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Access status: Open Access ,
Brownbag Presentation: Learners with African Ancestral Calling: When Schooling Denies a Basic Human Right
(APHRC, 2026) Mkhomi, Moses Sipho; Karisa, Amani
In many African educational contexts, including South Africa, learners who experience an "ancestral calling" a spiritual mandate to serve as healers, diviners, or custodians of tradition face significant systemic challenges. While these callings are central to indigenous belief systems, formal schooling environments often misinterpret them as deviance, leading to stigmatization, disciplinary action, and exclusion. This presentation explores the tension between constitutional protections for religious and cultural freedom and the persistence of colonial legacies within educational spaces. By drawing on emerging evidence, Dr. Moses Sipho Mkhomi analyzes how learners and educational stakeholders navigate these conflicts and examines the practical requirements for ensuring that the right to religious and cultural expression is realized in practice, moving beyond mere policy.
Access status: Open Access ,
Executive Director’s Monthly Bulletin December 2025 & January 2026
(APHRC, 2026-09) Kyobutungi, Catherine; Vaughan, Patricia C.; Sailer, James; Owolabi, Onikepe; El-Sadr, Wafaa; Rao, Naveen; Farley, Sara; Aina, Tade; Prasad, Neena; Momanyi, Kristine; Patterson, Linda; Dansereau, Emily; Mwase, Cynthia
This special edition of the Executive Director's Bulletin highlights APHRC's recent engagements with key funders, partners, and academic institutions from December 2025 to January 2026. The bulletin details strategic meetings aimed at strengthening collaborations, exploring new partnership opportunities, and aligning APHRC's vision with evolving global health and development priorities. Key themes include advancing African knowledge systems, fostering innovation in health data and survey methodologies, supporting sexual and reproductive health and rights, and promoting joined-up strategies across programs. The bulletin also reflects on organizational resilience during a challenging funding environment and outlines a forward-looking approach to collaboration and impact.
Access status: Open Access ,
Report: Abortion Incidence and Severity of Complications in Liberia
(African Population and Health Research Center, 2025) Ouedraogo, Ramatou
Liberia has long recorded among the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world, with recent survey data placing the rate at 742 deaths per 100,000 live births, and unsafe abortion identified as a contributor to roughly one in ten of these deaths. While universal access to safe abortion procedures and post-abortion care could virtually eliminate abortion-related deaths, Liberia's penal code permits abortion only under narrow conditions, including to save a woman's life, in cases of rape, incest, or fetal impairment, and requires certification by two doctors before a procedure can be performed. This report draws on a national abortion incidence study to estimate the prevalence of induced abortion and the severity of related complications across Liberia, building on earlier estimates that have varied widely, from 6 percent in a 2007 survey to 32 percent in a 2015 population-based study. It situates its findings within a policy landscape that includes 2019 National Comprehensive Abortion Care Guidelines and ongoing revisions to the Public Health Law aimed at expanding legal access to safe abortion. The report concludes that closing remaining gaps in contraceptive access and sexuality education, alongside continued legal reform, is essential to reducing Liberia's unsafe abortion burden.
Access status: Open Access ,
Evidence Brief: Lived Experiences and Public Perceptions of Sexual and Gender Minorities in Kenya
(African Population and Health Research Center, 2025) Igonya, Emmy Kageha; Otukpa, Emmanuel; Muga, Winstoun
Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, queer, and other gender non-conforming (LGBTQ+) people in sub-Saharan Africa face identity-based violations of their human rights and injustices arising from stigma and discrimination across socioecological levels. In Kenya, the increasing prominence of LGBTQ+ activity is accompanied by the persistence of legal sanctions against same-sex behavior and the perpetuation of deep-seated cultural prejudices. These factors perpetuate harassment, discrimination, and acts of violence against individuals within the LGBTQ+ community. Furthermore, Kenya s Penal Code contains provisions that prohibit same-sex activities as an unnatural offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Religious and heteronormative social norms adversely affect the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals. However, there is inadequate data on the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people. To gain more insights into the situation for LGBTQ+ people in Kenya, the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) implemented a mixed methods study to understand the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people and the general public s perceptions of LGBTQ+ issues. We explored the current situation for LGBTQ+ people in terms of factors contributing to, and the nature and forms of social exclusion. Specific aspects examined in the study included daily experiences of stigma, discrimination, human rights abuses, the well-being of, and legal framework for LGBTQ+ people. The brief summarizes the findings of a 2022 study of the lived experiences of sexual and gender minorities across four Kenyan counties, namely, Nairobi, Eldoret, Kisumu, and Mombasa. The study highlights the impact of societal attitudes, health challenges, and access to support services for LGBTQ+ individuals across the four regions. In Kenya, the increasing prominence of LGBTQ+ activity is accompanied by the persistence of legal sanctions against same-sex behavior and the perpetuation of deepseated cultural prejudices. These factors perpetuate harassment, discrimination, and acts of violence against individuals within the LGBTQ+ community.
Access status: Open Access ,
Policy Brief: A Case for a Safe Motherhood & Reproductive Health (SMRH) Law in Sierra Leone
(African Population and Health Research Center, 2023) Mangwana, Jane V.; Omao, Doris; Kamara, Fodie Paul O.
Unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal mortality across Sub-Saharan Africa, and Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with unsafe abortion accounting for roughly one in ten of these deaths. This policy brief argues that a substantial unmet need for modern contraception, combined with the country's restrictive abortion laws, drives many women toward clandestine and unsafe abortion procedures. It further notes that limited access to sexual and reproductive health information and services, compounded by a shortage of trained medical personnel, has intensified the crisis. The brief presents the case for Sierra Leone's proposed Safe Motherhood & Reproductive Health Bill, arguing that its enactment would expand access to sexual and reproductive health information and services and give women greater ability to make informed reproductive choices, thereby reducing reliance on unsafe abortion. The authors call on the government to fast-track passage of the bill and urge the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to ensure its effective implementation once enacted, positioning the legislation as a critical step toward reducing preventable maternal deaths in the country.