Research and Practice – Women's, Sexual and Reproductive Health Area of Interest | Johns Hopkins

Title	PI / Team	Description
The fertility, maternal health, and infant health consequences of reproductive policy change	Alison Gemmill, Suzanne Bell	This study aims to evaluate the impact of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision on fertility; determine the impact of the Dobbs decision on severe maternal morbidity, and; assess the impact of the Dobbs decision on infant birth outcomes, including preterm birth, low birthweight, and small for gestational age. This work will produce results that can inform time-sensitive reproductive health policy decision making in states in the coming years.
Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA): Adolescents	Caroline Moreau, Linnea Zimmerman, Suzanne Bell, Celia Karp	Across several projects in Rajasthan and Ethiopia, we work to develop a comprehensive set of indicators exploring sexual competencies, including literacy, autonomy, normative expectations, and preventive SRH practices among adolescence 10-19 years to guide comprehensive sexual education programming in low-resource contexts and assess the relevance of these competencies for future SRH outcomes. With support from CIFF, this project also serves to evaluate the impact of ongoing interventions promoting SRHR and gender equity among adolescents in Rajasthan.
Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA): women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive empowerment	Caroline Moreau, Celia Karp, Shannon Wood.	The PMA women’s and girls’ empowerment in sexual and reproductive health (WGE-SRH) project uses qualitative and quantitative methods to explore barriers to and facilitators of women’s empowerment in decisions related to sex, pregnancy, and family planning in sub-Saharan Africa. With support from the Gates Foundation, this project explores the interplay between SRH empowerment and reproductive health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa.
Measuring pregnancy preferences among women and men in a low-resource, high-fertility setting	Celia Karp, Linnea Zimmerman, Kimberly Mihayo	This mixed-methods study among women and men in Uganda seeks to improve gender-specific measurement of pregnancy preferences, including people’s desires, emotions, and anticipated practical consequences of a potential pregnancy, in low-resource, high-fertility contexts. With NIH support and through collaboration with researchers at Makerere University School of Public Health and University of California San Francisco, this project will strengthen the capacity of health programs and researchers to identify individuals with strong desires to avoid pregnancy and tailor person-centered reproductive services to support individuals them in achieving their reproductive goals.
Interventions for intimate partners who have been abusive	Charvonne Holliday Nworu	We partner with community agencies to create and evaluate innovative intervention approaches for people who have caused harm to an intimate partner, emphasizing the impact of social and structural factors. Our current foci include 1) developing the first 24-hour hotline for abusive partners in the U.S., 2) understanding the influence of social networking in fostering IPV and general desistance, and 3) evaluating a social-determinants-focused abuse intervention program for urban men.
Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS)	Kristin Mmari, Caroline Moreau, Robert Blum, Linnea Zimmerman, Celia Karp, Astha Ramayia, Saifuddin Ahmed, Mengmeng Li, Shoshanna Fine	Launched in 2012, the GEAS is a longitudinal study exploring gender socialization and adolescent health in 11 urban poor communities across the globe. Integrating cross-site findings from qualitative and quantitative work, the GEAS examines whether gender transformative interventions in early adolescence can promote healthier transitions into adulthood.
Performance Monitoring for Action Ethiopia	Linnea Zimmerman, Saifuddin Ahmed, Celia Karp, Shannon Wood	PMA Ethiopia, a cornerstone in health research in Ethiopia, is a collaborative effort between Addis Ababa University, the Federal Ministry of Health, and Johns Hopkins University. It's more than just a survey—it's a reliable source of crucial data on maternal, infant, and reproductive health. Through this initiative, insights are gathered to drive meaningful improvements in healthcare policies and programs, all aimed at enhancing the well-being of Ethiopian women and children.
Understanding developmental trajectories among early adolescents to improve reproductive health	Linnea Zimmerman, Saifuddin Ahmed, Celia Karp, Caroline Moreau.	The project uses data from the Global Early Adolescent Study to quantify how empowerment develops through the course of adolescence, for both boys and girls. With support from NIH, the study employs a gender lens to identify causes and consequences of gendered empowerment transitions to inform strategies that aim to improve adolescent SRH.
Early marriage and early childbearing among conflict-affected and displaced adolescents in Bangladesh and Yemen (EMEC)	Linnea Zimmerman, W. Courtland Robinson	EMEC explores how humanitarian crises impact family formation, specifically, early marriage and childbearing among adolescents aged 15-24. By examining these dynamics, the project aims to uncover the challenges faced by young people during emergencies and factors influencing demand for and use of family planning services.
Agile 2.0 Gender Equity/GBV: Measurement optimization and evidence for action	Michele Decker, Shannon Wood, Anaise Williams	This initiative blends measurement optimization and innovation with surveillance to estimate gender norms, inequities, harmful experiences including GBV, reproductive coercion, and their response, and reproductive, economic, and mental health impacts. With support from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the primary innovation hub and partnerships are based in Kenya.
Housing Supports for GBV Survivors	Michele Decker, Kristin Bevilacqua, Charvonne Holliday Nworu	The mixed-methods initiative examines access to and effectiveness of housing solutions, and barriers and facilitators therein, against the backdrop of social and structural inequity. With support from the Bloomberg American Health Initiative and National Institutes of Justice.
myPlanKenya: Taking tech solutions to scale for women at risk for and experiencing IPV.	Michele Decker, Shannon Wood, Nancy Glass	Our team study adapted, implemented and tested via RCT a community-partnered, tech-based safety decision aid. With NIH support, this tool is undergoing dissemination and implementation to enable GBV-response readiness across relevant health, social and justice sectors, and track impact in linked cohorts of women and social service providers.
The Environmental/Situation Sexual Violence Prevention	Michele Decker, Kristin Bevilacqua, Charvonne Holliday Nworu	This initiative applies principles of environmental and situational prevention to the persistent gendered threat of sexual violence on college campuses, in partnership with Maryland Department of Health, Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and diverse campus partners, with support from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA)	Anglewicz, Linnea Zimmerman, Saifuddin Ahmed, Suzanne Bell, Celia Karp, Shannon Wood, Caroline Moreau, Dana Sarnak, Carolina Cardona, Michele Decker	The Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) project is a population-based data collection platform initiated in 2013 to monitor essential SRH indicators in 9 LMICs country/regions. Since 2019, PMA has adopted a longitudinal design to uncover psychosocial and health service factors influencing and outcomes resulting from contraceptive use dynamics. The platform is used as a research incubator for projects on abortion, adolescent sexual and reproductive health, women and girls’ empowerment, gender-based violence, and FGM, described below. For more information, please visit pmadata.org.
Advancing Understanding and Measurement of Infertility and Related Fears and Stigma in Low-Resource Countries	Suzanne Bell, Caroline Moreau, Philip Anglewicz	This study seeks to improve infertility estimation in low-resource settings and develop new psychometrically valid quantitative measures to inform strategies to reduce infertility-related stigma and fear.
Changes in pregnancy outcomes among high-risk pregnancies post-Dobbs: An interrupted time series analysis of hospital discharge data	Suzanne Bell, Alison Gemmill, Anne Burke	This study aims to understand how abortion bans imposed following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization impact pregnancy care among hospitalized high-risk pregnancies involving lethal congenital anomalies, and how abortion bans impact maternal outcomes via changes in pregnancy care among hospitalized high-risk pregnancies for whom intervention to end the pregnancy is medically indicated.
Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA): Abortion	Suzanne Bell, Caroline Moreau	The PMA Abortion project seeks to advance measurement of abortion incidence and safety using an innovative social network-based approach to study this sensitive behavior in several countries in Africa and Rajasthan, India and generate important insights regarding social inequities surrounding abortion and the capacity of the healthcare system to address complications.