AID grant no. EUR-0249-G-00-1015-00 to Trust through Health, Inc. to provide assistance to Romania targetting family planning and the recently initiated program for institutionalized children

(TTH) to conduct research in Romania on issues related to (1) family planning (FP) and other health concerns of women of childbearing age, and (2) the recently initiated program for institutionalized children. FP research will focus on four areas. (1) TTH will analyze available data on trends in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular mortality, which seem to be unusually high among women of childbearing age. (2) TTH will assess the safety of current FP practices through extensive interviewing and observation in several facilities, and will estimate the relative risks of oral contraceptive and IUD"s, especially in relation to cardiovascular mortality and reproductive health problems. (3) TTH will collect and analyze data on the suspected high prevalence of infertility among Romanian women due to repeated illegal abortions and pelvic infections. (4) To help ensure that women have access to quality FP and other medical services, TTH will make a descriptive analysis of the public and private health care systems, with special attention on developing clinical protocols appropriate to Romania. Finally, TTH will make a general assessment of the condition of institutionalized children, including the issues of classification and clinical diagnosis and a description of the progress of recently initiated USAID-supported programs in this area.