Reproductive Health Matters articles from November 2003

Reproductive Health Matters archives from November 2003

HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health: intimately related.(Editorial)
November 1, 2003... HIV has a myriad of effects on the sexual and reproductive health of both men and women, and sexual and reproductive health services are of central importance for those with HIV and AIDS. The aim of this issue of RHM is to raise awareness of...

Men and women--still far apart on HIV/AIDS.(Commentary)
November 1, 2003... Abstract: What could be more logical than a gay-feminist alliance to respond to the AIDS epidemic in Latin America? However, drawing on published articles and the author's experience in HIV/AIDS work in Chile, this paper argues that such an...

Some considerations on sexuality and gender in the context of AIDS.(Commentary)
November 1, 2003... Abstract: Gender has become a major conceptual tool for understanding the evolving HIV pandemic globally. As such, it has provided a powerful way to see the structure of relations between men and women as central to various epidemics, and added...

HIV/AIDS in the shadows of reproductive health interventions.(Commentary)
November 1, 2003... Abstract: In December 1999, the Tanzanian president declared HIV/AIDS a national disaster. By the time the National Policy on HIV/AIDS was released in 2001, an estimated 750,000 women of reproductive age were infected. Yet in spite of the...

Traditional birth attendants in developing countries cannot be expected to carry out HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment activities.(Commentary)
November 1, 2003... Abstract: Pregnancy and birth, fertility and fertility regulation are all greatly affected by the exigencies of HIV and AIDS, and vice versa. Women and infants can only benefit if the respective policymakers, researchers and service providers...

"Typhoid Mary" and "HIV Jane": responsibility, agency and disease prevention.(Commentary)
November 1, 2003... Abstract: The construction of disease risks as knowable, calculable and preventable in dominant social science and public health discourses has fostered a certain kind of logic about individual risk and the responsibility for infection. Disease...

The contribution of sexual and reproductive health services to the fight against HIV/AIDS: a review.
November 1, 2003... Abstract: Approximately 80% of HIV cases are transmitted sexually and a further 10% perinatally or during breastfeeding. Hence, the health sector has looked to sexual and reproductive health programmes for leadership and guidance in providing...

Sexually transmitted infection control with sex workers: regular screening and presumptive treatment augment efforts to reduce risk and vulnerability.
November 1, 2003... Abstract: Sex workers have high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), many of them easily curable with antibiotics. STIs as co-factors and frequent unprotected exposure put sex workers at high risk of acquiring HIV and transmitting...

The right to love: the desire for parenthood among men living with HIV.
November 1, 2003... Abstract: Drug regimens and procedures now exist that will prevent parents from transmitting HIV to infants, and the ethical and legal obligation to promote and protect the reproductive rights of those living with HIV should form part of...

Rape and HIV post-exposure prophylaxis: addressing the dual epidemics in South Africa.
November 1, 2003... Abstract: In South Africa, a country notable for both a rapidly escalating AIDS epidemic and high levels of sexual violence, the issue of HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) following rape has recently come to the fore, and a policy supporting...

Between personal wishes and medical "prescription": mode of delivery and post-partum sterilisation among women with HIV in Brazil.
November 1, 2003... Abstract: HIV-positive women are confronted during pregnancy with a range of medico/information and prescriptions that substantially affect the experience of pregnancy and birth. Based on antenatal and post-partum interviews with 60...

Pregnant or positive: adolescent childbearing and HIV risk in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.(study)(includes statistical table)
November 1, 2003... Abstract: In communities where early age of childbearing is common and HIV prevalence is high, adolescents may place themselves at risk of HIV because positive or ambivalent attitudes towards pregnancy reduce their motivation to abstain from...

Preventing sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy, and safeguarding fertility: triple protection needs of young women.
November 1, 2003... Abstract: The problems and risks of unprotected sex, unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections ore inextricably linked. In this context, the critical yet overlooked problem of infertility also needs to be addressed. Dual...

Vulnerability to HIV/STIs among rural women from migrant communities in Nepal: a health and human rights framework.(study)
November 1, 2003... Abstract: Human rights norms and standards can be applied to health issues as an analytical tool and as a framework to identify and shape interventions to reduce the impact of ill-health and improve the lives of individuals and populations....

Safe abortion for HIV-positive women with unwanted pregnancy: a reproductive right.
November 1, 2003... Abstract: About 2.5 million women who become pregnant each year worldwide are HIV-positive. UNAIDS recommends that HIV-positive women should be able to control their fertility end to prevent HIV transmission perinatally if they decide to hove...

Safer sex and reproductive choice: findings from "Positive Women: Voices and Choices" in Zimbabwe.
November 1, 2003... Abstract: Positive Women: Voices and Choices was an advocacy-research project developed by the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS to explore the impact of HIV/AIDS on women's sexual and reproductive lives, challenge the...

Measurement of condom use as a risk factor for HIV infection.(Research Methodology)(includes statistical table)
November 1, 2003... Abstract: Correct and consistent condom use can prevent susceptible people from acquiring HIV infection. However, in many countries repeated cross-sectional studies reveal a trend of increasing prevalence of HIV infection alongside an increase...

Re-use of the female condom: now for the practical realities.(Letters)
November 1, 2003... FEMALE condoms are being re-used in programmes where women do not have access to or cannot afford new ones, or there is not a consistent supply. This has led to research into the safety of re-use of female condoms. (1,2) Clinical...

We miss you all. Noerine Kaleeba: AIDS in the family.(Bookshelf)
November 1, 2003... "AIDS carne to my house on the afternoon of the 6th June 1986... " Thus begins a book first published in 1990 and reprinted in 2002, about the personal and professional experience of Noerine Kaleeba of Uganda, who got involved in working...

Vulnerability, not just sex, responsible for high AIDS prevalence in Africa.(HIV/AIDS)
November 1, 2003... Since the AIDS pandemic began, many scientists and sociologists have attempted to describe the epidemiology of the disease in terms of individual behaviour. This approach has been particularly used in efforts to understand and explain the rapid...

Number of AIDS orphans rapidly increasing in sub-Saharan Africa.(HIV/AIDS)
November 1, 2003... In countries where HIV prevalence has remained low, there was little change in the numbers of orphans between 1992 and 1998, but in countries where HIV prevalence is high there has been a significant increase in the number of orphans. The...

Focusing HIV prevention on exposure.(HIV/AIDS)
November 1, 2003... Despite considerable effort over the last 20 years, HIV/AIDS prevention programmes have met with limited success. One possible reason may be that such programmes have been designed using broad epidemiological indicators, grouping together...

Counting condoms.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns have mostly centred on promoting condom use and reducing the number of sexual partners. However, because symptoms of HIV infection are slow to manifest, the effectiveness of such campaigns is difficult to measure...

Women need to be taught how to put condoms on men too.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... This study looked at condom use errors when women put condoms on their male partners. Of 102 women aged 18-21 who had put condoms on their partners at least once in the previous three months, 51% put the condom on after starting sex and 15%...

Condoms for adolescents cause uproar.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The use of condoms for both contraception and protection against STIs is widely accepted in many parts of the world. Yet there is still discomfort and often considerable opposition to the idea of making condoms freely available and attractive...

Trends in sexual risk in Thailand.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... A study to assess trends in risk behaviours over a three-year period in Bangkok, using a repeated cross-sectional survey design and a structured questionnaire, collected five sets of self-reported sexual behaviour data on HIV-related risk...

Leaving sex work in Thailand.(HIV/AIDS)
November 1, 2003... Despite attempts by the Thai government to slow the spread of HIV in the commercial sex industry, prevalence of HIV among female sex workers is still between 7 and 16%. This study of 42 current and former female sex workers investigated the...

Thailand's AIDS policies and programmes.(HIV/AIDS)
November 1, 2003... Thailand has been hailed as having one of the few effective national AIDS prevention programmes. Perhaps the most important aspect has been the strong commitment shown at the political level, channelling a range of government and NGO activities...

Evidence of sexual risk reduction among South African youth.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... It is important not to misrepresent and over-elaborate risks related to teenage sexuality with statistics. In contemporary South Africa, for example, risk reduction is a more appropriate interpretation of trends in teenage sexual behaviour as a...

Protecting babies from HIV in breastmilk.(HIV/AIDS)
November 1, 2003... Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV through breastmilk is well documented, accounting for somewhere between a quarter and a half of all pregnancy-related transmission. The risk of infection is calculated at 0.00064 per litre of...

Reduced fertility in women with HIV infection in Tanzania.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Recent studies in sub-Saharan Africa have shown that fertility is reduced among HIV-infected women compared with uninfected women. This paper examines the association between HW and fertility among 4,139 women in Kisesa, in rural Tanzania,...

HIV vaccines--no good news yet.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The results of the first phase III trials of an HIV/ AIDS vaccine (AIDSVAX B/B), carried out in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands, have been disappointing. The AIDSVAX B/B vaccine uses two parts of the HIV subtype B gp 120...

Fathering a child when you're HIV positive.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Although there is no indication that sperm (rather than semen as a whole) are infected with HIV, an HIV-positive man cannot father a child without the risk of infecting both his partner during unprotected sex and the child by subsequent...

Raising global awareness with the personal touch.(HIV/AIDS)("Pandemic: Facing AIDS")(www.pandemicfacingaids.org)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... A US broadcasting company, HBO, has made a five-part documentary series "Pandemic: Facing AIDS" which looks at the scope of the crisis using individual stories from around the world. Among the stories are those of a 27-year-old former sex...

World AIDS campaign 2004 to focus on women.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The World AIDS Campaign 2004 will focus on women for the first time since 1990. "Women, HIV and AIDS" will explore changes since 1990 and the challenges which arise as a new generation of girls matures, becomes sexually active and enters...

Gender mainstreaming at the International Criminal Court (ICC).(Law and Policy)(www.isiswomen.org)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The ICC is the world's first permanent international tribunal for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Women's Caucus for Gender Justice (WCGJ), which was set up to advocate a gender perspective for the ICC, is closing down as...

Religion and UN human rights policy.(Law and Policy se )
November 1, 2003... Unlike any other religion, the Holy See is a permanent observer at the UN, allowed to attend and speak at conferences. Although it is not a full voting member, its presence puts pressure on the Catholic countries represented there, particularly...

African Union supports reproductive health rights for African women.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... In July 2003, the African Union adopted the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, a supplementary protocol to the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. It supports a wide range of measures on equality, including an end to...

Changing tradition of female genital mutilation (FGM) across Africa.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Female genital mutilation is still widely practised across Africa, even in those few countries where it has been made illegal. But debate on the once taboo subject is gradually opening up and reductions in the practice are occurring. 0ne method...

Sexual abuse, sexual violence and abductions of women and children in Pakistan.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Madadgar, Pakistan's first child helpline and protection service run by Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid, has collated data on abuse of women and children in Pakistan from research and newspaper reports. The data show that in 2002, 573...

China restricts sex-selective abortion.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... In China, where boys are still often more welcome than girls and where limits on child numbers are officially sanctioned, sex determination tests during pregnancy are leading to the abortion of female fetuses. In an attempt to stop this...

Legal ruling supports medical abortion in New Zealand.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Abortion in New Zealand must be if carried out at a licensed clinic. Until recently, it has been uncertain how this law applied to women opting for medical abortion. The matter has now been clarified in the New Zealand high court, which ruled...

Incorporating medical abortion into US abortion services.(Law and Policy)(mifepristone)
November 1, 2003... Abortion has become one of the most divisive social issues in US society. Although legal since 1973, abortion services have remained marginalised from mainstream health services. Training in doing abortions in hospital residency programmes is...

Facts don't deter US anti-abortionists.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... In a blatant attempt to intimidate women in Texas, USA who are seeking an abortion, a law has been passed requiring that the initial consultation is followed by a 24-hour "reflection period" before the procedure can be performed. During this...

Recruitment of midwives across national borders.(Law and Policy)(International Confederation of Midwives)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... It is becoming increasingly common for health workers to migrate to other countries in response to international recruitment drives. Midwives too are being recruited. In discussions about the problems arising from these practices, the...

Representation of midwives in an expanding European Union.(Law and Policy)
November 1, 2003... The main purpose of the European Union (EU) is to allow free movement of people, goods and services between its members. For regulated professions this means that individuals should be able to register and practice in all member states. To this...

Drug companies seek to counter negative results of hormone replacement therapy studies.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... With information coming out about adverse effects of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), drug companies appear to be using suspect methods to negate the bad press and its negative effects on sales. Wyeth, for example, secretly briefed a number...

Japan restricts access to assisted conception.(Law and Policy)
November 1, 2003... The latest Japanese guidelines on fertility and assisted conception, which are expected to become law by next year, are bad news for infertile couples and their doctors. Taking a much more restrictive view than expected, the guidelines ban...

Using embryos for medical research.(Law and Policy)
November 1, 2003... Some ethicists consider there to be a moral difference between the use of embryos surplus to in vitro fertilisation (IVF) for research, and the non-reproductive cloning of embryos only for research purposes. In the production of embryos for...

Evolving reproductive health indicators for rural areas in China.(Service Delivery)
November 1, 2003... In 2001, the World Health Organization published a list of 17 indicators incorporating clinical, social and environmental factors to be used for monitoring reproductive health, assessing reproductive health needs, and monitoring and evaluating...

Slow progress in reproductive health in Central and Eastern Europe.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Only about 35% of the population of Central and Eastern European countries use modern contraceptives, with many others using withdrawal (18%) and the calendar method. Abortion is also often used. It has been estimated that in Russia about 60%...

Applying STI syndromic management principles in Madagascar.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... At a health centre in Madagascar, 1,066 women presenting with vaginal discharge were tested for a range of STIs using simple laboratory techniques. These showed that 56% had bacterial vaginosis, 25% trichomoniasis and 6% syphilis. Using "high...

Combining contraceptive services and chlamydia screening in the UK.(Service Delivery)
November 1, 2003... Chlamydia infection is often asymptomatic but it can lead to pregnancy complications, pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. At an inner-city, community-based contraceptive and psychotherapy centre for young people, attendees were offered...

Contraceptive use and the incidence of abortion.(Service Delivery)
November 1, 2003... The relationship between contraceptive use rates and incidence of abortion depends on whether demand for fertility control methods is stable or rising. Intuitively it seems that as contraceptive availability increases, levels of abortion should...

Making emergency contraceptive use easier.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Over the last five years emergency contraception (EC) has been approved in over 80 countries and become increasingly available. How EC pills are accessed ranges from prescription by a health facility to supply by health workers to...

Predicting contraceptive demand in India.(Service Delivery)
November 1, 2003... Childbearing intentions are often used to predict the need for contraceptive services but a follow-up study in India in 1999 of women who had participated seven years earlier in a National Family Health Survey suggests that this is a poor...

Contraceptive implants perform well.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Implantable contraceptives have been approved in more than 60 countries and are used by 14% of women choosing hormonal contraceptive methods, about 11 million women worldwide. A study of over 78,000 woman-years using Norplant shows a 1.5%...

Failure to address post-partum anaemia in Uganda.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Anaemia is a serious and common disorder which, when exacerbated by pregnancy, after can have serious consequences for both mother and child. In addition to immediate health problems it can lead to fatigue, reduced work performance and...

Training midwives in Afghanistan.(Service Delivery)
November 1, 2003... Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality in the world, the result of decades of conflict, chronic malnutrition, high fertility rates, the low status of women and a mainly rural population. A survey in 2002...

Access to caesarean section still poor in sub-Saharan Africa.(Service Delivery)
November 1, 2003... It is estimated that caesarean section is needed in about 5% of pregnancies to deal with obstettic complications and thereby decrease maternal and neonatal mortality. This figure is considerably exceeded in the West and in many Latin American...

Public versus private antenatal care in Tanzania.(Service Delivery)
November 1, 2003... Tanzania has encouraged the promotion of a private health sector to work alongside public providers. Now the relative quality of health care provision in the two sectors needs to be assessed. One method of doing so is to allocate a value to...

Test tube babies come of age.(Service Delivery)
November 1, 2003... It is now 25 years since the first successful birth of a child conceived by in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Over a million babies have now been born worldwide using IVF, pioneered in the UK in the 1970s. The stigma associated with such treatments...

Indian health care services are corrupt.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... A survey in India of public perception of the extent of corruption in public services put health care second only to the police. A quarter of all respondents said they had paid bribes for health services. (1) (1.) Kumar S. Health care is...

Fertility levels below replacement: a worldwide trend.(Research)
November 1, 2003... When each woman has 2.1 children, the population stabilises. Any more and the population grows, any less and it falls. Over the last few decades, fears of the "population explosion" led to some frightening predictions of the inability of world...

Low-cost screening for cervical cancer?(Research)
November 1, 2003... The lack of cervical cancer screening can lead to a high burden of cervical cancer in resource-poor settings. Decision-makers intending to introduce screening need to consider both the effectiveness in saving lives and the costs and benefits of...

Human papillomavirus screening to prevent cervical cancer in women over 30 and HIV-positive women.(Research)
November 1, 2003... There are over 60 types of human papillomavirus (HPV) that can infect women. Of these, 18 are currently known to be strongly associated with cervical cancer, and some of these are believed to be causative agents. This might suggest that...

New blood test improves antenatal screening for Down's syndrome.(Research)
November 1, 2003... The definitive antenatal screening tests for Down's syndrome are amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS). However, as these procedures may in a small number of cases cause spontaneous abortion, it is important that they are only used...

Mifepristone shrinks uterine fibroids.(Research)
November 1, 2003... Uterine fibroids account for 30% of all hysterectomies in the USA and research is seeking to find non-surgical treatments for this condition. In a recent study, researchers showed that doses of mifepristone as low as 5 mg daily for six months...