was grouped for the proportion of all women aged 20-24 years who married by ages 15 18 and 20 years. Women were most likely to marry at young ages in sub-Saharan Africa. 60-92% of women aged 20-24 years married by age 20. High proportions of early marriage …
The Fertility Transition in Latin America
The Fertility Transition in Latin America
Couples' Fertility and Contraceptive Decision-Making in Developing Countries
Akinrinola Bankole, Susheela Singh, Couples' Fertility and Contraceptive Decision-Making in Developing Countries: Hearing the Man's Voice, International Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Mar., 1998), pp. 15-24
Adolescent Childbearing in Developing Countries
This article discusses the current levels and recent trends in the rate of adolescent childbearing, the timing of the first birth, and births to unmarried women for 43 developing countries. Differences in rates of adolescent childbearing by residence and level of education are also examined. The analysis is based on nationally representative fertility surveys. Substantial declines in adolescent fertility have occurred in North Africa and Asia, bu…
The Fertility Transition in Latin America
The Incidence of Abortion Worldwide
CONTEXT: Accurate measurement of induced abortion levels has proven difficult in many parts of the world. Health care workers and policymakers need information on the incidence of both legal and illegal induced abortion to provide the needed services and to reduce the negative impact of unsafe abortion on women's health. METHODS: Numbers and rates of induced abortions were estimated from four sources: official statistics or other national data on…
Adolescent Pregnancy and Childbearing
CONTEXT: Adolescent pregnancy occurs in all societies, but the level of teenage pregnancy and childbearing varies from country to country. A cross-country analysis of birth and abortion measures is valuable for understanding trends, for identifying countries that are exceptional and for seeing where further in-depth studies are needed to understand observed patterns. METHODS: Birth, abortion and population data were obtained from various sources,…
Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Adolescent Women's Sexual and Reproductive Behavior
CONTEXT: Differences among developed countries in teenagers' patterns of sexual and reproductive behavior may partly reflect differences in the extent of disadvantage. However, to date, this potential contribution has received little attention. METHODS: Researchers in Canada, France, Great Britain, Sweden and the United States used the most current survey and other data to study adolescent sexual and reproductive behavior. Comparisons were made w…
Differences in Teenage Pregnancy Rates among Five Developed Countries
CONTEXT: Adolescent pregnancy, birth, abortion and sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates are much higher in the United States than in most other developed countries. METHODS: Government statistics or nationally representative survey data were supplemented with data collected by private organizations or for regional or local populations to conduct studies of adolescent births, abortions, sexual activity and contraceptive use in Canada, the Unit…
Factors Associated with the Content of Sex Education in U.S. Public Secondary Schools
A, B and C in Uganda
Uganda is often cited as a role model in the fight against HIV/AIDS because of its success in reducing both prevalence and incidence of HIV infection since the late 1980s. Although an increase in sexual abstinence has been highlighted as a primary cause of the declines, large increases have also been recorded in monogamy and condom use. The extent to which each of these factors actually influenced the overall decline in Uganda's HIV rates has bec…
Evaluating the need for sex education in developing countries
Young people's need for sex education is evidenced by their typically early initiation of sexual activity, the often involuntary context within which they have sexual intercourse, high‐risk sexual behaviours and the inadequate levels of knowledge of means of protecting their sexual health. The earliness of initiation of sexual intercourse has implications for the age by which sexuality education should be provided. The extent and context of sexua…
Parent-Child Relations Among Minor Females Attending U.S. Family Planning Clinics
CONTEXT: Relatively little is known about parent-child relations among minor females who use family planning clinics. Such information could inform the debate on parental involvement legislation and help clinics develop effective strategies to promote positive parental engagement. METHODS: Self-administered surveys were completed in 2003–2004 by 1,526 women younger than 18 attending 79 U.S. family planning clinics, providing measures of parent-ch…
Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions
Population (75 works) · Medicine (69 works) · Pregnancy (58 works) · Family planning (57 works) · Environmental health (56 works) · Demography (54 works) · Reproductive Health and Contraception (54 works) · Abortion (51 works) · Research methodology (51 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (50 works)