Reproductive Health Matters articles from May 2008

Reproductive Health Matters archives from May 2008

Conflict and crisis settings: promoting sexual and reproductive rights.(EDITORIAL)
May 1, 2008... "The camp is the space that is opened when the state of exception begins to become the rule... Insofar as its inhabitants [are] stripped of every political status and wholly reduced to bare life, the camp [is] also the most absolute...

Reproductive health: a right for refugees and internally displaced persons.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: Continued political and civil unrest in low-resource countries underscores the ongoing need for specialised reproductive health services for displaced people. Displaced women particularly face high maternal mortality, unmet need for...

Legal aspects of conflict-induced migration by women.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: This paper surveys the international legal frameworks, including the many guidelines, handbooks, resolutions, toolkits, conclusions and manuals produced by various United Nations bodies, that confirm an awareness of the protection...

Providing reproductive health care to internally displaced persons: barriers experienced by humanitarian agencies.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: Reproductive health care for internally displaced persons (IDPs) is recognised by the Inter-Agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Refugee Situations and the Reproductive Health Response in Conflict Consortium as a neglected...

The MOM Project: delivering maternal health services among internally displaced populations in eastern Burma.(Mobile Obstetric Maternal )
May 1, 2008... Abstract: Alternative strategies to increase access to reproductive health services among internally displaced populations are urgently needed. In eastern Burma, continuing conflict and lack of functioning health systems render the emphasis on...

A basic package of health services for post-conflict countries: implications for sexual and reproductive health services.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: Health systems in countries emerging from conflict are often characterised by damaged infrastructure, limited human resources, weak stewardship and a proliferation of non-governmental organisations. This con result in the disrupted...

Delivering maternal health care services in an internal conflict setting in Maguindanao, Philippines.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: To improve access to maternal health care and family planning services in conflict-stricken Maguindanao province, southern Philippines, several non-governmental organisations have begun collaborating with local public health services....

Reproductive health concerns in six conflict-affected areas of Sri Lanka.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: This article draws on a study conducted by the Women and Media Collective between 2004 and 2005 to highlight some of the reproductive health concerns of women from Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim ethnic groups, living in situations of...

Conflict and development: challenges in responding to sexual and reproductive health needs in Timor-Leste.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: In April and May 2006, internal conflict in Timor-Leste led to the displacement of approximately 150,000 people, around 15% of the population. The violence was most intense in Dili, the capital, where many residents were displaced...

The need for priority reproductive health services for displaced Iraqi women and girls.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: Disregarding reproductive health in situations of conflict or natural disaster has serious consequences, particularly for women and girls affected by the emergency. In an effort to protect the health and save the lives of women and...

Palestinian women's sexual and reproductive health rights in a longstanding humanitarian crisis.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: This paper results from a study conducted in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in September 2002 to test the usefulness of a guide for a comprehensive approach to sexual and reproductive health rights and needs of refugee women....

Deaths among young, single women in 2000-2001 in the West Bank, Palestinian Occupied Territories.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: A study in 2000-2001 of causes of death of women of reproductive age (15-49) in the West Bank, Palestinian Occupied Territories, found that 154 of the 411 deceased women aged 15-49 with known marital status were single. Death...

Health services for survivors of gender-based violence in Northern Uganda: a qualitative study.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: The 20-year war in northern Uganda has resulted in up to 1.7 million people being internally displaced, and impoverishment and vulnerability to violence amongst the civilian population. This qualitative study examined the status of...

Fistula and traumatic genital injury from sexual violence in a conflict setting in Eastern Congo: case studies.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: The Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC) is currently undergoing a brutal war. Armed groups from the DRC and neighbouring countries are committing atrocities and systematically using sexual violence as a weapon of...

Communal violence in Gujarat, India: impact of sexual violence and responsibilities of the health care system.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: Situations of chronic conflict across the globe make it imperative to draw attention to its gendered health consequences, particularly the violation of women's reproductive and sexual rights. Since early 2002 in Gujarat, western...

Guidelines for Gender-Sensitive Disaster Management by Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development: a revolutionary document.
May 1, 2008... IN 2000, at a special session of the UN General Assembly, "Gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century", the inefficiencies and inadequacies of existing approaches and intervention methods in responding to natural...

Who owns the body? Indigenous African discourses of the body and contemporary sexual rights rhetoric.(COMMENTARY)(Report)
May 1, 2008... Abstract: The realisation of sexual rights remains a daunting challenge in most of sub-Saharan Africa despite the articulation of these rights in several international documents and national laws. In this paper, we highlight a possible but...

Women, harm reduction and HIV.(MORE FEATURES)
May 1, 2008... Abstract: Gender shapes the experience of drug use and its associated risks. In most parts of the world, however, harm reduction and drug treatment programmes that tailor their services to meet women's needs are rare or nonexistent. Many...

In vitro fertilisation policy in Israel and women's perspectives: the more the better?
May 1, 2008... Abstract: Israel offers nearly full funding for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) to any Israeli woman irrespective of her marital status or sexual orientation, until she has two children with her current partner. Consequently, Israeli women are the...

Adolescent pregnancy in Argentina: evidence-based recommendations for public policies.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: In Argentina adolescent pregnancy is still regarded as a public health problem or a "social epidemic': However, it is necessary to ask from which perspective and for whom it is a problem, and what type of problem. This article...

Using drama for school-based adolescent sexuality education in Zaria, Nigeria.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: This paper describes the use of drama and participatory methods in a girls-only secondary school in Zaria, Nigeria, as a means of sexuality education, carried out by the Nigerian Popular Theatre Alliance and the Second Chance...

Safe conception for HIV discordant couples through sperm-washing: experience and perceptions of patients in Milan, Italy.
May 1, 2008... Abstract: Our research explored the reproductive desires of HIV-negative women and their HIV-positive partners who underwent assisted conception based on sperm-washing and intrauterine insemination in Italy. Twenty-two semi-structured...

Peace and security undermined by parliamentary suspension, Afghanistan.(ROUND UP: Conflict and Crisis Settings)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Malalai Joya entered the Lower House of Afghanistan's new Parliament in September 2005. A staunch critic of the warlords and defender of women's rights, she has consistently been stopped from speaking in Parliament or had speeches cut short....

Violence against women in Burundi.(ROUND UP: Conflict and Crisis Settings)
May 1, 2008... In early January 2008, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) submitted a shadow report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in collaboration with the Burundian Christians Association for the...

Rape and post-conflict justice in Sierra Leone.(ROUND UP: Conflict and Crisis Settings)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Special Court for Sierra Leone has handed down lengthy prison terms for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the civil war, including rape. The sentencing of senior military leaders for sexual crimes is an historic...

West African governments must tackle violence against schoolgirls.(ROUND UP: Advocacy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... A group of policymakers, teachers' unions and civil society organisations claim that to improve girls' education, West African governments must adopt national policies which address all aspects of violence against schoolgirls who face rape by...

Rape and beatings of women "normal" in Niger.(ROUND UP: Advocacy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Beatings and mental and physical abuse are frequently part of life in Niger, demonstrated by a survey carried out by Oxfam in Eastern Niger in 2006. 70% of women said it was "normal" for their husbands, fathers and brothers to regularly beat,...

Iranian campaigners for women's rights arrested.(ROUND UP: Advocacy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... An Iranian journalist and active member of the One Million Signatures campaign, Maryam Hossienkhah, was arrested in November 2007 and imprisoned for six weeks. Days before the arrest, the website of the Women's Cultural Centre, where she is an...

Global campaign to stop stoning and killing women.(ROUND UP: Advocacy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Global Campaign to Stop Stoning and Killing Women was launched by a group of activists, lawyers, journalists and academics in November 2007 in Istanbul, coordinated by Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML). The Campaign urges the United...

Justice fails Afghan women.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Afghanistan is building new jails for women despite no signs of an increase in crime. A suggested solution to the lack of transitional housing for released prisoners is to use jails as secure places where women can stay until they are...

The UN Human Rights Council a year later.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The new UN Human Rights Council replaced the Commission on Human Rights, which had become disreputable for a number of reasons. The structure and workings of the Human Rights Council were intended to address the flaws of its predecessor,...

The law and forced marriage.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... This initial comparative literature review provides an overview of what nations are doing in the area of the law relating to forced marriage. A forced marriage, often driven by parents and affecting young people, occurs when people are coerced...

Killing a fetus by assaulting a woman is not murder, South Africa.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... A woman in South Africa who was 38 weeks pregnant and the father of the baby were leaving a gynaecology appointment when a marl entered their car, threatened them with a gun and forced them to drive to an isolated area. He shot the man in the...

Frozen embryos not protected by law in Ireland, because they are not "unborn".(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The High Court of Ireland has ruled that frozen human embryos are not "unborn" human beings and therefore do not merit protection under Article 40.3.3 of the Irish Constitution. This article provides that: "The State acknowledges the right to...

Woman drug user prosecuted for murder after stillbirth in the US.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) has worked since 2004 on behalf of Theresa Hernandez, a woman in Oklahoma US charged with first-degree murder for having a stillbirth. The prosecutor attributed the pregnancy loss to her use of the...

MPs call for safe abortion law in Uganda.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(member of parliments)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Some Ugandan Members of Parliament plan to table a private member's Bill to legalise abortion in specific circumstances. The Maputo Plan of Action agreed by Africa's Ministers of Health in 2003, including Uganda, and high level representatives...

Slovak court rejects attempt to outlaw abortion.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... On 4 December 2007, the Slovak Constitutional Court rebuffed an attempt by conservative politicians to reverse the current abortion law, which allows abortion on request during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Members of the Christian...

Technical guideline on non-punishable abortion in Argentina.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... In Argentina, the Criminal Code considers abortion a crime with two exceptions: "to avoid a risk to the life or health of the mother provided this risk cannot be avoided by other means"; and "if the pregnancy has resulted from rape or sexual...

UK counts teenage pregnancies but not teenage mothers.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Public health policies in Britain aim to halve teenage pregnancy rates among under-18s by 2010, and reduce the risk of social exclusion of teenage parents by supporting their participation in education, training and employment. The evidence...

Men to join the equality team in Norway.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Norwegian Government is preparing the world's first parliamentary proposition on men and gender equality, to be presented to the Parliament in spring 2008. Content will be based on a recent survey of 2,800 men and women who answered...

Prostitution across the Nordic countries.(ROUND UP: Law and Policy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Since 1999, it has been illegal in Sweden to buy sexual services, and the Norwegian Government proposes to introduce a similar law. However, there is insufficient knowledge about the extent of prostitution and which measures are most effective....

Detours and shortcuts on the road to maternal mortality reduction.(ROUND UP: Maternal Mortality)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Real improvements in maternal health will only be seen if resources are focused on strengthening health systems. Some current programme strategies which have taken place during the past few years may satisfy the urgency to make progress, but...

Expanding magnesium sulfate to treatment hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in developing countries.(ROUND UP: Maternal Mortality)
May 1, 2008... Magnesium sulfate is recommended by WHO as the safest, most effective and low-cost medication for use against hypertensive diseases of pregnancy. 63,000 women (16% of all maternal deaths) die each year in developing countries from these common,...

Multicentre study on risks and benefits of caesarean delivery, Latin America.(ROUND UP: Maternal Mortality)(Clinical report)
May 1, 2008... A multicentre, prospective study assessing the risks and benefits associated with caesarean delivery, compared with vaginal delivery, prompted a large number of rapid responses on the BMJ website. The study, part of the 2005 WHO global survey...

Few midwives to tackle Afghanistan's maternal and infant health.(ROUND UP: Maternal Mortality)
May 1, 2008... A midwife training scheme driven by the British agency Merlin is helping to increase the number of births assisted by a skilled health worker, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. Amidst a context of excessively high maternal mortality,...

Determinants of reduced maternal mortality in Bangladesh.(ROUND UP: Maternal Mortality)
May 1, 2008... The achievement of MDG-5 is not an impossible dream for Bangladesh, where maternal mortality has decreased substantially over the last 30 years. Investment in trained midwives, emergency obstetric care and safe abortion have been important, but...

Poor partogram use in Dar-es-Salaam perinatal care study.(ROUND UP: Maternal Mortality)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... WHO's recommendation of the widespread use of the partogram for all women in labour has been adopted by the Ministry of Health of Tanzania, making its use in labour obligatory at all levels of obstetric care. A study in 2004 investigated the...

Consequences and costs of severe obstetric complications in Burkina Faso.(ROUND UP: Maternal Mortality)(Clinical report)
May 1, 2008... A prospective cohort study in Burkina Faso followed a sample of 337 women hospitalised with severe obstetric complications during the first year post-partum and 677 unmatched controls with uncomplicated delivery. Women with severe complications...

Obstetric risk insurance removes financial barrier to emergency obstetric care in Mauritania.(ROUND UP: Maternal Mortality)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Emergency obstetric care can represent a catastrophic health expenditure for poor households, causing delay in seeking and providing care. The Nouakchott Safe Motherhood Project in Mauritania, established in 1998, focused on improving access...

Maternal mortality surveillance in Jamaica.(ROUND UP: Maternal Mortality)(Report)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... In 1998, to ensure reporting, maternal deaths in Jamaica were given the status of a class I notifiable event, which requires active surveillance to identify cases. From 1998 to 2003, maternal deaths were increasingly reported but the number in...

Prescribing in maternity care: the legacy of Soviet medicine in Russia.(ROUND UP: Maternal Mortality)
May 1, 2008... The Soviet Union did not develop a modern pharmaceutical industry due to lack of access to scientific information and restrictions on imports of equipment such as computers, among other reasons. There is now greater access to modern drugs in...

Bulletin of WHO focus on maternal health.(ROUND UP: Maternal Mortality)(Report)
May 1, 2008... In 2007, the Safe Motherhood Initiative was 20 years old. However, the numbers remain staggering: each year there are at least 3.2 million stillborn babies, 4 million neonatal deaths and more than half a million maternal deaths. Very few...

Obesity an increasing risk in childbirth, UK.(ROUND UP: Maternal Mortality)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... A confidential inquiry into maternal and child health which reviews maternity care in the UK every three years, reports that obesity is a growing risk factor and the chief concern in the deaths of women during pregnancy and childbirth. Of the...

Condom use associated with decreased urethral discharge in Malawi.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... An audit of clinic records charted the increasing availability of condoms with a concurrent decreased incidence of patients presenting with STI-associated urethral discharge in a small Malawian community largely isolated from neighbouring...

Simultaneous use of multiple condoms in Cambodia.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Report)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Simultaneous use of multiple condoms, also called double bagging, is a common practice among US men who have sex with men, and a study in Thailand in 1995 found that 51% of female sex workers reported using multiple condoms with clients. It is...

Catholics in five countries believe good Catholics can use condoms.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... A five-country poll of over 4,000 randomly sampled Catholics over the age of 18 shows that Catholics support the use of condoms. When asked if condoms are pro-life because they prevent the spread of HIV, 90% of Catholics in Mexico, 86% in...

Review of impact of promotion on condom use in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... This systematic review identified 62 papers published between 1998 and 2006 presenting evaluations of interventions involving condom promotion: 44 from sub-Saharan Africa and 18 from Asia. 42 reported significant increases in condom use. There...

Female condoms improve public health in Madagascar.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Increasing the availability of female condoms can reduce STI risk. In Madagascar, 1,000 sex workers were followed for 18 months. Status for three STIs was assessed every six months, and condom use every two months. Male condoms were promoted...

No condoms for Anambra State, Nigeria.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... It is now illegal to encourage the use of condoms in southeast Nigeria's Anambra State. The state government has also banned the advocacy and distribution of other forms of contraception, including intra-uterine devices and other "un-natural"...

Female condom fails to take off in Kenya.(ROUND UP: Condoms)(Report)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... An estimated 740,000 women have HIV in Kenya. While 200,000 female condoms were supplied in 2007, consumption was only 10,000. The failure of the female condom to take off deprives women and men of one of the most effective ways to protect...

Funding proposals for integration of HIV and sexual and reproductive health care.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(human immunodeficicnecy virus)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Global AIDS Alliance, Interact Worldwide, the International HIM/AIDS Alliance, the International Planned Parenthood Federation and their Africa Regional Office, Friends of the Global Fund Africa, and Population Action International hosted...

Individuals with undetectable viral load and no STI said not to transmit HIV sexually.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(sexually transmitted infections)(human immunodeficicency virus)
May 1, 2008... Swiss HIV experts have reached a consensus that HIV-positive individuals on effective antiretroviral therapy (ART} and without sexually transmitted infections (STIs) will not transmit HIV sexually, following a review of the medical literature....

High numbers of HIV serodiscordant couples in Africa.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(human immunodeficiency virus)
May 1, 2008... Most analyses of the determinants of HIV infection are carried out at the individual level. The recent Demographic and Health Surveys allow the study of HIV infection at the level of the cohabiting couple. Data from Burkina Faso, Cameroon,...

Sexual networking and HIV on a Malawian island.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)
May 1, 2008... Sexual transmission accounts for most HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa but there is limited knowledge about the structure and characteristics of sexual networks among the general population. This study combines complete population data on...

Self-monitoring of behaviour as a risk reduction strategy for people with HIV.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(human immunodeficiency virus)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... A study with 365 people living with HIV examined the impact of repeated self-assessments of risky behaviour as an intervention strategy for reducing sexual and injection drug-related risk behaviours. Participants were recruited from treatment...

HIV prevention trials can influence sexual activity.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Introducing new HIV prevention methods may affect overall sexual risk behaviours. Data were collected as part of a safety and feasibility study of ACIDFORM gel among 120 women in Johannesburg. Half received the vaginal microbicidal gel and a...

Men's circumcision status not associated with women's HIV risk: Uganda and Zimbabwe.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... This study of 4,417 Ugandan and Zimbabwean women found no significant association between women's HIV risk and male circumcision of their primary sex partner. Participants were from a prospective study of hormonal contraception and HIV...

HIV-positive mothers need health care in two years post-partum, Kenya.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)
May 1, 2008... Many women are diagnosed with HIV during pregnancy and subsequently followed in PMTCT programmes. More attention has focused on making antenatal services adequate to deliver PMTCT, with few resources allocated to long-term follow-up or care of...

Routine HIV testing in antenatal care in Zimbabwe and Malawi.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)
May 1, 2008... Routine antenatal HIV testing using an "opt-out" approach, is the standard of care in many developed countries but rare in sub-Saharan Africa. This study evaluates the impact of routine antenatal HIV testing for preventing mother-to-child...

Disclosure by women of HIV-positive status to partners in Cote d'lvoire.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... In African countries most cases of HIV occur within stable relationships, so prevention within the couple is of primary importance. Women are often tested in PMTCT programmes before men, and are counselled to share with their partner the test...

Botswana successful in protecting infants from HIV.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Botswana's national PMTCT programme has lowered the rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV to less than 4%, from an overwhelming 40%. This is the lowest rate in Africa, and the aim is to reduce it further, to below one per cent. Results...

Extended infant nevirapine reduces HIV transmission through breastfeeding.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... In resource-limited settings, up to 40% of infants born to HIV-infected mothers become infected by the end of the breastfeeding period. WHO recommends that infants should receive single-dose nevirapine (NVP) and zidovudine (ZDV) for one week...

HIV has shifted to the less educated in Africa.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)
May 1, 2008... The socio-economic profile of Africans most likely to he infected with HIV has shifted over the last decade. Before 1996, individuals with higher levels of education were more likely to be infected than those less educated. New research has...

Reduction in HIV incidence among Kenyan sex workers since 1985.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... A study of trends in HIV prevalence and per-act incidence in an open cohort of women sex workers in Nairobi, Kenya, collected data every six months from 1985 to 2005. The HIV prevalence in new enrollees fell dramatically during the study (81%...

Sexual dysfunction in HIV-positive men is multi-factorial.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Since the introduction of antiretroviral therapy, there have been numerous reports of increased erectile dysfunction in men, but proving a link is problematic. HIV infection may itself be associated with sexual dysfunction, and drugs are often...

False claims of curing AIDS becoming illegal in Africa.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Malawi has come up with draft legislation, written in collaboration with the Traditional Malawi Healers Association and WHO, which will make it an offence for anybody, including traditional healers and churches, to claim that they can cure...

Microbicide found not to reduce HIV risk, South Africa.(ROUND UP: HIV and AIDS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Population Council has released results of a Phase 3 large-scale effectiveness trial of Carraguard, an odourless, clear-gel microbicide made from carrageenan, a seaweed derivative. The trial enrolled 6,202 participants in three South...

Affordable drugs needed for diseases of poverty, says WHO.(ROUND UP: Service Delivery)(Report)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The World Health Organization has called for greater cooperation between governments, drug companies and other stakeholders to provide a mechanism for creating new medicines and products for treating diseases of poverty affecting developing...

Strategies used by Bolivian women in patient-led partner notification for syphilis.(ROUND UP: Service Delivery)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Maternal syphilis affects one million pregnancies worldwide every year, with many negative consequences for mother and child. In Bolivia, the maternal syphilis rate is estimated at 4.3% among women with live births and 26% among women with...

Planned caesareans linked to newborn breathing difficulties in Denmark.(ROUND UP: Service Delivery)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Babies born by planned caesarean section are up to four times more likely to suffer from general and serious breathing problems in the first days of life compared with newborns delivered vaginally or by emergency caesarean section. Researchers...

Consequences of errors in fetal sex determination from ultrasonography in Nigeria.(ROUND UP: Service Delivery)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The accuracy of ultrasonography to determine fetal sex ranges from 87% to 99%, and little is known about the effect of an incorrect result. Researchers looked at 2,860 deliveries in Nigeria and interviewed 102 women who had been given incorrect...

Medical abortion safe and effective in a primary health centre in Maharashtra, India.(ROUND UP: Service Delivery)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... To increase access to safe abortion in rural India, the feasibility and acceptability of mifepristone-misoprostol abortion was assessed in a typical government-run primary health centre in Nagpur district, Maharashtra state, that does not offer...

Misconceptions about the pill among adolescents and physicians in Israel.(ROUND UP: Service Delivery)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Misconceptions and incorrect beliefs may preclude wide use of the pill among teenagers and lead to discontinuations and increased risk of unwanted pregnancies. A cross-sectional study of 254 high school-educated girls aged 14-20 years opting...

Online vs. clinic-based prescription of hormonal contraception in the US.(ROUND UP: Service Delivery)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... In 2004, a local Planned Parenthood clinic in the US became the first in the country to offer an online programme for women to obtain contraception. This was a novel approach to improving access, but there were concerns about inappropriate use...