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Women's and Reproductive Health

Triplet newborns in Sierra Leone
Triplet newborns in Sierra Leone

Obstetricians and gynaecologists within the Oxford University Global Surgery Group (OUGSG) have been and are involved in a range of activities within women’s health including:

  • Impact COVID-19 on sexual and reproductive health services at a global level
  • Influencing policy to promote equitable access to sexual and reproductive health and rights
  • Safe delivery of obstetric services
  • Task shifting and task sharing in women’s health
  • Community health volunteers/workers and their role in improving women’s health: including the use of mobile technologies for high-risk pregnant women in rural India and support for improving uptake in postpartum family planning (PPFP)  
  • Postpartum contraception as a means to reducing maternal mortality through expansion PPFP/postpartum intrauterine device (PPIUD) services
  • Anaemia and postpartum IUD
  • Health Economic Evaluation as a means to enabling policy changes in women’s health in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)
  • Dissemination WHO Family Planning guidelines through obstetrics and gynaecology societies.

We have strong links with the International Federation of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (FIGO), as well as collaborative work with the WHO HRP (the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction) department.

Our collaborations include FIGO PPIUD countries and WHO collaboration countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, Mali and Guinea).

Our team

TV interview

DW News Interview with Anita Makins: ‘COVID-19 Special: Pregnant in a pandemic’

Recent Publications

A Makins et al. The negative impact of COVID‐19 on contraception and sexual and reproductive health: Could immediate postpartum LARCs be the solution? IJGO May 2020 

Rwegoshora, F.J., Muganyizi, P.S., Kimario, G.F., Ponsian, P., Makins, A. A one-year cohort study of complications, continuation, and failure rates of postpartum TCu380A in Tanzania. Reproductive Health 17, 150 (2020).  

Muganyizi, P.S., Kimario, G., Rwegoshora, F.G., Ponsian, P., Makins, A. Impact of immediate postpartum insertion of TCu380A on the quantity and duration of lochia discharges in Tanzania. BMC Contraception and Reproductive Medicine. 2020. 

Thapa, K., Dhital, R., Rajbhandari, S., Mishra, S., Subedi, S., Botel, BR., Vaidya, S., Pande, S., Tunnacliffe, E-A., Makins, A., Arulkumaran, S., Improving post-partum family planning services provided by female community health volunteers in Nepal: a mixed methods study. BMC Health Services Research 2020; 123 . 2. 

Thapa K., Dhital R., Rajbhandari S., Thapa, S., Pokhrel, S., Mishra, S., Subedi, S., Singh, D., Acharya, S., Pokhrel, SM., Thapa, K., Poudel, A., Vaidya, S., Tunnacliffe, E-A., Makins, A., Arulkumaran, S., . Prevalence of Postpartum Family Planning Service Coverage in Selected Referral Facilities of Nepal. JNMA J Nepal Med Assoc. 2020;58 (221):1‐5.

Makins A, Ehmer J, Piprek A, Mbofana F, Ross A, Hobbins MA (2019) Demand-side financing in the form of baby packages in Northern Mozambique: Results from an observational study. PLoS ONE 14(5): e0215282.

Makins, A. and Arulkumaran, S., Institutionalization of postpartum intrauterine devices. Int J Gynecol Obstet, 2018; 143: 1-3. 

Makins, A., Taghinejadi, N., Sethi, M., Machiyama, K., Thapa, K., Perera, G., Munganyizi, P.S., Bhardwaj, A. and Arulkumaran, S., Factors influencing the likelihood of acceptance of postpartum intrauterine devices across four countries: India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. Int J Gynecol Obstet, 2018; 143: 13-19. 

Thapa, K., Dhital, R., Rajbhandari, S., Acharya, S., Mishra, S., Pokhrel, SM., Pande, S., Tunnacliffe, E-A., Makins, A. Factors affecting the behaviour outcomes on post-partum intrauterine contraceptive device uptake and continuation in Nepal: a qualitative study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2019; 148

Muganyizi, P.S., Kimario, G., Ponsian, P., Howard, K., Sethi, M. and Makins, A., Clinical outcomes of postpartum intrauterine devices inserted by midwives in Tanzania. Int J Gynecol Obstet, 2018; 143: 38-42.

Recent Publications cont.

Sy MP, O'Leary N, Nagraj S, El-Awaisi A, O'Carroll V, Xyrichis A. Doing interprofessional research in the COVID-19 era: A discussion paper. Journal of Interprofessional Care.  DOI: 10.1080/13561820.2020.1791808. 2020 Jul 27. 

O’Carroll V, Owens M, Sy M, El-Awaisi A, Xyrichis A, Leigh J, Nagraj S, Huber M, Hutchings M, McFadyen A. Top tips for interprofessional education and collaborative practice research: a guide for students and early career researchers. Journal of Interprofessional Care. 2020 Jul 2:1-6.

Nagraj S, Kennedy SH, Norton R, Jha V, Praveen D, Hinton L, Hirst JE. Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Pregnancy and Implications for Long-Term Health: Identifying the Research Priorities for Low-Resource Settings. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine. 2020 Mar 20;7:40. 

Philipo GS, Nagraj S, Bokhary ZM, Lakhoo K. Lessons from developing, implementing and sustaining a participatory partnership for children’s surgical care in Tanzania. BMJ Global Health. 2020 Mar 1;5(3):e002118.

Nagraj S, Hinton L, Praveen D, Kennedy S, Norton R, Hirst J. Women's and healthcare providers’ perceptions of long‐term complications associated with hypertension and diabetes in pregnancy: a qualitative study. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. 2019 Aug 16.

Winters N, Langer L, Nduku P, Robson J, O'Donovan J, Maulik P, Paton C, Geniets A, Peiris D, Nagraj S. Using mobile technologies to support the training of community health workers in low-income and middle-income countries: mapping the evidence. BMJ Global Health. 2019 Jul 1;4(4):e001421.

O’Donovan J, O’Donovan C, Nagraj S. The role of community health workers in cervical cancer screening in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic scoping review of the literature. BMJ Global Health. 2019 May 1;4(3):e001452.