Reproductive Health Matters articles from November 2004

Reproductive Health Matters archives from November 2004

Power, money and autonomy in national policies and programmes.(Editorial)(Editorial)
November 1, 2004... MEETINGS of ECOSOC regional commissions have taken place since mid-2003 to review accomplishments to date in relation to the 1994 ICPD Programme of Action and discuss undone tasks. If those of us working for sexual and reproductive health and...

Organising and financing for sexual and reproductive health and rights: the perspective of an NGO activist turned donor.(Commentary)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: This paper is a reflection on some of the successess and challenges that followed in the aftermath of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Cairo, 1994, and the capacity of civil society and of donors to...

Real and perceived threats to reproductive health: a way forward.(Commentary)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: Ten years after the International Conference on Population and Development finds the reproductive health community under threat from at least three sources: global initiatives, reforms of the health sector, and new financial...

Capitalising on global HIV/AIDS funding: the challenge for civil society and government.(Commentary)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: After years of passionate advocacy informed by solid policy work on the ground, the global response to HIV/AIDS is better resourced. Poor countries can absorb considerably higher levels of aid than they currently receive, but recent...

The feasibility of government partnerships with NGOs in the reproductive health field in Mexico.(Features)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: In 1995 the Mexican government began to develop policies on establishing collaborative agreements with civil society organisations, and there is currently interest in Mexico in government and NGOs working together. This paper analyses...

From anti-natalist to ultra-conservative: restricting reproductive choice in Peru.(Features)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: This article examines Peru's population policy since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development and assesses to what extent its policies and programmes have affected reproductive health and rights. It is drawn...

Ten years of democracy in South Africa: documenting transformation in reproductive health policy and status.(Features)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: The advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994 created a unique opportunity for new lows and policies to be passed. Today, a decode later, South African reproductive health policies and the lows that underwrite them are among the...

Abortion patterns and reported sex ratios at birth in rural Yunnan, China.(Features)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: High sex ratio at birth due to son preference has been known in China historically, but it was thought this phenomenon would diminish with modernisation. The aim of this study was to investigate abortion decisions and reported sex...

The church, the state and women's bodies in the context of religious fundamentalism in the Philippines.(Features)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: After almost 500 years of Spanish colonial rule, Canon law and laws of Spanish origin continue to dominate Philippine family, civil and penal law. Most if not all of these laws place serious limitations on the realisation of women's...

Women are silver, women are diamonds: conflicting images of women in the Cambodian print media.(Features)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: This paper examines 116 articles related to sexual and reproductive health translated into English from the Khmer press from April 1997 to February 2004. These excerpts were found in The Mirror, a publication of the non-governmental...

The role and influence of stakeholders and donors on reproductive health services in Turkey: a critical review.(Features)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: Since 1965, Turkey has followed an anti-natalist population policy and made significant progress in improving sexual and reproductive health. This paper presents a critical review of the national reproductive health policies and...

Power and politics in international funding for reproductive health: the US Global Gag Rule.(Features)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: Since 2001, the US government has used its power as a leading donor to family planning programmes to pursue policies in conflict with global agreements on reproductive rights. Prominent among these policies is the Mexico City Policy...

Poor people's experiences of health services in Tanzania: a literature review.
November 1, 2004... This literature review examines key findings on poor people's experiences of health services and the barriers to access among the very poor. It was first published in 2004 by the Women's Dignity Project/Utu Mwanamke, PO Box 79402, Dar es...

Health and hope, rights and responsibilities: action agenda, global roundtable: countdown 2015: 31 August-2 September 2004, London.(Conference Report)
November 1, 2004... ALL of us came to London this week with a vision: a vision shaped by Cairo and based on a profound respect for the human rights of all people--women, young people, people of all sexual identities, and--yes--political and religious...

The skilled attendance index: proposal for a new measure of skilled attendance at delivery.(Research Methodology)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: Increasing the proportion of deliveries with skirled attendance is widely regarded as key to reducing maternal mortality and morbidity in developing countries. The percentage of deliveries with a health professional is commonly used...

The tremendous cost of seeking hospital obstetric care in Bangladesh.(Other Themes)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: In Bangladesh, maternal mortality is estimated to be 320 per 100,000 live births, among the highest in the world, and most deliveries in rural areas occur at home. Women with obstetric complications fear to seek hospital care for...

Stillbirth, neonatal death and reproductive rights in Indonesia.(Other Themes)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: Globally, newborn deaths account for two-thirds of all deaths in the first year of life and 40% of under-five mortality. As infant mortality declines, the proportion of neonatal deaths has been increasing because of the failure to...

Courses for medical residents and trainers in Turkey for promotion of quality of reproductive health services: a pilot study.(Other Themes)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: In order to provide high quality services in reproductive health, training of health professionals is essential. In Turkey, a project for in-service training of medical residents was conducted in 2003 under the aegis of the Human...

Where are we now with hormone replacement therapy?(Issues In Current Research)
November 1, 2004... Abstract: Menopausal symptoms can be grim, and the desire to replace the hormonal "deficit" with exogenous hormones remains strong. Since the 1950s, hormone replacement therapy has been used increasingly, while evidence on the risks of unwanted...

Position statement on condoms and HIV prevention.(Condoms)
November 1, 2004... WHO/UNAIDS/UNFPA, July 2004. At: Condom use is a critical element in a comprehensive, effective and sustainable approach to HIV prevention and treatment. Prevention is the mainstay of the response to AIDS. Condoms are an integral and...

Brazil to distribute more free condoms to teens.(Condoms)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A recent survey of sexual practice among Brazilian youth has shown that the average age of sexual initiation is about 14 years old for boys and 15-16 for girls. The majority of study participants said they had sex with only one partner, and up...

Couples in countries with high HIV rates should use condoms for contraception.(Condoms)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... In countries with widescale heterosexual epidemics of HIV, the promotion of condom use for non-marital sex only is not sufficient to contain HIV infection. Promotion of condoms as a method of family planning, with the implicit recognition of...

Thailand to share cheap condom technology.(Condoms)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Thailand is a member of a group of countries that plan to establish a technology exchange network for combating HIV, including Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa. One issue recently discussed between Thailand and Brazil was the...

People with HIV should use condoms, Belgian Cardinal says.(Condoms)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels has gone against Vatican doctrine by stating that condoms should be used to prevent the spread of HIV, even though he considers abstinence, the only method approved by the Church for HIV-positive...

The argument for special ARV programmes for health workers and teachers.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The HIV/AIDS epidemic in the developing world has adversely affected education and the health sector, with a high prevalence of HIV among teachers and health workers. In Zimbabwe, for example, it is estimated that by the end of 2003, 30% of all...

Canada allows African countries to buy antiretrovirals duty-free.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Legislation passed in the Canadian House of Commons in November 2003 amending the country's patent laws allows drug makers to manufacture and export generic versions of patented drugs to developing countries. This enables them to provide...

US policies hinder AIDS initiatives from all directions.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The US AIDS plan announced in January 2003 is distributing $15bn to fight AIDS over the next five years. However, according to a study by the Centre for Health and Gender Equity, operational strategies in most of the recipient countries are...

Dual malaria and HIV infection increases risk to mother and baby in Zimbabwe.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... This study of 986 pregnant women in Zimbabwe investigated the effects of infection with malaria and HIV on pregnant women and neonatal outcomes. The prevalence of HIV and symptomatic malaria in the women was 8.3% and 14.7%, respectively....

Microbicides 2004, London, 28-31 March 2004: an overview of the issues.(HIV/AIDS)
November 1, 2004... Topical microbicides are vaginally or rectally administered agents designed to block HIV attachment to or insertion in susceptible target cells, and research to find a safe and effective microbicide has been going on for about a decade already....

US assisted conception clinic refuses to risk HIV transmission to surrogate mother.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A US assisted conception clinic recently refused to help a homosexual male couple, both of whom were HIV-positive, by fertilising an ovum from a woman donor with the sperm of one of the two men and implanting it in a second woman who had agreed...

Public health policies at risk from world trade agreements.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is frequently claimed to exempt public services from privatisation and therefore to protect them from being opened up to foreign competition. However, many observers believe that this...

Slow progress on health-related Millennium Development Goals.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Three of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are health-related--child mortality, maternal health and infectious disease--as are nine of the 18 targets and 18 of the 48 indicators. WHO tracks trends using a number of indicators and...

Using international litigation to promote reproductive rights in Latin America.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Governments in Latin America have been increasingly pledging to expand and promote women's rights through legal and policy development, and have generally supported and adopted international conventions and conference documents. Yet there...

Mexican health system moves to an evidence-based model.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Mexican health system started with the creation of the Ministry of Health in 1943 and evolved in the late 1970s into a system based on primary health care. More recently it has evolved towards a horizontal integration of basic functions....

Proposal to decriminalise infanticide in the UK.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The director of public prosecutions for England and Wales has suggested that mothers suspected of killing their babies could be dealt with outside the criminal justice system. This comes in the wake of three recent cases where convictions for...

Unethical contraceptive trial in India.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A clinical trial evaluating the antibiotic erythromycin as a female contraceptive has been branded illegal and unethical. Since quinacrine was banned in India as a non-surgical method for female sterilisation due to safety and efficacy doubts,...

The US Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act rejected by federal courts.(Law and Policy)
November 1, 2004... The so-called Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act 2003 banned an emergency abortion procedure, generally used around 24 weeks of pregnancy, in which the fetus is partly delivered and then made unviable. This technique is used only in an estimated...

Is cleft palate sufficient grounds for a late abortion?(Law and Policy)
November 1, 2004... In the UK, abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy can only be carried out legally if there is a risk of serious fetal handicap. A case has recently come to light where a late abortion was carried out because the baby would have been born with...

Test case from France supports European abortion laws.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A French woman whose six-month pregnancy was wrongly terminated when a doctor mistook her for another patient, took the case through the court system in France. The doctor was convicted on appeal of unintentional homicide. That decision was...

Woman detained in Malta to prevent abortion.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A Russian woman living in Malta who sought an abortion outside Malta, where abortion is illegal, was taken into police custody to prevent her from leaving the country after her male companion, who claimed he was the father, complained that she...

Portuguese abortion nurse pardoned but abortion debate continues.(Law and Policy)
November 1, 2004... In Portugal, only a few hundred legal abortions are carried out each year, and an estimated 20,000 or more illegal abortions. In addition an unknown number of women travel abroad where legal abortions are easier to come by. Against this...

Reduced grounds for legal abortion in Russia.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Abortions are common in Russia, with an estimated 13 abortions for every 10 live births, but in a country with falling birth rates and increasing church influence, the long-standing abortion law is being eroded. The grounds for legal abortion...

Abortion law liberalisation in Poland unlikely.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A bill on reproductive rights which would liberalise the abortion law in Poland has been prepared by the Parliamentary Group of Women in co-operation with women's organisations. The bill, entitled "Law on Conscious Parenthood", would permit...

Failure to liberalise abortion law in Slovakia.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... An amendment legalising abortions in Slovakia up to 24 weeks has stalled. Current Slovak law allows abortions until the 12th week of pregnancy, and Health Ministry regulations also allow later abortions in cases of genetic defects. When the...

Abortion law reform in St Lucia.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Despite protest marches, postponed government debates and the president's attempt to block the bill, the St Lucia parliament has legalised abortion under specific conditions. These include cases of rape, incest, gross fetal abnormality or when...

Kenyan government buys abortion kits to deal with unsafe abortions.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Abortion is illegal in Kenya except when the woman's life is at risk, but there are an estimated 300,000 abortions in the country each year, costing millions for emergency post-abortion care, with many deaths and complications. In a debate on...

No abortion law reform soon in Namibia.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Abortion in Namibia is restricted to only a few special circumstances, requiring women either to seek illegal abortions or travel to South Africa to access safe services. A three-year hospital-based study found that over 7,000 women had been...

New Swaziland constitution permits abortion on a range of grounds.(Law and Policy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Swaziland is drafting a new constitution which includes a section on abortion, which states that abortion is unlawful, with a range of exceptions that permit abortion on medical or therapeutic grounds. These include where a doctor certifies...

Law reform for and against assisted reproductive technology.(Law and Policy)
November 1, 2004... With advances in assisted reproductive technologies outpacing the legislative process, new laws and regulations struggle to keep up. In Israel, the attorney general has issued formal regulations to allow the removal of sperm from a dead man's...

Audit of abortion and post-abortion care in the UK.(Service Delivery)
November 1, 2004... Approximately 180,000 abortions are performed annually in 324 units in England and Wales, around half carried out in NHS (National Health Service) hospitals, 22% under NHS funding agency agreements and 27% in private clinics. An audit...

Nepalese women flock to newly opened abortion clinic.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Around 57,000 unsafe abortions were being performed in Nepal every year, resulting in complications responsible for at least 20% of maternal deaths. However, the recent legalisation of abortion up to 90 days of pregnancy (or up to 18 weeks if...

Community-based involvement improves abortion care in rural South Africa.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Since 1994 the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act has given South African women the legal right to terminate their pregnancies without requiring permission from medical professionals, husbands or others. However, quality abortion care is...

Abortions common but illegal in Egypt.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Abortion is illegal in Egypt unless the woman's life is in imminent danger. Damage to the fetus is not accepted as a reason for abortion, a legal position emphasised by a recent fatwa that says that "it is impermissible for the mother to induce...

Preventing congenital syphilis.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Congenital syphilis may affect up to one million pregnancies a year in developing countries, yet this significant public health problem appears to have been forgotten. This editorial and series of seven articles revisit the problem and consider...

Contaminated powdered infant formula poses a threat to high-risk babies.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A recent meeting has warned those caring for infants at high risk of infection that powdered infant formula is not sterile. It is not currently possible to produce commercially sterile powders, but most contaminants are harmless or found in...

Male doctors reject obstetrics and gynaecology in the UK.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... In 1975 around 4% of UK medical school graduates, both men and women, stated that obstetrics and gynaecology were their first preference for a career. By 2000 this had fallen to only 0.9% of men and 3.2% of women, which may exacerbate the...

Gender constraints in recruiting women health workers in Pakistan.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Gender and social constraints make it difficult for women in Pakistan to access health services. Aware of the problem, the government has attempted to employ large numbers of woman as health and family planning workers. However, data for 1996...

Midwife-led care in Nepal.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Midwifery care in Nepal, as elsewhere, is frequently thought to be doctor-led, an assumption which is reflected in midwifery training. Yet, in reality, midwives in the field often work autonomously, only referring to doctors for complicated...

Financial implications of obstetric care for families in Benin and Ghana.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Although hospital-based care for both normal and complicated deliveries is often free or set at a low fee in African countries, there are a number of hidden costs which may affect a woman's decision to choose a hospital birth or to seek...

Japanese women not taking up the birth control pill.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Although the birth control pill was legalised five years ago in Japan, uptake has been low with only 1.3% of the 28 million Japanese women of childbearing age using it. The reasons for this are varied but the fact that the pill is a...

Call for increased attention to STIs other than HIV.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Many sexually transmitted infections remain undiagnosed because symptoms are minor or absent, and social stigma prevents people seeking health care. These hidden diseases have a high burden of morbidity, including many cases of infertility...

UK may switch to liquid-based cytology for cervical cancer screening.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Pap smear test requires a sample of cells to be collected from the cervix, spread onto a glass slide and then fixed before being sent off for examination. The procedure produces a high number of samples unsuitable for testing. In...

US women with STIs interested in advanced provision of emergency contraception.(Service Delivery)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... While many family planning programmes have successfully integrated STI screening into their routine practice, the reverse is not true, i.e. STI control programmes have rarely incorporated family planning services. A study of 548 American women...

Cost-effectiveness vs. disease severity for setting health priorities in Uganda.(Research)
November 1, 2004... Studies on the setting of health priorities in developed countries have usually shown a strong preference for severity of disease over the cost-effectiveness of an intervention as the leading parameter. However such preferences may differ in...

Improving caesarean section outcomes in Malawi.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Between January 1998 and June 2000, over 8,000 caesarean sections were performed in Malawi, 94% of them as emergencies. Obstructed labour was the most common indication (63%), but other indications were fetal distress, antepartum haemorrhage...

Using HPV tests for preliminary cervical cancer screening.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Almost all cases of cervical cancer are caused by a limited number of oncogenic human papillomaviruses (HPVs). Many HPV infections are transitory, so an HPV test is not in itself specific for cervical cancer. This study of over 10,000 women...

Cervical cancer screening in low-resource settings--which way forward?(Research)
November 1, 2004... Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women in developing countries, whereas mortality is considerably reduced in the developed world due to comprehensive screening. Pap smear screening has low sensitivity, requires...

Methodological biases affect coronary heart disease data on HRT.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The effect of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on coronary heart disease is not at all clear. A number of well-conducted retrospective observational studies, supported by animal and basic research, show a protective effect. The recent...

Breast cancer risk increased in HRT users.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A number of studies have suggested that use of HRT increases the risk of breast cancer, but few have correlated patterns of use of various HRT preparations with breast cancer incidence and mortality. This five-year cohort study of over a...

Belgian doctors continue prescribing HRT.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... In light of the confusing and sometimes contradictory data on the value and long-term effects of HRT, it is left to the individual physician to decide whether or not to advise use of HRT and which brand. This survey of 1,374 Belgian physicians...

No link between abortion and breast cancer.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... At least three US states require by law that women considering an abortion should be told it will raise their risk of breast cancer, and anti-abortion groups are lobbying hard for this requirement to be extended to other states. Against this...

Long-term oral contraceptive use doubles cervical cancer risk.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Using data from 28 studies involving over 12,000 women, the risk of cervical cancer was found to increase with increasing length of use of oral contraception. Relative risks rose to 1.1, 1.6 and 2.2 in women using oral contraceptives for less...

Mifepristone-induced abortion does not affect subsequent pregnancies.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Pregnancy outcomes in 4,925 Chinese women who had no history of induced abortion were compared with those of 4,931 women who had had one previous surgical abortion and 4,800 women who had had one mifepristone-induced abortion. Women in the...

Home use of medical abortion safe and preferred in Tunisia.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Tunisia is one of the few predominantly Islamic countries where abortion is legally permitted. This study considers the social dimensions of abortion in Tunisia and offers evidence supporting the provision of medical abortion...

Sublingual and vaginal misoprostol are equally effective in early medical abortion.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... There are various modes of administration of misoprostol in a mifepristone + misoprostol regimen. The vaginal route appears more effective than the oral route but women often find the oral route less intrusive. A pilot study comparing...

Manual vacuum aspiration safe for early second trimester abortions.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) has already been shown to be an effective option for patients seeking surgical abortion during the first trimester. This was a retrospective review of 110 abortions performed in the US at 14-18 weeks of pregnancy,...

Medical treatment or hysterectomy for menorrhagia?(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Two recent studies suggest that about half the women being medically treated for menorrhagia will eventually need surgery. The first study, comparing 236 women treated with either a hormone-releasing intrauterine system or hysterectomy, showed...

Stem cells isolated from cloned human embryos.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Stem cells have recently been isolated from six-day-old cloned human embryos and should provide a new way to study the genetic components of human diseases. As with all current cloning techniques, the method was inefficient in that only 30 of...

Laparoscopic excision of endometriosis improves quality of life.(Research)
November 1, 2004... Of 235 women with chronic pelvic pain from endometriosis who participated in a study of laparoscopic excision of endometriosis, complete data on pre-operative, intra-operative and post-operative condition were available with follow-up for 2-5...

Smoking damages reproductive health.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Smoking may be having a far more serious effect on reproductive health than previously thought. Recent figures from the UK suggest it is involved in 120,000 cases of impotence, 1,200 cases of cervical cancer and 3,000-5,000 cases of...

Fertility rate declines in central and eastern Europe after communism.(Research)
November 1, 2004... There has been a substantial decline in fertility in all former communist countries of eastern Europe with total fertility rates (TFR) of 1.3 children per woman in 2000, the lowest TFR in the world. The strong attachment to the two-child norm,...

Should obstetrician-gynaecologists provide care for rape victims, asks Mexican study.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The obstetrician/gynaecologist is often the first professional that a woman who has been raped may see. This study in Mexico investigated obstetrician-gynaecologists' altitudes to sexual violence and their priorities when faced with a raped...

Are clinical settings the right place to deal with domestic violence?(Research)
November 1, 2004... Sixty-seven adult women took part in focus group discussions in a US study on services for those who experience intimate partner violence. The women had responded to an advertisement asking for participants in a survey on improving health and...

Homosexuality not a disease to be cured.(Research)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Homosexuality was only removed from the international classification of diseases in 1992; prior to that it was defined as a mental illness. This definition inevitably led to attempts to "cure" homosexuality. A survey of 31 men treated in the UK...