Marie Stopes International Press Articles

FGM 'helps spread of HIV/Aids'

31/08/2010 09:05:23

Ending female genital mutilation (FGM) in Nigeria could help curb the spread of Aids, a politician in the country has claimed.

Senator Iyabo Obasanjo Bello, chairman of the Senate House Committee on Health, said a lack of awareness about basic sterilisation procedures on the part of traditional medicine men meant infected instruments were often used on multiple girls.

Bello called for immediate government action to tackle the problem.

"We must shine the light on this hidden ritual and talk about it openly," she said.

"We must understand the thinking of the perpetuators and try and enlighten them by debunking each of their reasons for continuing this outdated and unnecessary custom.

"Preventing FGM through education and enlightenment must become part of primary health care delivery."

Hajiya Aisha Shinkafi, the wife of the Zamfara State governor, added that a lack of access to basic primary health facilities exacerbated the problem.

Condom usage in porn criticised

27/08/2010 14:35:11

The US porn industry's Larry Flynt has been targeted by an Aids activism group, which accuses him of putting porn workers at risk by not requiring the use of condoms.

The Aids Health Foundation filed a workplace safety complaint against Mr Flynt and sent 100 DVDs of his hardcore films to the LA office of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

AHF spokesman Ged Kenslea said there is only one scene among these films in which a sex worker uses a condom.

The films "clearly demonstrate workplace activities highly likely to spread bloodborne pathogens in the workplace" according to the AHF complaint.

It urges the state to order the use of condoms on film sets.

Larry Flynt Productions President Michael Klein indicated that is an unreasonable demand, adding porn audiences do not want to watch people using condoms.

"We won't budge when it comes to condomless productions," he said in a statement. "That's what the consumer wants, and we deliver it."

US law requires that all porn actors be tested for HIV 30 days before the start of filming, and Mr Klein said Flynt's productions adhere to those standards. He added that none of the company's actors ever tested positive for HIV.

Earlier this year, the group brought similar complaints against nine talent agencies it says promote actors willing to have unprotected sex on camera.

Indonesia 'working to hit UN goals'

27/08/2010 09:15:23

Indonesia needs to work harder to reduce the numbers of women dying in child birth and to tackle the spread of HIV and Aids in order to meet United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, the government has said.

Vice minister for National Development Planning, Lukita Dinarsyah Tuwo, said the country is expected to reach most of the targets set out in the UN initiative by the target date of 2015, but it needs to improve in some areas.

The minister said some of the MDG indicators have been reached already and must be maintained, but he warned more work is needed to decrease maternal mortality, to control HIV/Aids and to spread any improvements made across the many islands making up the country.

He said: "We need to work harder to achieve target of decreasing maternal mortality of 102 per 100,000 births."

The minister also said the number of people with HIV or Aids has increased, especially among drug addicts and sexual workers, and the matter needs urgent attention. And he made clear that any progress needs to be rolled out across the whole country and regional disparity reduced.

He said: "We must compose a special strategy to reduce the disparity. We also need strategic steps that guarantee synergy among ministries and departments as well as central and local governments."

The eight UN millennium goals are to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, to achieve universal primary education, to promote gender equality and empower women, to reduce child mortality rate, to improve maternal health, to combat HIV/Aids, malaria, and other diseases, to ensure environmental sustainability and to develop a global partnership for development.

German singer avoids jail sentence

27/08/2010 09:05:16

A German girlband singer who had unprotected sex with her former boyfriend despite knowing she was HIV positive has avoided jail.

Nadja Benaissa, 28, was convicted in a Darmstadt administrative court of causing her ex-boyfriend bodily harm after they had unprotected sex.

The No Angels singer cried as she was told to carry out 300 hours of community service and given a two-year suspended prison sentence on Thursday.

Benaissa could have been sentenced to up to 10 years in jail.

The court ruled that she had unprotected sex with her ex-boyfriend which led to him contracting the virus that causes Aids.

Benaissa helped her case during the trial, which began on August 16, by acknowledging she had unprotected sex despite knowing she was HIV-positive and saying it was a big mistake.

"I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart," Benaissa said, adding that she had realised how much her ex-boyfriend was still suffering.

"I wish I could turn back time and make everything undone," she told the court. "But I know that he will never forgive me."

The man who claimed Benaissa infected him said they had a three-month relationship at the beginning of 2004 and that he got tested after Benaissa's aunt asked him in 2007 whether he was aware that the singer was HIV positive.

STI tests planned for pub toilets

26/08/2010 09:25:18

In a radio interview, Basil Donovan from the Australian National Centre for HIV Epidemiology and Research said in a recent study he found just 4% of men and 7% of women aged between 16 and 25 get tested in any one year.

He said the figures fall far short of other countries such as Canada where 30% of 16 to 25s are regularly tested.

To combat the problem health experts are considering stepping up a plan to test people in toilets at festivals, sports events and pubs and nightclubs.

Jason Warriner, the clinical director for the Terrence Higgins Trust, said testing people in such venues is nothing new but if the schemes were rolled out on a larger scale they could reach far more people. The trust has been testing people in pubs, at festivals and Aussie rules football matches since 2008.

People are offered a sample cup and, those that accept, fill the cup and write on their phone number. If they are found to be positive they receive a phone call and will be advised of what steps to take.

Mr Warriner said: "Waiting for people to come to us doesn't really work."

He said making the whole process more convenient for people will greatly increase the numbers who are tested.

HIV risk to older married couples

26/08/2010 09:05:19

HIV is more likely to be contracted by people who are married or living together in Uganda than single or young people, a study has revealed.

The country's findings reveal a change in the pandemic's pattern of infection.

Since the onset of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, campaigns have focused on young people in casual relationships between 15 and 24 years old, who were thought to be more at risk from the disease than people in their thirties and forties in committed relationships.

The Uganda AIDS Commission March 2010 epidemic status report said: "There has been a shift in the epidemic from people in single casual relationships to those in long-term relationships.

"43 per cent of new HIV infections are among monogamous relationships while 64 per cent are among persons reporting multiple partnerships and their partners."

Dr Kihumuro Apuuli, the director general of the Uganda AIDS Commission, said: "In our studies four or five years ago, the main new infections were among [people aged] 20 to 25. But now there is a shift upwards and the most new infections are among people between 30 and 34 years, and 40 and 45 years."

The Uganda findings, funded by UNAIDS, concur with the UNAIDS 2009 epidemic report.

38% of children 'sexually active'

25/08/2010 14:35:02

More than a third of children - some of them as young as 12 - at five schools in one of South Africa's largest cities are sexually active, research has shown.

Some 253 out of 665 pupils told researchers from the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD) that they had had sex, with 48 saying they had had two or more partners during the past 12 months. Six of those who admitted to being sexually active were in primary school. A further 66 said they had not used a condom.

Joanne Brink, head of the education unit at the FPD, said the results indicated that sex education programmes had been unsuccessful.

"We were shocked by the high numbers of pupils who were sexually active", she said. "Very few sexually active learners think they are at risk of contracting HIV/Aids."

Joan van Niekerk, manager of advocacy and training at the charity Childline, said the findings were "very concerning".

"It's pretty much in line with another study which found that children started experimenting with sex below the age of 12 and that most were sexually active by 18," she said.

"There is a lot of pressure on girls to become sexually active with their boyfriends. Lots of girls feel they don't have the right to say no and that if they don't agree, the boy will leave them."

Papua New Guinea AIDS rate rising

25/08/2010 09:05:31

Papua New Guinea's Department of Health and National AIDS Council Secretariat believe that the nation's HIV/AIDS prevalence is 0.92% - a figure which continues to rise.

A study conducted in 2009 led to the latest estimate, taking into account the most recent available data from across the country.

The HIV/AIDS prevalence study was carried out by a panel of national and international experts, who used information from tests of pregnant women from antenatal clinics in Papua New Guinea's four regions.

In June a joint Department of Health and National AIDS Council Secretariat workshop collected and finalised the results.

From 2007 onwards, officials have been noting higher estimates of prevalence based on data from a relatively small number of urban and rural sites.

The number of health facilities conducting HIV/AIDS tests among antenatal mothers has increased, offering sufficient data to get a more accurate picture of the epidemic among 15 to 49-year-olds last year.

HIV warning for Indian district

24/08/2010 14:35:01

India's Dimapur district accounts for more than 50% of the total number of HIV positive cases in the state of Nagaland, figures have revealed.

Government statistics show that the rate of HIV infection in the district has soared while state-wide levels remain relatively constant.

Of the total number of cases detected in the first quarter of 2010, 54.6% were in Dimapur - up from 32.4% in 2007-2008 and 44.5% in 2008-2009.

Sexual contact is the main route of transmission, accounting for 88% of new infections during the reporting period.

The number of pregnant women with HIV also increased from 1.62% of the total population during 2009-2010 to 3.2%.

Flying in the face of local beliefs that the problem is caused by those not from the district, the figures also showed that area residents accounted for 71.7% of the total number of HIV cases.

A spokesman for the federal government said it was looking into strategies to tackle the problem.

Call for STIs campaign in Ireland

24/08/2010 09:05:21

A jump in syphillis and clamydia cases in Ireland has led doctors to call for a new health campaign to make people aware of the dangers of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

St James' Hospital in Dublin has seen cases of syphillis increase by 50% over the last 12 months, while diagnoses of clamydia have risen by 25% in the same time, according to Dr Dominic Rolley.

The specialist in Genital Urinary Medicine at the hospital said a high proportion of the infections are diagnosed in women between the ages of 25 and 29.

There has been no public health campaign on STIs since that highlighting the dangers of HIV and AIDS in the 1980s.

Dr Rolley said the upsurge in new HIV cases proves a new campaign is needed.

He said: "We had 400 new cases diagnosed by the end of 2009. And out of that there was about 165 heterosexual new diagnoses and 140 gay and bisexual men.

"The vast majority of diagnoses have been below the age of 35."

Ethiopian region battles FGM

23/08/2010 14:35:25

More than nine out of 10 women in a north-eastern region of Ethiopia experience one of the most brutal forms of genital mutilation/cutting (FGM), although reproductive health education is slowly reducing its prevalence, a survey has found.

The region has a 91% prevalence of the practice, according to Ethiopia's 2005 Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). The eastern Somali region has the highest prevalence (97.3%), while the survey projected the national rate at 73.3%.

Use Ahmed, 45, from Awash in southern Afar, said: "This cut is one of the most horrible things done to a human being - I still suffer from it. But how can we stop it when it is our culture?"

The cut involves infibulation, or Type III FGM, in Afar. The process involves the removal of the external genitalia and then sealing, just leaving a small opening for menstrual blood. CARE Ethiopia is partnering former traditional circumcisers to help raise awareness of FGM-related effects.

Women are given the skills to run other small businesses and are trained in reproductive health.

FGM poses immediate risks such as shock, infection and severe blood loss, but also longer-term issues including infections of the reproductive and urinary tracts, infertility and a number of obstetric complications, like death of the baby and postpartum haemorrhage.

TB threat to women's sexual health

20/08/2010 09:25:00

The sexual reproductive health of women and their children is being affected by tuberculosis (TB), Thaindian.com has reported.

The likelihood of transmission of TB to a child before, during delivery or shortly after birth to a child is increased in areas with high TB infection rates. Maternal and infant mortality can also often be linked to TB, especially when associated with HIV.

However, despite the media attention to TB in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas, there is little discussion of the vulnerability of women to the disease. Public health development improvements in sub-Saharan Africa with increased HIV awareness could be unravelled by the threat of TB, but solutions to the problem are not easy, the website said.

Technological, research, human and financial investment is needed to combat the disease, but women's health needs must be the focus, the website argues. Men and women must be informed of the impact of TB on their sexual lives through a partnership between TB and sexual reproductive health services.

Yet systemic factors driving drug resistance and TB in sub-Saharan Africa cannot be ignored in order to resolve the issue, the website said.

US sexual health pilot may expand

20/08/2010 09:05:24

The northern-central US state of Wisconsin has said it wants to extend a Medicaid project that provides varied methods of contraception to people on low incomes.

A total of 27 US states already provide similar services under a pilot, which provides free contraception, such as vasectomies and birth-control pills, to people who otherwise could not afford it. The services also provide prescription contraceptive pills, smear tests, fertility treatments and testing for sexually transmitted disease.

In Wisconsin, women only qualify if their annual income is under $21,600 (£13,800), which is double the level the US government categorises as living in poverty. But the state has now applied to increase the eligibility threshold to $32,490 (£20,780).

Jason Helgerson, Wisconsin's Medicaid director, said the pilot has prevented unplanned pregnancies which "regardless of your political stripes, I don't think anybody wants".

Smart card to help childbirth costs

17/08/2010 09:35:00

A new smart card system at one of the largest maternal hospitals in Kenya may be able to help thousands of people save towards the cost of childbirth, it has been announced.

People who own a smart card will be able to uploads small amounts of money through an M-Pesa cellphone money transfer facility ahead of a visit to the Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Nairobi.

When women visit the hospital, the system will take the cost of the medical care off the smart card savings.

According to Samuel Agutu, the managing director of Changamka Microhealth Limited, the company behind the smart card scheme, it will be beneficial to millions of people in Kenya.

Figures show that just 5% of the population has medical insurance, while there are 11 million working adults in the informal working sector who are not covered.

Mr Agutu said: "Without medical cover, meeting maternity costs becomes a challenge for most people in Kenya and despite government hospitals charging very modest fees, families cannot pay the charges.

"Thus, women continue to deliver at home with the help of inexperienced people and most die when emergency situations present."

US approves new morning-after pill

17/08/2010 09:05:19

Women in the US will be given access to a new morning-after pill which is effective up to five days after sex, a manufacturer has said.

Food and drug regulators in the US granted approval for ella to be available on prescription only - a move which has drawn praise and criticism from advocates at both ends of the abortion debate following claims that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had allowed politics to overrule scientific opinion under the Bush administration.

Meanwhile, anti-abortion campaigners claim that the drug bears more of a resemblance to an abortion pill rather than a contraceptive pill and could potentially lead to side-effects similar to mifeprestone, which has been associated with severe infections and bleeding after abortion.

However, the regulator said no serious side-effects had been witnessed and last week approved the drug, which has been available in Europe for some time.

Kirsten Moore, president of the advocacy group Reproductive Health Technologies Project, said the FDA's decision restored the regulator's reputation following suggestions that it had been influenced by the previous Bush administration.

"Approval of ella is another indication that the FDA is committed to restoring scientific integrity in its decisions," she said.

In head-to-head trials, women who took ella had a 1.8% chance of becoming pregnant, while women who took Plan B, which loses its effectiveness within three days of sex, had a 2.6% chance.

Court seeks population growth rate

16/08/2010 09:05:18

A division bench of the Dhaka High Court has sought details of the country's population growth rate over the last 10 years from the Government of Bangladesh.

It has also asked Bangladesh's Government for information regarding measures being taken to control the expanding population of the country, and to explain why an independent ministry should not be established to handle population planning.

The court decision is in response to a public interest litigation, which requested the Government to take immediate measures to control population growth - an urgent concern, filed by four lawyers of the country's Supreme Court.

In the appeal, the petitioners had asked a total of 15 people, including the country's cabinet secretary, health secretary, and director general of the Department of Family Planning, to respond.

80% of Zimbabwean prostitutes HIV+

13/08/2010 09:05:17

New figures have laid bare the extent of HIV/Aids infection among Zimbabwean sex workers, with 80% of those who have gone for a voluntary examination during the past five years testing positive for the fatal condition.

A report by the country's National Aids Council found that women who worked as prostitutes were the group most likely to come into contact with and spread the virus.

Spokesman Oscar Mundida said: "Of all the vulnerable groups, prostitutes are the largest group contributing to the spread of the disease as well as the most likely to get infected."

Critics of the Government's approach to tackling the problem say a policy of ignoring sex workers has exacerbated the issue.

Zimbabwe Business Council on Aids programme officer Mrs Esther Magara-mombe said: "It is vital to have legislative policies that support programming activities for these groups. We can't keep ignoring them and their impact on our fight against Aids."

Youth groups have called for a more inclusive approach to fighting HIV/Aids; one that includes all sections of society, especially gay people.

"Unlike prostitutes, homosexuals are not being targeted at all, said NAC youth co-ordinator Ms Beauty Nyamwanza. "Even though (our) society generally does not condone the existence of this group, it is important to know that they are especially vulnerable to HIV and Aids."

Health bill 'may reduce abortions'

06/08/2010 14:35:00

Unsafe abortions may become a thing of the past in The Philippines if the national congress passes a law on reproductive health, women's rights advocates have claimed.

The bill up for discussion does not legalise abortions however. Instead it promotes the idea that people should adopt family planning methods.

Junice Melgar, of the Likhaan Center for Women's Health in The Philippines, said: "What's important to us is the prevention [of abortion] and the humane treatment of women seeking post-abortion care."

Likhaan organised a discussion on the issue and showed a documentary about the stories of four Filipino women who ended up with complications after undergoing illegal abortions.

Dr Melgar said: "We are pushing for the passage of the reproductive health bill but not for the legalisation of abortion.

She claimed: "The RH bill, if passed, will promote family planning programs and therefore reduce abortions."

The discussion involved advocates of the bill, medical practitioners, lawyers, educators, and government officials.

Mujer Segura 'preventing HIV cases'

03/08/2010 14:35:11

A scheme designed to change the behaviour of sex workers in the US-Mexico border region has significantly cut the number of cases of HIV, an academic has claimed.

The Mujer Segura (Sure Woman) course lasts 35 minutes and is said to be worth the $200 (£125) expense - of the women who have used the programme once, 33 cases of HIV infection are said to have been avoided.

The behavioural intervention course tries to encourage the workers to have safer sex and offers them training on how to negotiate the use of condoms with men who pay for their services.

Thomas Patterson, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego's school of medicine, said: "For many of these women, the reason they are sex workers is to make enough money to feed their children.

"So you don't just point out that HIV kills but also that taking precautions to avoid HIV infection means they will live longer and be able to take care of their children."

Experts reveal high MMR in Pakistan

03/08/2010 09:05:16

Health officials and representative of NGOs have claimed the maternal mortality rate (MMR) in Pakistan is around 276 per 100,000 live births.

And according to the experts, excessive bleeding is responsible for around one third of mothers' deaths in childbirth.

Speaking at a workshop organised by the Health and Nutrition Development Society (HANDS) and the World Population Foundation (WPF), the figures are even higher in Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province.

According to figures, the maternal mortality rate in the state is as high as 856 per 100,000 live births.

With around 30,000 mothers losing their lives every year due to reproductive health complications, the experts warned the targets set out in the Millennium Development Goals were not being reached.

The target was to reduce maternal mortality in Pakistan to less than 140 by 2015.

At the workshop, HANDS and the WPF launched a campaign to highlight the awareness of safe motherhood.

FGM 'breaches women's human rights'

02/08/2010 14:35:09

Judges in Uganda have declared female genital mutilation "unconstitutional" and an infringement of human rights.

The case came about after fierce lobbying from Human Rights Advocacy for Women in Uganda which sought nullification orders against female genital mutilation (FGM) in April 2007.

Three years' later, the organisation has succeeded in its battle to expose the inhumane practice and impose a ban across the country where FGM has been practised for centuries.

Deputy chief justice Leticia Kikonyogo was joined by five other judges who ruled that FGM was not in accordance with international treaties governing human rights which have already been signed and adhered to by the Uganda government.

FGM is widely practised in tribal regions in Eastern Uganda where unqualified surgeons often perform the ritual without anaesthetic, causing unnecessary suffering and sometimes death.

The practice, criticised around the world as a breach of human rights, also increases the spread of HIV and AIDS through unsterilised instruments and poor clinical procedures.

Guyana considers HIV murder law

02/08/2010 09:05:17

People in Guyana who have HIV and who knowingly infect others may soon be charged with murder, if the South American country's politicians have their way.

Charges of murder in the first degree should only be lodged if the victim died or became seriously ill, according to opposition legislator Everall Franklin.

Next month a bipartisan committee at the national parliament will debate the proposal.

In the US, a high burden of proof is required to convict people accuse of deliberate HIV transmission. A man in Mississippi was recently charged with murdering a woman by infecting her with the virus and a woman with HIV in Florida was jailed for two years for having unprotected sex with around 200 men.

High MMR rate concerns officials

30/07/2010 14:35:12

Health officials in the state of Kanpur in India are concerned with the high level maternal mortality rate (MMR).

Figures from a sample registration survey carried out in 2006 showed that MMR was 440 per 100,000 live births in the state.

In other states the figure was much lower, such as in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where MMR was 95 and 111 per 100,000 live births respectively.

According to the survey, a number of reasons resulted in the high level of MMR in Kanpur.

These included haemorrhage, sepsis, hypertension, obstructed labour and abortion.

Dr Ashok Mishra, Kanpur's chief medical officer, said a large number of births are delivered by untrained personnel, which contributed to the problem.

He said: "Maternal death usually occurs between the third trimester of pregnancy and first week after delivery. There are more chances of a woman's death within first two days after the delivery.

"A large number of deliveries are conducted by untrained personnel. Deaths are mostly related to obstetric complications including post partum haemorrhage, infections and prolonged or obstructed labour. Also, a prime reason has been the lack of institutional deliveries."

Robinson calls for African unity

30/07/2010 09:05:16

Former Irish president Mary Robinson has called for greater healthcare support for pregnant women and mothers in Africa.

Speaking during a visit to Sierra Leone, she said all African countries must continue to invest in maternal health if the continent is to fulfil its economic potential.

"If the African Union succeeds in fulfilling its commitment to maternal health, it will benefit the economies of countries to have healthy populations," she said.

"Sierra Leone has taken a major step forward in promoting maternal health as a human right not only for its own people but also globally, as a model of leadership and initiative in this critical area."

Her announcement coincides with the roll out of a new $90 million (£57 million) initiative aimed at providing pregnant women and nursing mothers with free healthcare.

During her visit to the country, home to the world's highest death rate among pregnant women and children, Ms Robinson drew attention to the need for greater steps to be taken to improve healthcare provision in maternity units after raising concerns about the lack of running water and incubators in one clinic she visited.

Uganda praised for mutilation ban

29/07/2010 09:25:31

A union that promotes unity between African countries has praised Uganda after it banned the act of female genital mutilation.

The African Union (AU) said the practice humiliated women and urged other African countries which allow the practice to follow the lead of Uganda in banning it.

Bience Gawanas, AU commissioner for social affairs, said: "AU decided that there should be no more declarations, no more resolutions concerning women's lives and dignity because it is time for action. That's why we applaud our host Uganda, who passed a law against female genital mutilation."

Uganda's first Lady, Janet Museveni, was praised by the AU for backing an HIV/AIDS prevention scheme.

Mrs Museveni said the country was working to reduce the number of infant and maternal deaths, but she said more needed to be done.

She said: "Most women die due to bleeding and infection, which are largely preventable hence the need for more access to emergency care, equipment and access to information about the availability of these."

At a First Ladies' meeting in Munyonyo, Mrs Gawanas praised Mrs Museveni for her promotion of abstinence to children.

However, Mrs Gawanas said women in rural areas needed better information on safe sex.

Condoms given out at HIV conference

28/07/2010 09:05:23

Participants at the International Aids Conference in Austria have taken home around one million condoms, partly thanks to event sponsors Durex.

Promoting the Condomise campaign, the firm distributed a range of coloured, flavoured and novelty condoms for females and males. Thousands of t-shirts bearing the legend Love Smart, Play Safe were also handed out.

The biggest attraction at the event in Vienna was the finger condom display, used during female-to-female sex. Taiwan Aids Foundation, which produces them, said they are worn snugly on the finger and are much the same as other condoms in that they help prevent HIV infection, although they can still break if used incorrectly.

The foundation's Hsing Ilai said she saw a gap in the market for finger condoms and thought: why not give it a try?

She added: "Taiwan is the first country to manufacture finger condoms. The aim was to provide yet another alternative HIV-prevention method. The condom was meant for women-to-women sex but can also be used by heterosexuals."

The Condomise initiative is designed to remove any perceived stigma associated with condom use. It also calls for increased supply of quality condoms for all.

Plans to tackle pregnancy deaths

27/07/2010 09:05:16

In an attempt to reduce the persistently high number of women who die in pregnancy and childbirth the UK Government is to put family at the heart of its approach to women's health in the developing world, the International Development Secretary said.

Andrew Mitchell said that in order to ensure the demands of some of the world's poorest women are met, a new approach will see a significant increase in the availability of family planning.

The complexities of why at least one third of a million women in the world's poorest countries die each year during pregnancy and childbirth have been ignored by the international community, Mr Mitchell said.

There are currently 215m women in the developing world who would like to delay or avoid their next pregnancy, but do not have access to modern family planning methods. Increasing access could prevent up to 30 per cent of all maternal deaths and 20 per cent of newborn deaths.

Andrew Mitchell said: "DFID will now have an unprecedented focus on family planning, which will be hard-wired into all our country programmes."

The Department for International Development's new consultation on reproductive, maternal and newborn health highlights a range of issues including family planning, adolescent fertility, unsafe abortion, antenatal care, and skilled care at delivery.

Emergency pill sales rise in India

26/07/2010 09:05:15

The number of emergency contraceptive pills sold in India last year increased by 250% on 2008, prompting claims they are being misused.

The Indian state has banned adverts it says promote the pill as an ordinary method of birth control, rather than as the emergency use for which they are intended.

Around 8.2 million emergency contraceptive pills were bought over the counter in India in 2009.

Clinical psychologist Radhika Chandiramani, who chairs a sexual health organisation, said: "It's all very well to say people are becoming sexually liberal but who's going to talk about the long-term effects of this quick solution?"

The pills should only be used periodically because they contain a much higher amount of the same hormones found in ordinary oral contraceptive pills.

The apparent frequency with which the emergency pills are being taken is likely to increase the risk of being infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Routine use suggests the pills are being chosen over condoms, despite them offering less protection against STIs.

Men 'can play key childbirth role'

22/07/2010 09:05:19

Africa must tackle negative cultures that cast men who support their wives during childbirth as "weaklings", if maternal and child mortality rates are to fall on the continent, it has been claimed.

Uganda's gender and culture minister Lukia Nakadama said involving men in the process is crucial to addressing the high death rate for women during childbirth.

Ms Nakadama told the fourth African Union pre-summit conference on gender at the Speke Resort Munyonyo in Uganda: "Most campaigns against maternal and child mortality mainly target women as if they are the only ones affected by this problem. We also need to bring men on board."

The minister said many men take their wives and children to hospital but the male-dominated culture means they are often criticised for their involvement.

"We should move away from negative cultures that portray men who accompany their wives to hospital as weaklings. This kind of attitude has caused the deaths of many women during childbirth because the men have neglected their role of helping their wives. If you don't help your woman when you are only two, who will help her?" she asked.

Ms Nakadama also blamed the tradition of female genital mutilation for contributing to the death rate, saying: "In African cultures, where girls have to get circumcised before getting married, one in four girls die during childbirth. This is because many of the young girls don't go for antenatal care due to ignorance and fear."

Empowering women 'could cut HIV'

21/07/2010 09:05:21

Microsoft chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates has said empowering women could more effectively help to cut the number of HIV cases across the world.

At the International Aids Conference, Mr Gates told reporters that actively encouraging women to take part in HIV prevention programmes can have a dramatic effect.

He gave the example of the Avahan programme in India, which is supported by the Gates Foundation.

As part of the scheme, female sex workers in four Indian states insist on the use of condoms.

Data gathered from the programmes have shown a huge decrease in the rate of sexually transmitted diseases in the target areas.

"It is empowering to hear Gates support the empowerment of women," said Nazneen Damji, Gender Equality and HIV/AIDS Advisor at the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

"It is not enough that women have access to condoms. They also need to have the confidence to fearlessly refuse to have sex with men who do not use a condom," Damji said.

Women need more time between births

20/07/2010 15:35:00

A £50 million investment is needed to improve services for women in Pakistan to enable them to increase the amount of time between having babies and improve the nation's high death rate among women in childbirth.

The Pakistan prime minister's special assistant on the social sector, Begum Shahnaz Wazir Ali, told a conference in the US that birth spacing is intended to ensure better health for women and their newborn children.

"There is a paradigm shift in provision of healthcare delivery to the people as far as the present government is concerned. We are looking at efficient delivery of primary healthcare services with integration of health and population at the service delivery level," she told the National Consultation on Birth Spacing.

Pakistan's health minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin said reducing the overall number of pregnancies is the single most effective way of cutting maternal mortality rates.

He said: "We see birth spacing as not just an integral part of maternal and newborn care but also as a right of women who want to postpone their next child but are unable to find the means to do so."

One third of all birth intervals of Pakistani women last less than 24 months, increasing the risk to the health of mother and child, he added.

Vaginal gel 'cuts HIV risk by half'

20/07/2010 09:05:23

A new vaginal gel can halve a woman's chances of being infected with HIV from a partner, a study has found.

The discovery could pave the way for a low-cost, easy-to-use line of defence against HIV/AIDS where the potentially infected partner is unwilling to use condoms, researchers said.

Writing in the US journal Science, the joint South African and American research team found that using the gel, which is laced with an antiretroviral microbicide, cut the risk of HIV infection from a partner by 50% after one year and 39% after two-and-a-half years.

Michael Sidibe, executive director of the World Health Organisation's UNAids programme, said while the effectiveness of the gel still needs to be proven in a follow-up trial, it is "giving hope to women" and could "help us break the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic".

And Dr Anthony Fauci of the US National Institutes of Health said: "It's the first time we've ever seen any microbicide give a positive result" that scientists agree is true evidence of protection.

Researchers say that while the gel could be used as a last line of defence for women whose partners refuse to wear condoms, the level of protection is still short of the expectations of drug regulators and health agencies in Western countries such as the US.

However, they believe the basic evidence is sound and could be the first step to developing an improved formula.

The gel also halved the chances of getting HSV-2, the virus that causes genital herpes - a vital discovery as existing sexually transmitted diseases increase the risk of becoming infected with HIV.

Indian government urges vasectomies

19/07/2010 09:05:21

More men in India should consider having a vasectomy for birth control because it is more convenient than the female procedure, a government regional official has said.

Bhopal district collector Nikunj Srivastava said educating men and raising awareness were the best way to make family planning more effective, as opposed to coercion.

In light of the recent Family Planning Week on July 11-17, Mr Srivastava tried to dispel the misinformation surrounding male vasectomy.

Only around 800 men had the procedure in the Bhopal district during the week but Mr Srivastava said the surgery will now be performed across the district's hospitals and clinics throughout the second week of every month as well as on a specified day each week.

A cash incentive is being offered to ASHA workers, ANMs and NGOs for successfully implementing effective family planning.

Srivastava said undue pressure on health workers hampers their efficiency, although he added that staff at clinics or hospitals not promoting family planning may be disciplined.

UN warns against HIV 'complacency'

16/07/2010 14:45:00

Changes in sexual behaviour have resulted in the prevalence of HIV among young people in highly-affected areas falling by up to a quarter, UN figures have shown.

A UNAids report said widespread changes in sexual behaviour among 15-24-year-olds coupled with better understanding and access to contraception had cut the prevalence of HIV in areas stricken by AIDS, particularly in African countries.

However, the UN has called for governments to be wary of "complacency" after Uganda, highly praised for its efforts in the fight against HIV, was found to have witnessed a rise in the incidence of the virus among young, sexually active people.

Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAids, said any achievements made so far must be sustained if the long-term fight against HIV/AIDS is to be won.

"After the reduction and introduction of treatment, most of the people were not feeling anymore of the same pressure for prevention programmes," he said.

"So what we are experiencing today in Uganda is what we need to be scared about it - it's progress, and not sustaining [those] results due to probably a complacency."

In a report ahead of this year's international conference on AIDS in Vienna, the UN revealed that five million young people live with HIV across the world, making up 40% of new infections.

Report slates Kenyan health service

14/07/2010 09:05:28

Inadequate health services and failed government policies in Kenya have left thousands of women suffering from a childbirth injury which causes the leakage of urine and faeces, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

The impact of obstetric fistula on Kenyan women is described in the report, I Am Not Dead, But I Am Not Living: Barriers to Fistula Prevention and Treatment in Kenya, which evaluates the gap between the government's policies on reproductive health and the reality of women's lives.

There is a risk of obstetric fistula when a young girl becomes pregnant or marries early, before their body is able to sustain a pregnancy.

This can lead to obstructed labour. If emergency care, often in the form of a Caesarean section, is not available then the long labour can damage vaginal tissue and causes a hole, or a fistula, and incontinence.

Five areas of failings in the health service are documented in the report: school-based sex education; education and information on reproductive and maternal health; access to emergency obstetric care, including referral and transport systems; health system accountability; and affordable maternity care and fistula repair.

Population growth 'must be tackled'

13/07/2010 14:35:10

Government in Pakistan must tackle the country's rising population growth rate if it hopes to succeed in fighting terrorism or aiding the economy, according to its medical association.

Leaders need to integrate family planning ideas into other health programmes to reduce the growth rate - which is one of the highest in the world.

The methods have been successfully applied in Iran and Bangladesh where birth rates were reduced after family planning programmes were implemented.

The suggestions were made on Saturday at the PMA House at a seminar on "Challenges in providing reproductive health and family planning services".

The seminar was organised by the Pakistan Medical Association in collaboration with the Marie Stopes Society (MSS) to mark World Population Day.

At the conference Dr Laila Shah of the MSS said that Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world with 185 million people but this figure could increase to 335 million by 2050 if no action is taken.

However she said that the United Nations predicted that after 40 years the population figure could soar to 460 million.

She added that in terms of population growth rate the country ranked 14th in the world at the time of independence.

"A high [population] growth rate, a poor education system, rising unemployment and a troubled economy pose a grave risk to Pakistan's survival. The population growth situation is like a ticking bomb," she said.

Kenya polygamy prompts HIV fears

13/07/2010 09:25:08

Polygamy remains a popular social practice in Kenya, with experts warning it is pushing up birth rates and could be helping fuel the spread of HIV/Aids.

The number of married Kenyan women who are wed to a man who has at least one or more other wives (co-wives) stands at 13 in every 100, figures from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008/2009 show.

The number of married women who had co-wives in 2003 was higher - 16 in every 100 - but the group still called for Kenyan men to be monogamous, citing concerns over population growth and HIV/Aids.

As Mombasa hosts official celebrations marking World Population Day, Kenya's population growth is estimated at 2.3% a year, a figure boosted by the number of births within polygamous families.

Next month, the release of 2009's national census is set to show Kenya's population has hit 40 million.

Samuel Ogola, a programme officer at the National Co-ordinating Agency for Population and Development, said:"We get worried by polygamous marriages because they increase the likelihood that co-wives will compete among themselves at having more children and end up contributing to the average number of births per women.

Call for family planning investment

12/07/2010 09:05:17

More investment is needed in family planning services to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and maternal deaths in Uganda, population experts have said.

If more funding was provided it would help mothers delay or allow more time between each birth, according to Ms Janet Jackson, the country representative of the United Nations Population Fund.

Ms Jackson, who was speaking ahead of July 11's World Population Day, said that if mothers were able to space their births it would lead to a good quality population.

She said: "We should not be looking too much into the numbers - whether they are too many or too few people but the people behind these statistics."

At present in Uganda four in 10 women want to be able to stop or limit their childbirth. However, they do not have access to family planning services such as advice and contraceptives.

This lack of support has seen women giving birth to more children, and has fed a rising population.

Demographers have warned that unless family planning services are made available, the population - currently at 31 million - will explode.

This could lead to the government having problems providing services such as education and healthcare.

Pakistan maternal deaths 'too high'

09/07/2010 09:15:13

More doctors and basic facilities could prevent 80% of maternal deaths in Pakistan, the World Population Foundation (WPF) said.

About 276 women die per 100,000 births in the country, with a third of the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) caused by post-natal haemorrhage (excessive bleeding), WPF assistant programme officer Sidra Ashraf said.

Most of these deaths could be prevented if there was a change in attitudes towards the issue and greater provision of adequate facilities and more doctors on hand to monitor births, she said.

Ms Sidra was addressing a workshop run by the WPF and Chanan Development Association looking at the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 5 and safe motherhood issues in Pakistan.

The situation is most severe in Balochistan, where the MMR is 856 deaths per 100,000 births, she said.

"In view of this bleak situation, it is needless to say that Pakistan is far from fulfilling its commitment with regards to MDG 5 whereby its target was to reduce the MMR to less than 140 by 2015," she said.

Call to tackle needless deaths

09/07/2010 09:05:26

More investment needs to be made in the health of women and girls worldwide to prevent needless deaths, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

He made his comments as he attended the premiere of former model Christy Turlington's film 'No Woman, No Cry' in New York, which documents the preventable tragedy of maternal mortality.

Mr Ki-moon urged people to make 2010 a turning point in tackling the high number of deaths of women and children needlessly each year.

Hundreds of thousands of women die each year in the developing world as a result of pregnancy or childbirth.

And reducing the figure by three quarters by 2015 is one of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Mr Ki-moon said: ""Each year, millions of women and children die needlessly. We know how to save their lives.

"We can do it with quality health systems, qualified medical staff, information and tools for preventing and treating diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS."

No Woman, No Cry follows the lives of at-risk pregnant women in four parts of the world, including a remote Maasai tribe in Tanzania, a slum in Bangladesh, a post-abortion care ward in Guatemala, and a prenatal clinic in the US.

Pregnancies hamper drug trials

08/07/2010 14:35:12

Researchers have expressed concern that participants in an anti-retroviral HIV drug trial are not using contraceptives after a number of participants fell pregnant.

Trials to find if Tenofovir and Truvada can protect women from the HIV virus are being conducted by University of Zimbabwe arm Microbicide Trials Network, in partnership with the University of San Francisco.

Project director Dr Nyaradzo Mgodi said the consistent use of contraceptives was a prerequisite for women taking part in the ARV-based two-year trial.

She said: "For women to enter the programme they should be prepared to use contraceptives for the duration of the study and not to get pregnant.

"Pregnant women are not supposed to participate in the study because these drugs are still under research and we do not know their effects on unborn babies."

Eight of the 230 women recruited so far to take part in the Voice (Virginal and Oral Interventions to Control the Epidemic) have fallen pregnant this year, she said. The study is looking to recruit 5,000 women from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, South Africa and Malawi.

11.5% HIV prevalence in Mozambique

08/07/2010 09:05:23

More than one in 10 people between the ages of 15 and 49 in Mozambique have the HIV virus which causes AIDS, according to the results of a national survey.

The survey results, released by the Ministry of Health, show 11.5% of people between these age groups have the HIV virus. While this figure appears to be a drop from the 15% measured last year and the 16% prevalence found in 2008, the statistics are affected by a change in the method of polling.

Mozambique's Health Minister Ivo Garrido warned the number of people carrying HIV has not changed, but the method in which the data is collected has.

Last year's figures were gathered by taking blood samples from pregnant women who attended one of the 40 "sentinel" health units around the country. However, this was not a random sample as it was thought the units were skewing the figures towards urban dwellers, where infection rates are known to be higher than among people who live in rural areas.

The new survey no longer assumes analysis of pregnant women only can be used as a guide for the adult population as a whole. The National Survey on Prevalence, Behavioural Risks and Information on HIV/AIDS (INSIDA) took society at large as its target group.

Make contraception free - US groups

07/07/2010 09:05:33

Contraception should be provided among the range of free preventive healthcare services to be rolled out in the US, according to women's health groups.

Prescription contraceptives are already covered under many health plans and 27 states have laws that require some level of coverage, but groups in favour of making them free to all say the move could reduce the estimated three million unplanned pregnancies in the US every year.

The cost of contraception is cited as one of the reasons experts cite for unintended pregnancies and, even if women are covered under health plans, they can face significant co-payments. It could cost between $20 to $50 (£13 to £33) per month for birth control pills, or several hundred dollars for a more permanent measure, such as an intrauterine device.

Experts believe by making contraceptives free it could encourage the use of more reliable and cost-effective contraceptives, such as IUDs and hormonal implants.

National Partnership for Women and Families senior health policy adviser Laura Hessburg said: "It's basic preventive health care."

Statistics show the average American women who hopes to have two children spends approximately five years trying to get pregnant or being pregnant, but spends an average of 30 years trying to avoid pregnancy.

Abortion law change made in Spain

06/07/2010 09:05:17

A new law has come into effect in Spain that allows abortion without restrictions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

The measure brings the traditionally Roman Catholic country more in line with its neighbours in northern Europe.

But Spain's Constitutional Court could yet decide to suspend or change the law.

The abortion law is the latest change introduced by the socialist government since it came to power in 2004.

And Bibiana Aido, Spain's equality minister, told Cadena Ser radio that the government was not concerned about a challenge by the opposition, the conservative Popular Party, which claims the 14-week termination clause in unconstitutional.

The Popular Party cited a 1985 ruling from the court that said a woman's rights could not automatically take precedence over those of an unborn child, and could do so only in cases of rape, foetal malformation or when the mother's health is in jeopardy.

The Constitutional Court must also decide whether to suspend the law while it studies the appeal. The court said there is no timetable for either decision.

The law allows 16 and 17-year-olds to have abortions without their parents' permission, although the parents have to be informed. It also wipes away the threat of imprisonment for having an abortion and declares it a woman's right.

HIV scheme 'could help sex workers'

05/07/2010 09:55:00

Scientists believe that a behavioural intervention scheme can significantly reduce the rate of of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among female sex workers in the US-Mexico border region.

Researchers from the University of California San Diego and Mexico examined how a hypothetical group of 1,000 female sex workers would respond to a previously tested behavioural intervention program called Mujer Segura - or Healthy Woman.

The scheme - which lasts around 35 minutes - uses motivational techniques to encourage female sex workers to use safer sex practices. It also instructs on better condom negotiation skills with clients who demand unprotected sex.

Researchers found that among sex workers who received once-only interventions, an estimated 33 HIV cases were prevented and 5.7 months of quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) added, compared to sex workers who received no intervention.

There were 29 additional HIV cases prevented and 4.5 more months of QALE for sex workers who received annual interventions.

The findings have been published online by the journal PLoS One.

Birth surveys aid population study

05/07/2010 09:45:00

Population and fertility surveys have revealed the extent of population growth in Myanmar.

Between May 2008 and the end of 2009 it rose from 57.37 million to 59.12 million, Ministry of Immigration and Population figures show.

In 1988, the country had a population of 39.3 million. The number of people reaching the age of 18 or more only stood at over 30 million at the end of last year.

There are 29.39 million males and 29.73 million females, and Myanmar's population has grown 2.02% annually.

The last time the country measured its population was in 2007, with the help of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), and previously in 1973 and 1983.

A population changes and fertility survey was also carried out with help from the UNFPA in 1991, as well as fertility surveys and reproductive health surveys in 1997 and 2001.

UN body to promote women's equality

02/07/2010 09:05:22

A single UN body to be established by the UN General Assembly will have greater powers to fight for equality for women.

The Assembly reached an "informal agreement" to create the new group by merging four existing UN bodies.

On Friday the 192-member world body is scheduled to meet to adopt a resolution to merge the bodies into a single body "United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women, to be known as UN Women", Jamal Benomar, chief of staff to the General Assembly president said.

The General Assembly unanimously approved a resolution last September supporting the merger of the four UN bodies dealing with women.

The resolution, that is virtually certain to be approved today, will authorise the merger and order the new "entity" to be operational by January 1.

Zimbabwe targets maternal mortality

01/07/2010 09:05:22

A programme designed to dramatically reduce Zimbabwe's soaring maternal and child mortality rates has been launched by the country's deputy prime minister.

Thokhozani Khupe said the number of women who died while giving birth had trebled in recent years, now standing at around 725 in every 100,000.

He claimed the government would cut the rate by improving the availability and accessibility of quality healthcare in the face of the failure of other efforts.

"The launch comes at a time when maternal, neonatal and child health have reached emergency levels despite the existence of a plethora of global, regional and national efforts to address the challenges," a spokesman said.

"There is therefore an urgent need to increase efforts to accelerate effective co-ordination and implementation of high impact interventions targeted at turning off the tap of high maternal mortality in Zimbabwe."

Globally, around 500,000 women die every year while giving birth, the vast majority of them in Africa.

French top contraceptive pill use

30/06/2010 09:05:14

France has topped a league table on use of the contraceptive pill, new research has found.

A survey of more than 24,000 women in 18 European countries found the pill was used by half of respondents in France, it is reported in Czech newspaper Pravo.

Some 43% of women between 15 and 49 were found to be on the pill in the Czech Republic, 41% in the Netherlands and 38% in Germany.

Condoms were found to be the most widely used method of protection, with 49% of all women saying they used them while 21% said they were on the pill and 14% said they used a coil.

Gynaecologist Jaroslav Jenicek said: "The results have not confirmed the myth that modern youths start sexual intercourse at an increasingly lower age.

"It has turned out that in Europe, including the Czech Republic, it is about 18 years. It is only lower in Denmark, with 16.5 years."

Report backs current abortion limit

25/06/2010 09:05:19

A UK Government-commissioned report has recommended keeping the abortion limit at 24 weeks after claiming that the human foetus does not feel pain before that age.

Scientists from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists concluded that nerve connections within the brain are not sufficiently developed for a foetus to recognise pain until after the official 24-week cut-off point for terminations.

The foetus is in a state of "continuous sleep-like unconsciousness or sedation" even after 24 weeks, the study said. This could mean late abortions, allowed for serious abnormalities or risks to the mother's health, may not result in foetal suffering.

"It was apparent that connections from the periphery to the cortex are not intact before 24 weeks of gestation and, as most neuroscientists believe that the cortex is necessary for pain perception, it can be concluded that the foetus cannot experience pain in any sense prior to this gestation," the report included.

The Commons Science and Technology Committee called for a new study into foetal pain amid a bid by some MPs - including Prime Minister David Cameron - to have the abortion limit lowered.

India launches paid pregnancy plan

24/06/2010 09:05:11

The Indian Government has launched a scheme offering financial incentives for marriage aimed at tackling the country's soaring population.

The Prerna Yojana plan will offer girls classified as below the poverty line 5,000 ruppees as an incentive to get married after the age of 19.

The newly-married couple should then have their first child after at least two years of marriage, with 5,000 rupees on offer for producing a boy and 7,000 for the birth of a girl. Parents will receive the same amount again for their second child, as long as the gap between the two births is at least three years.

The couple must then have a family planning operation within a year of the birth of the second child, meaning they cannot have more children.

To receive the cash benefits, the couple must produce a marriage certificate, birth certificates for the children, and family planning operation certificate from the doctor.

It is part of the Government's ongoing efforts to control the population to aid economic growth and social development.

Philippines sex education halted

23/06/2010 09:05:13

Government officials in the Philippines are the subject of a class suit filed by an anti-family planning group which aims to stop them from teaching sex education in schools.

A Quezon City court has been asked to grant a temporary restraining order or a writ of preliminary injunction against the Education Department by the group, which is led by losing senatorial candidate Jo Imbong. The document named Education Secretary Mona Valisno and undersecretary Ramon Bacani as respondents.

Ms Valisno has confirmed that sex education classes would be postponed until the department had finished a consultation with the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. Ms Imbong was former head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, which is against sex education and the reproductive health bill.

The group's petition claimed that an Education Department order to teach sex education in schools is unconstitutional as it would violate a provision saying that parents have the primary right and duty for the development of a child's moral character.

Chinese count 'cost of living'

18/06/2010 09:05:22

People in China are putting off having a child until they can afford to provide adequately for it, a study has shown.

Owning a home and earning a respectable income are top priorities for couples considering having a baby, with more than 60% of people living in the city saying home ownership was one of the main preconditions to having a baby.

In rural areas, nine out of 10 respondents believe financial stability is a prerequisite for having a child - a belief that is mirrored by big city dwellers who say they would not even consider starting a family if they earned less than 8,000 yuan (£789) a month. Those in smaller cities say they would have to earn at least 5,100 yuan (£503) a month.

The prudish attitudes to childbirth in a country which has gained worldwide attention for its population issues were revealed in a study carried out by Horizon Research Consultancy Group (HRCG), which polled 3,262 people above the age of 18.

It found that people living in the country, where the average age to start a family is lower than in the city at 24 years old, say the earning threshold for starting a family is 4,500 yuan (£444) a month.

Tang Jun, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the high cost of living and "intense pressure of life" was resulting in a more reserved attitude to childbirth.

Safe sex message taken to World Cup

17/06/2010 09:05:12

Three sexual health workers from Newcastle are using the World Cup as a chance to educate young people in South Africa about the dangers of unprotected sex.

NHS staff Mark Hedley and Lisa Pringle took the opportunity to travel to Durban to encourage teenage South Africans to practise safe sex in order to protect themselves from HIV and Aids.

Mark works in health promotion for Newcastle Primary Care Trust's sexual health team and Lisa Pringle works for sex and relationship team Teenage Kicks.

The pair have been joined by Heidi Hansen, from Newcastle City Council, to work for the charity Lionsraw for three weeks on its project in Durban and the Valley of a Thousand Hills.

All three have packed their football shirts for the trip as the Lionsraw project has taken 150 volunteers for two weeks during the tournament to spread the contraception message among young adults.

Durban is one of the worst-affect areas from the world's HIV/AIDS pandemic where hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged and orphaned children live with the legacy of the virus.

Mark said: "We know that 70% of people in this area are HIV positive or have been affected by HIV as many of their family members have died from it. We are working with young people to give them the information they need to protect themselves when they get older.

"We want to encourage people to protect themselves and others by practicing safe sex by wearing a condom, and not sharing injection equipment."

HIV in South Africa under spotlight

16/06/2010 14:35:00

With the world's attention fixed solely on South Africa and the joyous celebrations of the World Cup this month, the stark reality of the country's HIV crisis will also sadly be brought into focus.

As football fans from around the world will find as they arrive for the world's biggest football tournament, South Africa is a country of two halves. While the 90,000-seater Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg represents the affluence of modern day South Africa, the bleak hopelessness of the surrounding townships illustrates a country where up to 1,000 people a day die from AIDS-related conditions.

More than 5.7 million people in South Africa are currently living with HIV, with one in three pregnant women testing positive resulting in 40,000 child and maternal deaths every year.

And a high rate of infection - 1,000 to 1,500 people are infected every day - means the cycle simply continues unless adequate intervention is made.

In a bid to combat the HIV epidemic, the South African government last year rolled out its 'A-Plan' which aims to reduce the transmission of HIV from mother to child to under 5% by 2011. If successful, the plan will save the lives of 75,000 children every year.

The UK has also contributed £25 million to a programme designed to support the South African response to HIV and bring the epidemic under control.

Uganda calls for global FGM ban

16/06/2010 09:05:14

Politicians in Uganda have called upon UN member states to support a global ban on female genital mutilation (FGM).

Tingey MP Herbert Sabila brought about the motion ahead of the African Union summit in July which will gather fellow African nations in a bid to address the continents' reproductive and maternal health issues.

Mr Sabila, within whose own constituency the practice still takes place, said FGM was unconstitutional, despite being a regular practice in many African countries.

He said FGM goes against the values of the UN Constitution which dictates that "no person shall be subjected to any form of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

The motion also urged neighbouring African states to implement the Maputo protocol, which protects women's rights to be part of the political process; guarantees sexual equality and calls for an end to FGM.

The motion was the latest step in Uganda's bid to ban FGM following last year's 'Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation' Bill was achieved presidential assent in March.

The World Health Organisation estimates that more than 130 million women in 25 countries across the world have undergone FGM.

Church opposes Philippines sex plan

15/06/2010 14:35:11

Catholic bishops in the Philippines have called for talks with President-elect Benigno Aquino III over a sex education programme that is to be introduced in the country's schools.

Education Department officials have confirmed that the scheme will be rolled out as a pilot across 80 elementary schools and 79 high schools this year. They added that it will be worked into subjects already being taught in the curriculum.

The Catholic Church, however, is against such a programme and is hoping to persuade Aquino to abandon the pilot testing when he is confirmed as president.

Subjects such as health, maths and science will be used to highlight areas of sex education like puberty and the reproductive cycle, reproductive health and statistics on teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Pupils will also be taught which parts of their body should not be touched by anyone and how to react if a family member or stranger does so.

New vaginal ring 'fights HIV virus'

14/06/2010 14:35:01

A groundbreaking device that fights HIV and Aids is being tested in Africa.

The International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM), a non-profit organisation that develops HIV drugs, says the new vaginal ring discreetly releases antiretrovirals instead of the contraceptive hormones that other rings deliver.

World Health Organisation (WHO) figures show that in women aged 15 to 44, Aids is the leading cause of death worldwide. In Africa, HIV/Aids the leading cause of disease among women aged between 15 and 59.

In IPM's study, the ring containing 25 milligrams of the new antiretroviral drug dapivirine will be trialled at research bases in southern and eastern Africa, the centre of the worst Aids epidemic.

Around 280 healthy, sexually-active women will be given either the dapivirine ring or a placebo ring for the three-month study, as well as condoms and counselling.

The study will measure how well women and their partners accept the vaginal ring and how accurately they can change the product on a monthly basis.

Talking about sex 'could cut STIs'

14/06/2010 09:05:15

Talking about sex comfortably can help reduce cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as HIV/Aids, a World Health Organisation (WHO) consultant has told a workshop in the Caribbean.

Dr Everold N. Hosein, senior communication adviser-consultant, said at a workshop held in Basseterre, St Kitts, that workers involved in sexual health communication should be trained to discuss matters easily and with sensitivity.

Sheree Trotman, an information education communication specialist, said the five-day course aimed to improve communication skills by making sex a more comfortable subject for discussion.

Giving an overview of course objectives, she said those trained would be able to hold engaging yet sensitive conversations with others and encourage safe sex to reduce the spread of STIs and improve general sexual health.

The communication course, which closed on Friday, attracted attendees from St Kitts and Nevis and other Caribbean countries.

Dr Hosein, who spoke at the opening ceremony, is course co-ordinator for the three-week Summer Institute on Integrated Marketing Communication for Behavioural Impact in Health and Social Development, which is offered by WHO and New York University in July.

Women Deliver conference finishes

11/06/2010 14:35:02

A major conference in Washington DC that has been debating ways to cut rates of maternal mortality has come to an end after more than 3,500 women from 146 countries took part.

Delegates at the meeting organised by global advocacy group Women Deliver were able to reflect on the fact that maternal death rates in countries such as Sri Lanka and Malawi have been cut significantly since the first conference in London in 2007.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said: "We must fight for women's health with all our resources all the time."

Philanthropist Melinda Gates also used the conference to announce that $1.5 billion (£1.02 billion) from the Gates Foundation would be given to projects to boost women's health across the globe.

She also challenged world leaders meeting at the G8 summit on Canada on June 25 to propose similar funding and schemes.

Third of girls in US 'had HPV jab'

04/06/2010 09:15:13

Only about a third of teenagers have received a vaccine that can prevent common types of cervical cancer, a study in America has shown.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis surveyed more than 1,700 girls across six states and found 34% of 13 to 17-year-olds received the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.

The jab prevents four strains of the sexually transmitted virus, two of which are found in about 70% of cervical cancer cases.

Study author Sandi L. Pruitt said on a positive note that the rate of vaccination is rising, however, added: "The bad news is this is just the first dose of a three-dose vaccine."

Pruitt said: "This was the first year the survey asked about HPV vaccination.

"That portion of the survey was optional, and only six states opted to use it. Ideally, we'd like to know what's happening in more states, but these six states represent a good cross-section of urban and rural, rich and poor, and they do include girls from racial and ethnic groups that closely mirror the rest of the country."

The study features in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

101 new HIV cases reported in China

04/06/2010 09:05:24

People in China have been urged to follow safe sex guidelines by the government after new health department statistics showed more than 100 people were infected with HIV between January and March.

As well as 101 new instances of the HIV virus, there were also 19 cases of Aids in the first three months of the year, according to Dr Wong Ka-hing, the Department of Health's HIV/Aids consultant.

The majority of new reports involved men between 30 and 39, with 37 of the cases transmitted homosexually and 20 heterosexually. About 60% of homosexual men and half of heterosexual men picked up their infections in Hong Kong. A mother also passed the virus on to her child in one instance.

Dr Wong said: "This shows that pregnant women still need to remain alert, although the number of infections has dropped. A lot of these infections could have been avoided with proper use of condoms, as sexual contact remains a major mode of HIV transmission in Hong Kong."

Kenya bid to boost maternity safety

02/06/2010 14:35:02

More than half of mothers in Kenya have unskilled birth attendants at their delivery and only 10% of those who give birth with the help of a trained health worker go on to have post-natal care, statistics have revealed.

Although Kenya is among the 13 African countries with a maternal mortality ratio of less than 500 deaths per 100,000 live births, Public Health Minister Beth Mugo said the new figures showed the country needs to improve its intervention measures to achieve the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals on ending poverty.

She said: "We are losing not more than 500 mothers per year, so that tells us how badly off our MDGs four and five are. And although we are rated among the best, we have slowed down and are not realising our MDGs, which have been a bit of a problem."

The government is improving maternity services in the country and Mrs Mugo added: "During the budget the Finance Minister gave a stimulus package to promote child and maternal health by constructing a health centre for each constituency. The government also planned to employ 4,200 nurses which translates to 20 nurses per constituency."

UNICEF pledges Nigeria support

26/05/2010 14:35:02

UNICEF has announced its ongoing support to Nigeria to help fight the increasing rate of maternal and child mortality in the country.

At a week-long event aimed at addressing the issue of maternal and infant mortality rates, UNICEF provided a range of services including family planning services, immunisation for mothers and children, antenatal care, nutrition screening and scanning for malnourished children and mothers.

The support will form part of Nigeria's commitment to the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) set out by the United Nations which demand that all signatory nations work towards improving policies and governance, particularly in developing countries, in order to tackle global poverty by 2015.

Speaking at the May 2010 Maternal, New-born and Child Health week in Enugu, UNICEF representative Dr Suomi Sakai hailed the progress that has already been made by the Nigerian government through the integrated approach that it has already taken for the provision of healthcare services to mothers and children.

In recognition of the efforts being made to improve support services, UNICEF has provided 12,000,000 Nigerian Nairas (£55,000) to the Enugu state government alone.

A representative of the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Tomowo Faduyile, took the opportunity to stress the importance of remaining committed to the MDGs as they form a central part of tackling the spread of HIV/AIDS as well as reducing the infant mortality rate.

DfID announces £2.95m condom scheme

24/05/2010 14:35:09

The UK is to supply Uganda with 45 million urgently needed condoms, it has been announced.

Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell said the £2.95 million move would bolster the country's contraceptive supply and prevent unwanted pregnancies, as well as go some way to curb the spread of STIs.

"We are determined to give women more control over their lives so they can decide when and how many children they have," he said.

"Ending non priority spending and taking tough steps to get value for money in DFID's budget means we can concentrate our aid where it makes most difference - on improving the lives of the world's poorest people."

Just one in four Ugandan women has access to contraceptives, and stock levels are running low due to a recent upsurge in use.

The country has one of the highest population growth rates in the world, with the number of people expected to leap from 30.7 million currently to 106 million by 2050.

SMS pregnancy tracker helps nurses

24/05/2010 09:05:16

An SMS-based tracking system has been introduced in a district in India to ensure pregnant women get all the check-ups they need during pregnancy.

When a woman in Wardha district is found to be pregnant, a unique number detailing her height, weight, age and number of previous children is sent to a database.

The database then sends reminders to the nurses in charge of the woman's care, telling them when check-ups are due, or when the delivery date is approaching.

The scheme was introduced in January, and has since been used to monitor every pregnancy in the district's 997 villages. It has been named "Project Jeevandainee" and is part of the National Rural Health Mission.

Sarvaree Gokhale, additional chief secretary (health), said: "We hope to replicate the Wardha model in all districts." It is hoped that the system will reduce the rates of maternal and infant mortality.

Dr Arun Amle, district health officer, said the database would be especially useful when dealing with high-risk pregnancies. "We have identified 26 factors like high blood pressure that could lead to complications during pregnancy," he said.

"Based on them, if the nurse finds that the woman is in the high-risk category, she has to send a particular message. This is automatically forwarded to the medical officer who heads the nearest Primary Health Centre.

"He then has to conduct a thorough examination, refer to a bigger hospital if needed and send another SMS to confirm. If he doesn't, his phone will keep beeping with reminders."

Carla Bruni launches HIV campaign

21/05/2010 09:05:29

An international campaign asking for the support of the public to stop HIV being passed from mother to child has been launched by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

The first lady of France appeared in a video for the Global Fund campaign, for which she is an ambassador, asking people to sign an online petition.

In it she said: "Life is beautiful, don't allow AIDS to destroy it before it has even started. It's a battle of hope... with your help we can give every mother and every child in the world the right to hope."

The campaign, launched in Paris, also features a number of animated videos that can be viewed online via YouTube.

The charity hopes that if enough people sign the online petition and register their support, governments will be encouraged to donate money. This will then be spent on tackling HIV, TB and malaria.

It is hoped that with enough money, it can make babies being born with HIV history by 2015. At the moment, hundreds of thousands of children contract HIV from their mothers - last year it was 430,000 - and they are only expected to live for about two years.

Michel Kazatchkine, director of the fund, said that although about 45% of women with HIV receive treatment, "we must do better".

HIV drugs 'not reaching Kenyans'

20/05/2010 15:55:00

Despite efforts by the Kenyan government to provide free anti-retroviral treatment (ART) to more than 300,000 HIV suffers in the country, many who would benefit from the drugs cannot afford to travel to clinics to receive them, a report says.

For some living close to cities where the treatment is administered, the government incentive has significantly lightened the financial burden of coping with HIV, but even then dealing with opportunistic infections that crop up due to the weakened immune system of sufferers is another major expense that is not covered by the scheme.

When people cannot afford treatment for opportunistic infections, it erodes the gains already made in giving them free anti-retrovirals which help to ward off the weakening effect of HIV.

The study by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) found that lack of access to adequate nutrition and the personal financial burden of those on treatment made it difficult for many to obtain necessary care.

"Poor patients should be reimbursed for transport costs incurred to travel to and from facilities," the report recommended.

About half the Kenyan population survives on less than $1 a day, and in Bondo province 13% of the population are thought to have HIV.

Beatrice Kunya, a nurse at Bondo District Hospital, said: "I think more than 90% of the ART patients who come here cannot afford drugs when they are prescribed. Some tell you they have not eaten for some time."

Daniel Umaya, a community health worker with the Interdiocesan Christian Community Services, said that while home-based care visits can reduce the need for hospital visits by patients and in turn reduce costs, the capacity of lay community workers is often limited.

"As a community health worker you can only visit and recommend referral; our health expertise is limited so they still have to go there [to hospital] physically," he said. "If the government can employ more health workers who can go to homes, then it can work in terms of reducing costs."

Irish schools' sex lessons blasted

19/05/2010 09:05:11

Education bosses in Ireland have promised to step up pressure on schools to offer a better quality of sex education after a survey revealed three-quarters of teenagers are not taught the information.

Schools should be reminded of their responsibility to provide a relationship and sexuality programme to senior pupils, according to the Department of Education.

But four out of 10 pupils said the classes were not helpful the way they were taught, a report from Dail na nOg - Ireland's Youth Parliament revealed.

The study also revealed a third of schools teach Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) as part of religion.

Some classes were given by guest speakers from medical backgrounds, crisis pregnancy agencies, rape crisis centres and religious groups, according to 45% of the 220 students who were questioned.

Most students blasted the religious speakers, claiming Catholic lecturers taught biased, misguided and untrue 'facts' while homosexuality was ridiculed.

Children's minister Barry Andrews said: "In order to develop effective policies and safeguard young people's well-being, we must consider the views and solutions put forward by young people themselves."

Gay men in Asia 'at risk of HIV'

18/05/2010 09:05:13

Gay and bisexual men in Asia are at an increasing risk of contracting HIV, because many countries have anti-gay laws, making it harder for individuals to protect themselves.

A report backed by the UN said gay and bisexual men cannot access services and care, as it would be deemed illegal. "Nineteen of 48 countries in the Asia Pacific region criminalise male-to-male sex, and these laws often take on the force of vigilantism, often leading to abuse and human rights violations," it says.

"Even where there are no specific offences for male-to-male sex, MSM (men who have sex with men) and transgender people are subject to police abuses and are targeted by police for other offences relating to public order, vagrancy, prostitution and obscenity."

This has led to more than 90% of gay and bisexual men in Asia being unable to access HIV prevention methods, as outreach workers and people offering sex education are often targeted by police. Also, condoms and lubricants can be confiscated as evidence of illegal behaviour.

The difficulty of accessing protection means that in some places HIV infections among gay and bisexual men are rife. In Bangkok, the rate is 30.8%, in Yangon it is 29.3% and in Mumbai it is 17%.

'Pupils need better sex education'

17/05/2010 09:05:15

Pupils at secondary schools in Ireland should be getting a better education in sex and relationships, the country's school leaders have said.

The call from the Department of Education, backed by The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (Asti), comes after a survey has shown three quarters of teenagers in Ireland are not being taught the subject.

Dail na nOg surveyed hundreds of teenagers and found that about 40% think their sex education classes are not helpful, while a third of schools are including sex education in lessons about religion.

Dr Colette Bonner, the Department of Health's deputy chief medical officer, said the results of the survey, titled Life Skills Matter - Not Just Points, were worrying. The Department of Education said schools would be reminded of their duty to provide a relationship and sexuality programme.

"Sexually transmitted infection notifications for 2008 reveal that of all sexually transmitted infections, over 10% occur in the 0 to 19 years group and a further 60% occur in the 20-29 years age group," Dr Bonner said.

"Clearly this emphasises the importance of sexual health information which is appropriate and factual."

Dr Bonner called for properly trained professionals to teach teens about relationships, sex and sexuality.

Abortion site 'not linked' to US

14/05/2010 14:55:00

Administrators of a Kenyan website responsible for subjecting pro-choice activists to intimidation tactics have rejected claims of links to a notorious American pro-life group.

ProjectSEE organisers say their effort is home-grown, even though research assistant Robert Wakhu admits to meeting with Jonathan O'Toole, an American anti-abortion activist who was previously arrested for photographing women as they entered clinics.

"ProjectSEE is 100% Kenyan," Wakhu said. "What we are trying to do is create awareness of some dangers lurking in our society."

UK-based charity Marie Stopes has been targeted by the campaign, with the organisation's deputy director in Kenya receiving threatening phone calls.

"I was very frightened," said Walter Odhiambo, adding that his picture was later added to the website with the caption "baby killer".

ProjectSEE, an acronym of Project Stop Exporting Evil, believes the United States and Europe brought homosexuality and abortion to Africa.

The claims come at a time of raging abortion debates in Kenya, with religious leaders planning to oppose a draft constitution permitting terminations in the event of a threat to the mother's life.

Caesarean births warning in Iran

14/05/2010 09:05:19

The number of caesarean births, which can result in deaths among women in labour, are rising in Iran, medical chiefs have said.

Noushin Zendehzaban, of the Supreme Council of Islamic Republic of Iran Medical Council (IRIMC), issued the warning after revealing Iran's maternal mortality rates had fallen.

Zendehzaban hailed the work of midwives in bringing about the mortality rates reduction and also said the UN had praised the country's work in bringing down the levels.

The jump in the number of unnecessary caesareans in Iran was partly attributable to modern medical techniques not always being used while women give birth.

Roughly 22% of women in the country are in their childbearing years, and 48% are girls under the age of 15, Zendehzaban said. She added that midwives offering help to women during pregnancy, labour and birth can lead to a boost in maternal survival rates.

Philippines due HIV epidemic: study

13/05/2010 14:35:12

An HIV epidemic may be unleashed in the Philippines because of the low rate of condom use, the sharing of needles and a rise in casual sex, researchers in Australia have said.

Young adults, gay and bisexual men, prostitutes, injecting drug users, as well as all their sexual partners, are vulnerable to catching the virus, according to the researchers.

Anna Farr and David Wilson at the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, said: "There is no guarantee that a large HIV epidemic will be avoided in the near future. Indeed, an expanding HIV epidemic is likely to be only a matter of time as the components for such an epidemic are already present in the Philippines."

Unlike some neighbouring countries, the spread of HIV in the Philippines has been "low and slow" because of a dispersed population, low levels of intravenous drug use, conservative sexual attitudes and a high rate of circumcision among men.

But an HIV epidemic is still possible because many conditions "for a large, increasing and generalised epidemic", like those mentioned above, are present in the south-east Asian country.

The study findings were published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society.

Condom use increases in Zimbabwe

13/05/2010 09:05:15

A leading AIDS organisation has revealed a 125% increase in the use of male and female condoms in Zimbabwe compared to last year.

The contraceptive device, traditionally more popular among men than women, has seen a reversal of popularity with more women taking to using the female condom, particularly commercial sex workers, the National Aids Council (NAC) has said.

The findings were revealed during a meeting with health stakeholders in Zimbabwe recently during which Harare provincial NAC co-ordinator Mr Adonija Muzondiona said that although the results were encouraging, there was still a need for more awareness of different forms of contraception.

"There is need for more awareness campaigns, community mobilisation and sensitisation on sexually transmitted diseases," he said.

Mr Muzondiona added that the success so far was down to well planned programmes but stressed the need for further funding to continue the good progress already made.

A string of health organisations including Zimbabwe Community Health Intervention Research Project, Childhood HIV & Aids Zimbabwe, and the Harare City Council's social welfare department all revealed positive progress with their own campaigns which target behaviour change among the local population towards condoms.

The findings also revealed different attitudes towards contraception, with married couples more likely to shun the use of a female condom.

Campaign aims to cut HIV in Sweden

12/05/2010 09:15:09

Health authorities in Sweden have launched a campaign to promote the use of condoms, in attempt to cut the spread of HIV infection.

The National Board of Health and Welfare found that while young people in the country had a positive attitude to condoms "in principle", only 56% always used them while having casual sex.

In the same survey of 4,714 Swedes aged 15 to 24, 40% did not know how HIV was transmitted and only 7% thought there was a high risk of contracting it.

Health Minister Maria Larsson and Christer Wennerholm, head of the National Council for Coordination of HIV Prevention, said: "In many ways, we have in our country all the necessary information to live a healthy life with low risk of disease."

However, they said that while many young people had a healthy attitude, they did not always put this into practice. "Only 51% of girls and 56% of guys aged 15 to 19 consider it obvious to use a condom with a casual partner," they said.

Last year, according to the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, 468 people in Sweden contracted HIV and nearly 38,000 caught chlamydia. The new campaign aims to halve the spread of HIV by 2016.

Male contraceptive trials to begin

12/05/2010 09:05:11

A gel developed by researchers in America could soon pave the way for a revolution in male birth control methods.

The Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute is to begin testing of a daily contraceptive product that prevents pregnancy by temporarily stopping sperm production.

Officials at the centre say the gel, like the Pill, uses high doses of the body's own hormones to regulate fertility.

Spokesman Dr Ronald Swerdloff said: "It's very analogous to female contraceptives, in that it would allow very few pregnancies, it's reversible and it's safe."

The trial will involve 60 men, some of whom will try the gel alone and others a combination of the product, testosterone and progestin.

Scientists said the biggest barrier to promoting a male equivalent to the Pill was reluctance on the part of pharmaceutical companies to back such products, in turn fuelled by the expense of Food and Drug Administration approval and the lack of a guarantee the product would be successful.

Study suggests HIV link with HPV

11/05/2010 14:35:00

A study of Kenyan men has suggested that those who carry the virus that causes genital warts may be at a greater risk of HIV infection.

According to researchers, the findings raise the possibility that vaccination against the virus, called the human papillomavirus (HPV), could help tackle the world's HIV pandemic.

The study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, revealed that among 2,168 Kenyan men aged between 18 and 24, half tested positive for HPV at the beginning of the project.

Over the next three and a half years, almost 6% of those men became infected with HIV, compared to less than 4% of those who had tested HPV-negative at the outset.

When the researchers controlled a number of HIV risk factors, men with HPV were still 80% more likely than their HPV-negative counterparts to become infected with HIV.

This suggests the genital wart virus itself may boost a person's susceptibility to HIV.

According to lead researcher Dr. Jennifer S. Smith, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this suggests that HPV vaccination, along with circumcision, could help curb the HIV pandemic.

Eleven mothers 'dying each day'

10/05/2010 09:05:15

Mozambique's Ministry of Health (MISAU) has published a study revealing that at least 11 of the country's women die each day from complications linked to childbirth and pregnancy.

In addition, maternal health complications lead to about 48 children in every 1,000 dying within their first 28 days of life. Unassisted childbirth is a particular problem, responsible for about 27% of deaths in children under five.

Some 99% of deaths reported worldwide occur in developing countries, according to Mozambican health minister Ivo Garrido, with half of those in Africa.

He said this was because of poverty, a lack of education, poor communication and transport, harmful cultural practices and a gender imbalance.

But he said the government in Mozambique would continue to try to provide for maternal health.

"Since Independence, the Government of Mozambique defined, among other population groups, women and children as two of the most vulnerable populations groups, hence creating special services for the provision of special care to the Maternal and Child Health," he said.

The Demographic and Health Survey (IDS 1997 and 2003), found that the rate of maternal mortality in Mozambique declined from 692 per 100,000 live births in 1997 to 408 in 2003.

India's birth rate 'not for law'

07/05/2010 09:05:20

India's growing population, projected to be 1.19 billion by 2011, will not be controlled by law, the country's government has said.

Ghulam Nabi Azad , the Union health minister of India, said the demographic transition pattern of Global South nations is being followed in India, from the initial "high birth rate-high death rate", to the intermediate "high birth rate-low death rate" before finally reaching a "low birth rate-low death rate".

More than half of India's population is aged between 15 and 49 which, because they are of reproductive age, is fuelling growth in the population.

The minister said: "We are not in favour of controlling population growth through any kind of legislation but by way of generating awareness and persuading people to have a small family size for betterment of the health of the mother and child.

"Population is a major concern: India is the world's second most populous country. Urgent steps need to be taken to stabilise the population for sustainable development.

"We have to bear in mind the carrying capacity of the land mass and resources available at our disposal. With a land area of 2.6% of total earth land, India has 17% of the world's population. The natural resources are limited and need to be used judiciously and equitably.

He added: "Population stabilization should be brought back into focus."

India's population in 2001 was 1.02 billion and has been calculated to reach 1.19 billion by next year. In 20 years, India's population may be bigger than China's.

Chinese syphilis epidemic continues

06/05/2010 09:05:11

A baby is born with syphilis every hour in China, as newly rich men in the nation's booming economy fuel the world's fastest-growing epidemic of the disease, according to research.

The bacterial infection is now the most commonly reported sexually transmitted disease in Shanghai, despite being almost wiped out in China around 50 years ago.

Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine blamed prostitutes, as well as gay and bisexual men, many of whom are married with families, for driving the epidemic.

Dr Joseph Tucker, lead author and an infectious disease specialist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said: "In the 1950s and '60s in China, syphilis and other STDs were extremely uncommon.

"The number of new cases has just rapidly accelerated. Even one baby born with syphilis in China is unacceptable."

In contrast to other sexually spread diseases like chlamydia, syphilis can eventually ravage the mind and kill if left untreated.

The disease can be cured cheaply with a shot of penicillin, but many people never experience specific symptoms and syphilis remains undiagnosed.

Vitamin pills 'did not save lives'

05/05/2010 09:05:11

The lives of pregnant women or their babies were not saved by giving them vitamin A capsules, a study from Ghana has found.

The research, which is reported in the medical journal Lancet, disappointed experts who hoped vitamin A supplements could save lives and be economical. An earlier piece of work in the Indian city of Nepal showed a drop in deaths among child-bearing women taking the vitamin.

Stunting and deaths from measles and diarrhoea among malnourished children was prevented by taking vitamin A, scientists concluded in the 1980s.

It also saved the lives of young mothers, the 1999 Nepal study found. However the results were skewed by the fact that so many of the women had died of unrelated causes, including drowning, snakebite, hanging and burns.

The new study enlisted an "astonishing" number of women - nearly 208,000 in more than 1,000 villages or family compounds, according to Anthony Costello and David Osrin of the global health institute of University College London, writing in a Lancet commentary.

Of the women taking part in the study, 50% received a low dosage of vitamin A every week and the other 50% were given a placebo. Few women overall died, but the vitamin also did not lower the number of women who had to go to hospital because there were complications with childbirth. It did not cut the stillbirths or deaths of newborns. There were similar results in trials carried out recently in Indonesia and Bangladesh.

The commentary's authors said that ensuring young women had more food might be more effective than getting them vitamin pills.

Anti-sterilisation petition signed

04/05/2010 09:05:09

Community and social groups in the southern African state of Namibia have petitioned their government to stop sterilising HIV-positive women without first obtaining their permission.

The Namibian Legal Assistance Centre circulated the petition among delegates at an event hosted by the Aids and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa in Johannesburg.

The national Women's Health Network, the International Community of Women Living With HIV, the Women's Leadership Centre and Sister Namibia all signed it.

In 2007, it was reported that women needing medical attention at state hospitals in two regions of Namibia had been sterilised without informed consent, the petition read.

It added: "Since February 2008, fifteen individual cases have been documented, which appear to be merely the tip of the iceberg. We, concerned citizens of Namibian civil society organisations from around the globe, condemn the alleged sterilisation of women living with HIV without their consent in public health facilities in Namibia and call for an end to this practice."

Most Filipinos 'want birth control'

30/04/2010 09:05:27

Almost seven out of 10 Filipinos would elect an openly pro-birth control president, a national poll has found.

The survey by the country's Social Weather Stations, a research agency, found that 68% of respondents agreed with the statement that "all of the legal means of family planning that a couple might choose to use should be available from the government health service".

The result has shocked many analysts in the predominantly Catholic nation, especially because the Church still wields considerable power in matters of politics - as witnessed in its ability to kill a long-awaited reproductive health bill prior to looming elections.

Around 80% of 92 million Filipinos are Catholic.

The country has one of the highest birth rates in the region, currently standing around 2%.

Contraception prioritised in India

29/04/2010 09:25:11

Family welfare programmes being set up in an Indian state will focus on contraceptive services.

Seven operations are launching this year and next in Madhya Pradesh and will all feature a counsellor, an auxiliary nurse and midwife.

The community centres will also be home to a female health visitor activist who will give presentations on family welfare programmes as part of Family Welfare Year.

Family Welfare Minister Anup Mishra said contraceptive information and supply cells should exist at all medical institutions including hospitals, primary health centres and community health centres.

"Arrangements should be made for easy availability of family planning material. Visitors will also be briefed about preventing unwanted pregnancy, prevention of human immunodeficiency virus infection etc. Besides, extremely sensitive groups will be identified and motivated to adopt family planning," he said.

Staff at each "contraceptive corner" will compile a monthly report in a drive to raise public awareness of family planning methods.

Sierra Leone launches free care

29/04/2010 09:05:10

Sierra Leone has launched a programme of free healthcare for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.

Enacted on the same day that the nation celebrates its anniversary, the scheme - supported by the UN, the British Government and Save the Children - hopes to reduce the country's infant and maternal mortality rates, currently some of the highest in the world.

Faye Melly of the African Governance Initiative, established by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, claimed that while international aid had helped immeasurably, special praise should be reserved for Sierra Leone's government.

"Yes, the donors have been absolutely critical to this effort. But in the end, we have only got to where we are through a genuine partnership in which the government of Sierra Leone have set the course, and partners have lined up behind it," she said.

Around 1,800 women in the country die for every 100,000 births.

The British Government donated £5.8 million to the initiative,

Uganda midwife shortage revealed

28/04/2010 09:05:10

A shortage of about 2,000 midwifes in Uganda is to blame for the country's high mortality rate, a press conference in Kampala has been told.

While the World Health Organization recommends two midwives per mother in labour, an April 2009 report revealed that Uganda only has one midwife for every 5,000 mothers.

Mary Gorrettie Musoke, a senior midwife and trainer, said: "This means the number of women dying daily in labour fills a minibus."

Irene Akena, a midwifery adviser in the health ministry, revealed Uganda has only 2,900 midwives in government health facilities, and another 2,000 are desperately needed.

Sakira Kiggundu, from the association of Uganda Private Midwives, admitted the group only has 600 members, not including those in missionary hospitals.

According to Akena, the shortage of midwives mean it will be impossible for Uganda to meet the Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality to 131 mothers per 100,000 live births.

However, she said the rate had fallen from 505 deaths to 435 per 100,000, a figure considerably below the millennium target.

Ontario premier's U-turn criticised

27/04/2010 14:35:09

Plans to introduce sex education classes for six-year-old children in Ontario, Canada, should be implemented immediately, a public health official has claimed.

Dr David McKeown, Toronto's chief medical officer of health, said the move was "one of the best ways" to combat the province's "important" sexual health problems.

"We have rising rates of sexually transmitted infections," he said. "One of the best ways to combat these problems is for children to have good information - accurate, clear, unbiased information about their own sexual development."

The call comes after premier Dalton McGuinty was forced into a "rethink" of the proposals following an outcry from parents and religious figures.

Gay rights group Egale described the flip-flop as "very disappointing".

"This lack of education in Ontario's elementary schools contributes to the very real dangers of homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic physical, verbal, and sexual abuse and discrimination," executive director Helen Kennedy said.

Kenyan plan to cut maternal deaths

27/04/2010 09:05:11

Kenyan men will be encouraged to attend anti- and post-natal classes with their spouses in a bid to cut the country's maternal death rate and number of child deaths.

The government launched a campaign to promote healthier families, which actively involves men in family planning, through five documents setting out measures to lower deaths from pregnancy-related complications.

These include integrating HIV services, family planning and cancer screening, and providing family planning for people with special needs.

Beth Mugo, Kenya's public health minister, said the "unjustifiably high" 3,000 to 6,000 deaths per year from pregnancy problems were preventable, and added that one in 20 pregnancies carried a lifetime risk of dying.

"Improving the survival and wellbeing of mothers and children will not only lead to healthy societies, but will also decrease poverty," she said.

Dr Issak Bashir, the head of the reproductive health division, said the measures recognised the important central role of family planning in achieving national and international goals for the country.

Yet ministry of medical services official Dr Simon Mueke said Kenya's high death rate was aggravated by insufficient numbers of public gynaecologists.

Zuma draws line under HIV policies

26/04/2010 14:35:00

The South African government has marked the launch of the world's largest HIV testing campaign by drawing a clear distinction between itself and the policies pursued in the past.

President Jacob Zuma has distanced himself from predecessor Thabo Mbeki by directly taking part in the HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign, through which 15 million people will be tested over the next 14 months.

It is hoped that the initiative will boost prevention in the country, which has one of the highest Aids infection rates in the world.

Some have accused Mr Zuma of hypocrisy, arguing that a polygamist who has fathered at least 20 children and once boasted of having sex with a HIV positive woman is far from an ideal figure to be involved in the campaign.

Nonetheless, Unaids head Michel Sidibe claimed the move was positive.

"The biggest problem that we had in South Africa in the past was that the doors were closed," he said. "The context has completely changed. I don't think that the personal attitude of the president will be a major challenge."

He also called on Mr Zuma to buy retrovirals from a range of suppliers, saying the government's strategy of purchasing from local firms meant people paid more for drugs than in other countries.

Zuma reveals HIV status as negative

26/04/2010 09:05:09

South Africa's president has revealed the results of his most recent HIV test in an effort to encourage others to get tested and use contraception to slow the spread of an Aids epidemic in the country.

President Jacob Zuma revealed his latest test in April was negative.

Mr Zuma said it was his fourth negative HIV result and he encouraged South Africans to use condoms as he launched a campaign to combat Aids through counselling and testing.

While Mr Zuma has been open in the past about being tested for Aids, he had never before revealed his results.

He said: "After careful consideration, I have decided to share my test results with South Africans."

The African nation, which is the worst Aids-affected country in the world, has more than 10% of its 50 million population infected with HIV, estimates predict.

A lack of education and incorrect information circulating about Aids has kept many South Africans from getting tested and seeking treatment, contributing to the disease's spread.

Mr Zuma, a polygamist - following a Zulu tradition - has taken a third wife and has been married at least five times. He has come in for criticism in the past for admitting having unprotected sex - fathering a child with another woman.

In 2006, Mr Zuma was acquitted of raping an HIV-positive family friend.

But his statement during the trial that he showered after unprotected sex with the woman to guard against possible infection provoked criticism and ridicule.

The campaign, which hopes to test 15 million people by summer next year, is aimed at providing anti-Aids drugs to 80% of South Africans in need of treatment.

Malaysian sex education planned

23/04/2010 09:05:15

Comprehensive sex education may be introduced in Malaysian schools in a bid to tackle a rise in unwanted pregnancies and abandoned babies.

The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development recently ran a programme on social and reproductive health, aiming to educate pupils on abstaining from pre marital sex, and the consequences of unprotected sex.

It also gave them tips on how to fend off unwanted sexual advances.

Following a recent spate of abandoned babies, Malaysia's Women and Family Minister believes the holistic programme needs to be rolled out immediately.

Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Women, family and community development minister, said: "I am convinced part of the root of problem of all these unwanted pregnancies is that they do not know the risk involved. Most of the cases of abandoned babies are result of unwanted pregnancies."

According to Malaysian police, about 100 babies are abandoned every year in the country.

The sex education module is on trial in five schools, and will be rolled out nationally if approved by the education ministry.

Somaliland children in AIDS scheme

22/04/2010 14:35:11

About 800 primary and junior high school students in northwestern Somalia's self-declared republic of Somaliland are set to be targeted with HIV/AIDS advice for the first time.

Mohamoud Hassan Abdillahi, executive director of Somaliand Health and Social Care Organization (SOHASCO) said: "The children's ages range from seven to 19.

"Of course, most of them are not sexually active now u002D we targeted them for several reasons. Every student comes from a family and he will pass the message to his family. Also, they are the next generation at high risk of HIV."

SOHASCO hopes the messages will eventually raise awareness among thousands of people. They contain information on HIV transmission and how to prevent infection.

They also explain the scale of the epidemic in Somaliland - where an estimated 1.4% of people are infected.

HIV advocates have praised the campaign, but many local people have expressed opposition.

Ali Jama Abdi, a father, said: "I don't like students to be taught about HIV/AIDS; when they reach the mature age, they have to be instructed in Islam [so as] not to do the behaviours of high risk, such as adultery."

Ghana fights stigma of HIV pandemic

21/04/2010 09:25:08

HIV and Aids sufferers in Ghana are being urged to seek treatment after research found stigmatisation of the disease was deterring people from seeking help.

According to the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR) only 10% of people in the country were aware of their HIV status.

Research found the remaining 90% were uninformed due to fear of stigmatisation.

Vicky Okine, the executive director of the ARHR, said only 2.2 million people in Ghana out of 23 million had chosen to find out if they were HIV positive.

She said individuals, families and communities were being prevented from protecting themselves due to discrimination.

A report published by the Ghana Aids Commission found that about 50,000 HIV sufferers failed to access treatment because of stigmatisation.

Ms Okine said the HIV pandemic was negatively impacting on the fight against poverty and was stretching fragile health systems.

She added: "Infection rates continue to rise regionally, especially for women and girls who account for 61% of people with HIV/AIDS.

"Young girls in Africa between the ages of 15-24 years of age are three times as likely to be infected as young men."

She attributed the high infection rate among women to gender inequality and negative customary practices.

Pakistan sets 12,000 midwife target

20/04/2010 14:35:00

The National Maternal Newborn and Child Health Programme will see 12,000 community midwives inducted across Pakistan by 2012, the country's Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has announced.

Half of the midwives have already received training while the rest were in the process of training or recruitment, he said at the launch of a national newborn and child survival campaign. The government is making efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals related to the health sector, the prime minister said.

He said: "We are initiating collaborative efforts through the ministry of health and Save the Children under a new and innovative approach to improving health outcomes for newborns children and mothers while working towards achieving Pakistans targets for Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5."

More than 40 countries are aiming to meet the globally agreed targets to cut child deaths . The movement has prompted the launch of Save the Children's 'everyone' campaign. It aims to make world leaders abide by promises to reduced child deaths by five million a year by 2015.

The Pakistani government is targeting a three-fold increase in Gross Domestic Product spending on health over the course of the five years and is committed to sequential and incremental increases in budget allowances for the health sector, with a particular focus on maternal and child health, the prime minister said.

STI rates soar in Zimbabwe capital

19/04/2010 09:05:20

A near-threefold increase of sexually transmitted infections among young people in Zimbabwe's capital has alarmed health workers, with some fearing recent successes in the fight against HIV could be undone.

A report by Zimbabwe's National AIDS Council has revealed more than 24,000 15 to 24-year-olds in Harare were treated for STIs in 2009 compared to 8,500 cases recorded in 2008.

Non-HIV STIs such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis carry their own health risks and can cause infertility, but they also heighten vulnerability to HIV infection. The increase in general STI rates implies fewer people are using condoms and so a corresponding rise in HIV infection rates could also be likely - perhaps with a time lag before the new cases are identified.

Of the 24,000 people treated for STI's last year, more than 60% were women. During the year almost 900,000 male condoms and over 155,000 female condoms were distributed in Harare.

Itai Rusike, executive director of the Community Working Group on Health, a network of civic groups that promote health awareness, blamed the rise in STIs on a too narrow focus on HIV/AIDS treatment.

"In the last two to four years we have concentrated our focus on access to treatment, especially access to ARVs (antiretrovirals), at the expense of preventive services," he said.

"Right now the bulk of our AIDS levy money [a 3% tax on income] is going towards procurement of ARVs, to the detriment of health education awareness campaigns, especially for the young adults who are supposed to be our hope for the future."

Zimbabwe's adult HIV rates have been gradually coming down - falling from 14.1% in 2008 to 13.7% in 2009.

Study links HIV with maternal death

16/04/2010 14:45:00

A new report has linked the fall in the number of women dying during childbirth in Kenya to the decline in Aids-related deaths across the country.

The Kenya Aids Indicator Survey showed the prevalence of the Aids across the population in 1999 was 15%. But by 2007 the figure had dropped by half to just 7.1%.

The report said the dramatic reduction in cases of the HIV/Aids virus was due to large amounts of the population being given greater access to anti-retroviral drugs.

Despite the inroads being made to tackle the problems in Kenya, the country still ranks 13th among the nations with the highest number of maternal deaths.

According to a study carried out by a team from the University of Washington, around 6,200 women died in childbirth in 2008.

Maternal mortality falls worldwide

15/04/2010 09:05:08

The worldwide maternal mortality rate has dropped significantly over the last 28 years, researchers have claimed.

A study published in The Lancet showed that steady progress in China and India has helped cut the number of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth from 526,300 in 1980 to 342,900 in 2008.

Population scientists said higher income, improved education for women and more medical training went some way to explaining the reduction.

But progress in regions with long-standing problems varied considerably. While Sub-Saharan Africa still has the highest number of deaths in the world, the rate was cut substantially in Brazil and Egypt. In all, six countries - India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo - accounted for more than half of all maternal deaths in 2008.

Despite this, study author Dr Richard Horton said he was happy with the changes that had been made.

"The overall message, for the first time in a generation, is one of persistent and welcome progress," he said.

Seminar tackles maternal mortality

14/04/2010 14:35:00

A women's health seminar in Pakistan has raised concerns about the lack of awareness surrounding the problem of maternal and infant mortality.

Speakers at the "Every Mother Counts" seminar at Fatima Jinnah Women University called for the establishment of a private-public partnership to tackle the issue.

The event was organised by the university and the White Ribbon Alliance Pakistan which is a non-governmental body. It seeks to improve healthcare for mothers and children.

Dr Nabeela Ali said healthcare services and social awareness were poor in developing countries like Pakistan.

She said three expecting mothers die during delivery or due to pregnancy related complications every hour in the world, but uneducated women and those in rural areas were particularly vulnerable.

She stressed the need for creating awareness through midwives and female health visitors.

Dr Amanullah Khan, while speaking about reasons behind morality rates, said newborns were most at risk of death in their first 28 days.

She said infections, being premature and not being able to breathe at the time of birth were the most common problems.

Uganda gets family planning scheme

14/04/2010 09:05:07

Couples in Uganda are set to benefit from a £7.8 million project which aims to improve access to family planning services.

The project was launched at the Family Planning headquarters in Kampala by Dr Jotham Musinguzi, the director of Partners in Population and Development Africa.

He said the scheme was formulated after gaps in family planning methods were recognised.

"Many women in Uganda want to space their pregnancies but do not use contraception. Many couples do not have access to reproductive health supplies and yet the demand is increasing," he said.

He added the maternal mortality rate should be lowered if couples are given the opportunity to choose the number and spacing of their children.

Uganda has a birth rate of 47.84 per 1,000 population, the second highest in the world. It has the 14th highest AIDS rate in the world at 5.4% of the population.

Infant and childbirth deaths down

13/04/2010 14:35:00

The number of children dying before they reach the age of one and the number of women dying during childbirth are both falling in India.

The government there has said the reduction in deaths is because of the success of its National Rural Health Mission, and claim both rates are likely to fall further by 2012.

In 2005 an average 55 children per 1,000 died before they reached one year of age; in 2008 this rate became 53 in 1,000. The Indian government said it expects this to be cut to 30 per 1,000 live births by 2012. Five states in India have reached this target already and 12 others are in the 30-40 deaths per 1,000 range.

The number of women dying during or immediately after childbirth, the maternal mortality ratio (MMR), was at 301 per 100,000 live births in the years 2001-03. This was reduced to 254 per 100,000 by the end of 2004-06 and, according to the Indian health department, this is being reduced still and is projected to reach 100 per 100,000 births by 2012.

India needs to reduce its MMR to 109 by 2015 in order to achieve goal five of the Millennium Development Goals.

Abundance of HIV knowledge "a myth"

13/04/2010 09:05:10

A survey carried out across Mozambique has put paid to the "myth" that people are informed about HIV and Aids, the country's health minister has said.

A sample of 6,097 households across the east African nation in 2009 showed that around one in four of the population are still unaware that condoms can prevent HIV infection, according to the National Statistics Institute and the Ministry of Health.

Around 95% of people aged 15 and over said they had heard about HIV and Aids and 84% of 12-year-olds said the same but the survey suggested that only around three in 10 women and fewer than two in every 10 men had ever taken a test, indicating that most Mozambicans do not know if they have HIV or not.

Health minister Ivo Garrido said the survey shows "that the majority of Mozambicans still do not possess the indispensable minimum of knowledge".

He added: "It is crucial to step up health education, since a large percentage of Mozambicans still don't know what we regard as basic."

HRT linked to reduced cancer risk

12/04/2010 14:35:01

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) could help cut the risk of colon cancer in women, new research has suggested.

Scientists at the University of North Carolina polled more than 800 women for the study, finding that HRT reduced the risk by half. Women who had been exposed to the regimen for a longer time displayed an increased resistance to the disease.

Writing in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, study leader Dr. Millie D. Long said the findings could one day play an important role in the timing of cancer interventions.

"It may become important in the future to tailor timing of women's colorectal screening based on cessation of hormonal therapy," she said.

Millions of women stopped taking HRT when a 2002 Women's Health Initiative study showed the hormones raised the risk of stroke, heart disease and breast cancer.

Long-term treatment is no longer recommended for post-menopausal women, although it is still sometimes prescribed to help women with menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes.

New HIV infection path discovered

12/04/2010 09:05:17

Scientists have made a significant breakthrough in understanding how HIV infects women.

Researchers, prompted by confusion over how the virus makes its way into the female reproductive tract, found that the bug was able to spread through by altering the make-up of epithelial cells.

"What it does is that it makes the electrical barrier resistance of epithelial cells decrease," study leader Charu Kaushic said. "By doing that, the virus can cross the (mucosal) barrier (in the intestinal and female genital tract)."

The report, published in the journal PLoS Pathogens, added that the results could have a large role to play in shaping future treatments.

"This is a significant step forward in defining where prevention strategies, such as microbicides and vaccine, need to focus," said Kaushic.

"Instead of trying to stop HIV from infecting the target cells underneath the epithelium, we need to think about ways to stop the virus from attaching to epithelial cells themselves."

Around half of the 40 million people infected with the disease worldwide are women.

Survival drive to cut birth deaths

09/04/2010 14:35:02

A five-year campaign in Uganda aims to cut mother and child death rates.

The country is promoting child survival in a bid to reach its Millennium Development Goals.

Health ministers faced with unacceptably high mortality rates during or shortly after birth will launch the scheme next month.

Currently as many as 75 out of 1,000 newborn babies die, while 137 out of every 1,000 children die before they are 5.

The desired goals of 31 out of 1,000 and 56 out of 1,000 respectively are unlikely to be met by the 2015 target date. It would mean cutting death rates by two-thirds.

The number of women who die during pregnancy and childbirth needs to be cut by 75%. Currently, at least 435 of every 100,000 women die in child birth or from pregnancy-related complications.

Save the Children in Uganda, which is leading the drive, said the theme of the campaign is: "No mother or child should die at birth! Every One's responsibility."

Most of the deaths are from preventable causes like malnutrition, pneumonia and diarrhoeal illness.

Spokesman for Save the Children in Uganda, Mr Luc Vanhoorickx, said: "This campaign is an ongoing effort that requires government's intervention coupled with public awareness."

Minister supports Malik wedding

09/04/2010 09:05:18

Pakistan's population minister has offered her support to the controversial marriage of former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik and Indian tennis player Sania Mirza.

Firdous Ashiq Awan said the couple should be declared ambassadors for family planning in the country where she believes they can play a "key role" in generating greater awareness of contraception.

The couple have attracted widespread media attention in India and Pakistan following revelations that Malik was already married to another woman, Ayesha Siddique.

However, the pair have now filed for divorce, paving the way for the new couple to marry later this month.

Awan said the pair's high-profile status could make them role models for family planning should they choose to take on ambassadorial duties.

"Their involvement in the programme could play a key role in creating awareness about family planning," she said.

Awan also praised public reaction to the couple's wedding plans, adding that she was morally supporting the union.

Bangladesh population action urged

07/04/2010 14:35:00

Bangladesh's once successful family planning programme has been crippled by staff shortages and indifferent governments, experts have claimed.

Dr Ganesh Chandra Sarker, director of the country's Information, Education and Monitoring department, said 3,699 family welfare assistant posts, which form the backbone of state population control schemes, were currently vacant, putting the system under considerable strain.

"The employees are overburdened with work," he said.

The last drive to fill the positions took place in 2000. While additional numbers have since been employed, levels are currently dangerously low, the doctor added.

Echoing his comments, professor Nur un Nabi, of the University of Dhaka, said the government should treat the issue with more importance.

"The sector deserves more attention," he said. "The government should consider population a priority issue."

Bangladesh currently has a population growth rate 1.292% and a birth rate of 24.68 per 1,000 people.

Abortion doc killer gets 50 years

07/04/2010 10:35:00

A man who murdered one of America's only late-term abortion providers has been sentenced to life in prison with no hope of parole for 50 years.

The term was handed down after Scott Roeder, 52, was found guilty of killing 67-year-old Dr George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas.

Sedgwick County district judge Warren Wilbert imposed the maximum sentence allowed after hearing how Roeder had stalked his victim prior to murdering him.

While admitting that he killed the doctor, Roeder said the state government was to blame because it had not outlawed abortion.

"I stopped him so he could not dismember another innocent baby," he said. Wichita is a far safer place for unborn babies without George Tiller."

Roeder tried to turn the hearing into a platform for his opinions, but was stopped by the judge, who said: "It is not a soapbox for your political views."

The doctor was shot as he attended church last May.

Backpackers face sexual health risk

06/04/2010 14:45:00

Young backpackers have been found to have higher morbidity to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and indulge in more risky sexual behaviour compared to other people in the age group, research from Australia has found.

The group should be a priority for sexual health promotion and access to services as a result, according to the research published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. Australia has been a favoured destination of backpackers over the past 10 years.

The researchers said: "They (backpackers) are a potential bridging population for the transmission of STIs to Australians as well as to other travellers and internationally."

Researchers analysed data from backpackers attending the Sydney Sexual Health Centre between 1998 and 2006 and looked at the sexual risk behaviours and morbidity of the young people, comparing it to other patients in the same age group.

Higher numbers of sexual partners were reported by the 5,698 backpackers who attended the centre. About 18% of backpackers had three or more partners in the past three months, compared to 12% of patients of a comparable age.

More Pakistani mothers immunised

06/04/2010 09:05:10

The Pakistani government is stepping up the immunisation of mothers and children against fatal diseases.

A special immunisation week will be held from April 26 as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on reducing mother and child mortality.

Pakistan's Health Secretary, Khushnood Akhtar Lashari, said of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI): "We need to take the routine immunisation coverage of children to the optimal level and provide them with protection against eight deadly diseases for which the government is currently providing free services across the country."

He said efforts to reach "every eligible child and mother" would save massive amounts of money on disease control.

The country's head, Dr Altaf Hussain Bosan, last month announced a measles immunisation campaign in Sindh and Balochistan to tackle increasing outbreaks in the provinces. Those who missed vaccinations have been urged to respond to the ongoing campaign.

Yearly reports on the success of EPI countrywide were handed to Mr Lashari and other leaders, among them Professor Rasheed Jooma, WHO Country Representative, and Dr Arshad Dar, Punjab's Director of Health Services..

Ghana urged to act on contraception

01/04/2010 14:35:10

The Ghanaian government has come under pressure to include family planning services in its National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Mrs Baaba Brew Fleischer, president of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana, said the move would be the most effective way of fighting the country's growing maternal mortality and population rate.

Quoting from the country's 2008 census, she said a lack of contraception and family planning services meant that 13% of adolescents had begun bearing children.

She added that contraceptives were an "essential public good", arguing that female and male condoms, vasectomies and other methods should be freely provided by the government.

Ghana has an estimated population of 24 million and a population growth rate of 1.9%. The rate of deaths from AIDS in the country is the 22nd highest in the world, with around 260,000 people carrying the HIV virus.

Archbishop softens condom stance

01/04/2010 09:05:08

The Archbishop of Westminster has described arguments in favour of condom provision to developing countries as "attractive", a significant softening of the Catholic Church in England's previous hard line on contraception.

The Most Rev Vincent Nichols told BBC Radio WM that while it was not the Church's role to call for the move, he could understand why some thought it was a positive short-term solution.

"I don't think it's the Church's role simply to add its voice to that but rather, in contrast, to keep saying: 'If we solve the poverty then consistently we know that the birth rate comes down, if we provide people with security then consistently birth rates will come down.'

"They are the radical issues that we should be addressing."

His remarks come after Pope Benedict XVI was criticised last year for speaking out against the use of contraceptives to fight AIDS in Africa.

Catholic doctrine forbids all forms of birth control other than the "natural" method.

SA students have 'low HIV rate'

31/03/2010 09:05:06

A survey of students at South African universities has shown the number of cases of HIV is much lower than the national average.

More than 23,000 students from 21 institutions across the country were questioned in the HEAids survey.

Only Unisa and Tshwane University of Technology did not take part.

The report found the HIV rate among students was 3.4%, while it was just 1.5% among academic staff.

The rate was higher for administrative staff, at 4.4%, and among service staff the figure rose to 10%.

But the HEAids report warned the low rate in students may not last, as many engage in risky sexual activity.

Blade Nzimande, South Africa's minister of higher education, said students should not be taking risks which could affect their health in a serious way.

He referred to the UNAids report which predicted in 2008 that 33.4 million people worldwide live with HIV. It represents a 20% jump from 2000, and is three times as many compared with 1990 figures.

The research into the HIV rate at South African universities was part of a government initiative to get as many people to be tested for HIV in the next 12 months.

South Africa was reported to be home to the world's largest population of people living with HIV - about 5.7 million.

Warning over gonorrhoea "superbug"

30/03/2010 09:05:09

A drug-resistant form of gonorrhoea could become a "superbug" if new treatments are not found in the near future, a leading expert has warned.

Health Protection Agency (HPA) official Catherine Ison told Reuters: "This is a very clever bacteria. If this problem isn't addressed, there is a real possibility that gonorrhoea will become a very difficult infection to treat.

"Ceftriaxone and cefixime are still very effective but there are signs that resistance, particularly to cefixime is emerging and soon these drugs may not be a good choice."

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is to meet in Manilla next week to discuss the growing problem.

The highest incidences of the sexually-transmitted infection (STI), which can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility in women if left untreated, are found in south and south-east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

WHO researchers estimate there are 340 million new cases of curable STIs every year among people between the ages of 15 and 49.

Sex education reforms 'a must'

26/03/2010 09:05:18

A health expert in the Ukraine has called for an overhaul of the country's sex education system in an effort to drive down the number of under-age pregnancies.

Gynaecologist Halyna Maistryuk, who heads the Women Health and Family Planning Fund, told the Prague Post that a lack of trust between students and teachers was preventing the message from getting through.

"Research shows that students don't trust teachers," said Maistryuk, adding that the best way around the problem was the introduction of the Swedish model of sex education, wherein children are taught about reproductive health from an early age, typically between seven and 10.

"Swedish experience shows that, the more a child knows, the less desire he has to start, because he is aware of the physical and moral risks," she said.

"In Europe, where they have sex education as a separate subject, they have the lowest rate of under-age pregnancy. In Ukraine, they don't teach any of it. It's a question of safety. It must be taught."

A report issued by the UN in February urged Ukraine to tackle its high number of abortions, which in 2004 stood at around six per 1,000 women, through improving sex education and promoting the use of contraceptives.

Maltese STI rate 'on the rise'

25/03/2010 15:05:00

Pressure is growing on the Maltese government to publish its much-delayed strategy on sexual health, after figures revealed an increase in the number of people seeking treatment for sexually-transmitted infections (STIs).

Health minister Joe Cassar said the island state had 12 new cases of HIV in 2009, 63 of gonorrhoea, 61 of chlamydia and 19 of syphilis.

While an improved awareness of STIs may have inflated the problem, health promotion director Dr Charmaine Gauci said the government would not underestimate the issue.

"We have enhanced our surveillance to increase awareness, so it would follow that more people go to make tests for such diseases," Dr Gauci claimed. "But I am not saying that the increase in STIs in Malta is not real, as we have noticed a growing trend."

The government, which recently launched an advert promoting contraception that featured a girl donning a helmet before riding a bicycle, has faced criticism for not doing more to tackle the growing problem.

Liberal defeat in birth control row

25/03/2010 09:05:13

The Canadian government has defeated opposition moves to include family planning measures in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's G8 maternal and child health initiative.

The 144-138 vote effectively ends a long-running row over the issue, first prompted when the country's foreign minister declared contraception would not be included because the purpose of the initiative was "to save lives".

Liberal politicians had proposed an amendment to the scheme arguing it should include "the full range of family planning, sexual and reproductive health options", and added that the government "should refrain from advancing the failed right-wing ideologies previously imposed by the George W. Bush administration in the United States".

Mr Harper, scheduled to hold a G8 summit in Muskoka, Ontario, in June, said he would now focus on providing nutrition, clean water, inoculations and basic health care to countries in need.

Webcams used to reduce STI rates

23/03/2010 09:15:25

A study in Australia is examining the use of webcams to help cut the proliferation of sexually transmitted infections in young people.

The Sexual Health Online Using Telemedicine (Shout) study at the University of Melbourne will use webcam and telephone consultations to enable young people to be seen or heard by doctors without visiting a clinic.

In many countries, including the UK and Australia, rates of chlamydia are on the rise among young people. It is hoped the new web-based model will allow better access to treatment for people in isolated rural communities or those who are too embarrassed to go to a GP.

Professor Christopher Fairley, from the Sexual Health Unit, School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne, said: "Young people can find it difficult to access sexual health services due to lack of money, confidence and knowledge of the avenues of how to get help.

"We need to find innovative ways to improve access to sexual health care, particularly for young people."

The Shout trial, led by University of Melbourne PhD candidate Ms Cameryn Garrett, is seeking young Australians to share their views anonymously over the internet to see if it would be a popular route to treatment.

In excess of 400 people have already completed the online questionnaire, but most of them have been women or girls. The study leaders are also interested in hearing the views of young men from across Australia, especially those from rural and regional areas.

Pharmacies 'handier' for Pill jab

23/03/2010 09:05:20

Many women may prefer to go to pharmacies for contraceptive injections than family planing clinics, a study suggests.

US researchers found they are more convenient, carry less of a stigma, and may lead to better take-up of contraception.

Fifty women were split between receiving their next depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) injection at family planning centres and pharmacies.

Women using chemists were satisfied with the setting, with 70% rating them as convenient, 100% as private, 100% as respectful, and 89% as satisfactory overall.

Encouraging wider availability of pharmacist-administered DMPA, the authors concluded: "This study showed that the arrangement is acceptable to women."

STI taboo threatens health - doctor

22/03/2010 14:35:00

Taboo is preventing young people in the Republic of Ireland from discussing sexually transmitted diseases and putting theirs and other people's health at risk, according to a survey carried out for a drugs corporation.

Most young people aged between 18 and 20 said if they caught such an infection they would tell no one about it because the perceived stigma outweighs the need to prevent the disease from spreading.

Most of those who were asked said they would never speak to the person from whom they caught the infection because they may be blamed for it or exposed as someone who has it.

But they are risking infertility, illness or even death, said Dr John Lambert, a consultant in infectious diseases and genitourinary medicine.

"This research indicates that although young people's awareness of the term sexually transmitted infection is relatively high, their knowledge of specific STIs and their respective symptoms and consequences, remains low. This lack of awareness and understanding is putting their health at risk," he said.

The sexual health attitudes survey was conducted with 12 groups of 18 to 20-year-olds in Dublin, Cork and Galway during the months of December and January for pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

About-face for Canadian government

22/03/2010 10:35:00

The Canadian premier has publicly rebuked his foreign minister for suggesting that birth control programmes would not form part of the country's international aid scheme.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper flatly contradicted claims made by Lawrence Cannon last week, saying most options remained on the table and that no decision had yet been made.

"The government is seeking a dialogue with the countries of the G8 to save the lives of mothers and children all over the world," he said.

"We are not closing the door to any option, and that includes contraception, but we do not want a debate, here or elsewhere, on abortion."

The statement came days after the foreign minister said funding for birth control was out of the question because the purpose of the programme was to "save lives".

While reiterating that the government would not fund abortions, the minister later admitted to an error.

"I did make a mistake," he said. "I said those words, but that's not what the policy is."

'Inefficient' healthcare criticised

22/03/2010 09:05:34

The Pakistani government must take urgent action to control population growth and increase health spending, a panel of experts has warned.

Dr Attiya Inayatullah told the Pakistan Society of Development Economists that an inefficient healthcare system had produced a situation whereby the birth control needs of 27% of the population were not being met.

Explaining that the desire for a male child, who could provide a source of income for the family, went some way to explaining the issue, she added that a programme of education and the transferral of more economic powers to women was an immediate necessity.

"To tackle this problem, we need to change the mindset of public by educating and empowering women," Dr Inayatullah said.

"We need functional and inclusive basic health and family planning system to achieve MDGs."

Concern over contraception stance

18/03/2010 09:05:23

The Canadian government has justified its decision not to include contraception in a programme to improve the health of mothers in poor countries, by saying that birth control does not save lives.

Michael Lawrence, foreign minister in the Conservative administration, told the country's Foreign Affairs Committee that the programme "did not deal in any way, shape or form with family planning", adding it was designed to "save lives".

Health officials have expressed concern that the decision to rule out contraception is based on political rather than humanitarian motives, with even family planning advice seemingly being ruled out of the aid package.

Katherine McDonald, executive director of Action Canada for Population and Development, said: "I'm very concerned that they're equating family planning with abortion."

Copyright © Press Association 2010

Commented Dana Hovig, CEO of Marie Stopes International: “There’s no question that family planning saves lives by preventing unwanted pregnancies, including those that would otherwise lead to complications and hence the death or injury of the mother or child. Statistically, if the number of pregnancies falls by 10% it follows that deaths from pregnancy would also fall by around 10%. Sadly, we are only too accustomed to politicians backing out of support for safe abortion services, but to do the same to family planning is a new low for political pandering to social conservatism.”

Concern over 335% gonorrhoea surge

17/03/2010 09:05:10

Australian health bosses have urged people to have a sexually transmitted disease (STD) check after statistics revealed a 335% annual increase in gonorrhoea in the east of the country.

Authorities in Newcastle have diagnosed 41 cases of the STD since the beginning of the year - significantly up on nine in 2009, 28 in 2008 and 12 in 2007.

Hunter New England Health director of sexual health Treeny Ooi said: "Men who have sex with men have been identified as a group particularly at risk, however heterosexual people have also been infected.

"Gonorrhoea often causes no symptoms and people may not be aware that they are infected."

When symptoms do present themselves they can include pain when passing urine and discharge from the penis or vagina. The infection, increasingly seen in teenagers and those in their 20s, can lead to infertility.

"Untreated gonorrhoea can cause serious and permanent health problems," Dr Ooi added.

"It can cause painful infection in the testicles or fallopian tubes that connect the womb to the ovaries and may result in infertility."

HIV infection rate 'on the rise'

16/03/2010 09:15:13

The rate of HIV infection among homosexuals, drug users and prostitutes is on the rise, a United Nations report has claimed.

UNAids head Michel Sidibe said about 33% of new cases in China and Africa were contracted through same-sex activity, adding that countries with repressive laws against homosexuals exacerbated the problem.

He added that some three million drug users worldwide, out of a total of 16 million who regularly injected, were HIV positive, less than 4% of whom had access to treatment.

He said that Nigeria was a particular cause for concern, where 30% of 1,000 new infections every day were in members of vulnerable groups such as sex workers, drug users and homosexuals.

Mr Siibe finished by calling for "a prevention revolution", similar to recent anti-smoking campaigns, to tackle the problem.

Concern over HIV pregnancy rate

16/03/2010 09:05:08

HIV-positive women being treated with anti-retroviral drugs in Kenya are twice as likely to become pregnant compared to those not on medication, a study published in the Journal of Medicine has found.

Researchers are baffled by the increased rate and seriously concerned that it could lead to a rise in the number of HIV-positive infants.

The study, which looked at women over a four-year period, found that almost a third of those on the medication had fallen pregnant during the research period.

"The chance of pregnancy increased over time in women on drugs to almost 80% greater than those not on medication," the report said

"However, we did not examine how pregnancy desires and sexual activity of women changed while on ART, and cannot discern why the medicines are linked to increased pregnancy."

Of an estimated 1.5 million women who get pregnant in Kenya annually, about 100,000 are HIV positive. Studies show that about 45,000 of the babies they give birth to will be infected.

Catholics clash over condom machine

15/03/2010 09:05:11

Catholics in Italy have rounded on a Rome high school after education bosses decided to install a condom vending machine in the institution.

The Vatican said the move, which Keplero high school claims is part of a sex education drive, encouraged young people to have sex.

"It cannot be approved by Rome's ecclesiastical community or by Christian families who are seriously concerned with the education of their children," said Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the pope's vicar for Rome.

But unrelenting school bosses say the strategy, the first of its kind in the country, will help curb teenage pregnancy and the spread of HIV.

School headmaster Panaccione said: "This is not about stimulating the use of condoms or intercourse. On the contrary, it's about prevention and education."

The Catholic Church is opposed to artificial contraception, viewing sex as for the purpose of procreation within marriage.

Free treatment for Vietnamese women

12/03/2010 14:35:06

A new health campaign has been launched in the provinces of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to provide deprived women with free gynaecological check-ups and cancer treatment.

The programme hopes to help 150,000 to 200,000 women in the country's 32 southern provinces.

According to the Ministry of Health an estimated 3,000 women are at risk of breast cancer each year, 2,550 at risk of cervical cancer and 1,000 at risk of ovarian cancer.

Leading hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City including Tu Du Hospital, Hung Vuong Hospital and Oncology Hospital, will run training courses for doctors working in provincial hospitals and health centres.

They will work alongside them to offer women with cancer free surgery and examinations.

Pham Viet Thanh, deputy head of the Ministry of Health's Mother-Child Health Department, said the scheme would help doctors as well as women by providing them with new training opportunities.

Premarital programme 'must change'

12/03/2010 09:05:18

The Malaysian government should ensure women are aware they have the right either to have a baby or not when they get married, according to a women's group.

The All Women's Action Society Malaysia called on the authorities to shift the focus on the country's premarital training programme.

It said the focus should be on the importance of building a happy and healthy family, rather than encouraging more babies.

Abigail de Vries, senior programme officer at the group, said women should be allowed to make free choices when it comes to marriage and having children.

She said: "It's their right. That's how the government should encourage women."

She said the government, through its programmes and policies, must ensure that women could decide for themselves and should not blindly encourage women to have more babies.

On the trend of more women staying single, de Vries said it should not be viewed as a problem but rather as a sign that women were advancing in society.

Women's Aid Organisation social works manager Wong Su Zane said communication skills and financial planning should be part of the government programme.

Poll highlights menopause symptoms

11/03/2010 16:05:00

Two US-based women's health initiatives are to conduct a survey among older females to better understand their sexual health problems.

Menopause Alliance and Get Primed! hope the results of their anonymous poll will help in the development of appropriate guides for women and healthcare professionals.

The groups is aiming to highlight the symptoms of menopause and is encouraging women not to suffer in silence.

Women can experience vaginal dryness, a low sex drive, painful intercourse and hot flushes during menopause.

However, some symptoms such as vaginal atrophy can be more progressive, with many women never seeking treatment.

The groups have called for more awareness of the treatments available to help improve the symptoms of menopause, including estrogen replacement, which may help prevent conditions such as vaginal atrophy or put an end to existing symptoms.

Vietnam targets HCM sexual health

11/03/2010 10:15:08

Vietnamese women have been offered free sexual health care in six suburban districts of the capital city.

A total of 73 hospital words and health centres have joined a programme to provide treatments to girls and women aged 15 to 49 without charge.

It is aimed at reducing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases after a survey showed that 36.3% of women in the city do not what type of preventative measures to take, according to Dr Nguyen Quoc Chinh.

Dr Chinh, the deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Reproductive Health Care Centre, will work alongside the Vietnam Women's Union to draw up a plan on how to effectively run the check-up programme at the health centres.

The Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Health has been encouraging doctors to offer free reproductive health care to women since 2006. Over the last two years, 124,621 patients have been examined, while 40,000 have received treatment.

STD infection level 'unacceptable'

11/03/2010 09:05:37

Half of the 19 million people infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States each year are young people, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed.

Among those with STDs in the US, herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) has been contracted by one in six . While the rate has remained stable since the last survey, its pattern over the last 12 years has been characterised by decline.

"This stabilisation in herpes rates follows a period of declining prevalence, down from 21 percent for the years 1988 to 1994," La'Shan Taylor, an officer with the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service and author of the report, said.

The picture painted of general STD infection was not optimistic, with certain social and sexual groups hit particularly hard and ignorance about the conditions adding to the problem.

Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said: "Young women, African Americans, and gay and bisexual men are especially hard hit. It is unacceptable that STDs remain such a widespread public health problem in the United States."

The new findings were based on data from the 2005 to 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Condom use debated in Philippines

10/03/2010 09:05:16

The issue of condom use has been raised in the Philippines after a workers group attempted to get Catholic bishops in the country to recognise the product's importance in protecting women's health.

On Monday, members of the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) gathered in Manila, where the Catholic Bishops Conferences of the Philippines (CBCP) was taking place.

Designed to coincide with the internationally recognised Women's Day, the group wanted the bishops to bless baskets of condoms in a symbolic gesture.

But no bishop was available to meet the group, so instead it submitted a copy of the Philippine government's paper supporting the use of condoms to stop the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus.

Judy Ann Miranda, general secretary of PM, said: "We humbly asked the bishops to bless the condoms as a conciliatory gesture to unite for reproductive health and women's rights."

The CBCP refuses to recognise the use of condoms because they believe it encourages sexual promiscuity.

South Africa buys a billion condoms

09/03/2010 14:35:00

Money has been given to South Africa to buy one billion condoms, in a country where more people die of HIV and Aids-related sickness than anywhere else in the world.

International Development Minister Gareth Thomas told an emergency meeting in Westminster that £1 million will be donated to the country, which is hosting the football World Cup finals this summer.

The Department for International Development called the meeting to try to improve efforts to provide people with universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care programmes. A pledge to do this by 2015 is said to have gone off the tracks.

People representing African nations with endemic HIV infection, financial donors, activists and drugs corporations all attended the meeting.

G8 countries were called on to note the catastrophic consequences of not paying out the cash they promised to nations to fight the virus and to live up to promises they made to the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria.

As many as 1,500 people get infected with HIV and around 1,000 people die AIDS-related deaths every day in South Africa.

City women to get free condoms

09/03/2010 09:05:07

Half a million female condoms are to be distributed in Washington DC in an attempt to reduce the number of people being infected with HIV and Aids.

The District of Colombia is the first city in the US to plan giving out the condoms for free. Beauty salons, local shops and secondary schools in parts of the city with high HIV rates will be targeted within the next three weeks.

The distribution plan acknowledges that relying only on men to use condoms may not be effective enough in reducing the incidence of the deadly diseases. Male condoms have been given out across the city for the past 10 years.

Officials said the intention is to empower women whose partners refuse to wear a condom when having sex.

"Anywhere male condoms are available, female condoms will be available," said Shannon Hader, director of the DC HIV/AIDS Administration. "We're not saying that if you're a school in this area, you can't get female condoms. We're trying to make every effort count to build on what already exists, to expand options rather than limit them."

Church attacks mayor over abortion

08/03/2010 09:05:14

Mexico's City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard has angered the country's Roman Catholic Church after approving legalised abortion and same-sex marriages.

The church has accused Ebrard of "following the line set down by foreign groups" in an editorial which was posted on the Archdiocese of Mexico's website.

The church has frequently criticised Ebrard's Democratic Revolution Party, but Mexican law forbids it to become involved in electoral politics.

It said Ebrard's administration had botched a variety of issues including crime and public transit.

However, some left-wing supporters have accused the church of supporting Ebrard's conservative rivals.

Ebrard is seen as a strong contender in the 2012 presidential race.

Group reveals £66m Nigeria funding

05/03/2010 09:05:10

International organisation, the Population Council, will invest $75 million ( £66 million) in an attempt to reduce the high maternal mortality rate in Nigeria, it has been revealed.

Every year, around 50,000 women in the country die due to childbirth-related issues.

On a visit to Nigeria, John Townsend, vice president of the Population Council, said the reproductive rights group would make the substantial investment in the country.

He said the group already has a presence in 10 hospitals in Kano, where its magnesium sulphate treatment programme has seen success.

Mr Townsend revealed that in those hospitals, the group has recorded a 60% reduction in maternal deaths.

He said: "Due to the rapid reduction in maternal deaths in the hospitals we presently operate in, we plan to expand our intervention to primary health care centres so as to reach mothers in other parts of the country".

Mr Townsend added that the group will assist the Nigerian government further by introducing new technology and pharmaceutical products that prevent post-mortem haemorrhage.

Afghans 'using birth control more'

04/03/2010 10:15:14

The use of contraception is on the increase in Afghanistan, according to health experts.

The country, which has been plagued by years of war, has one of the world's highest fertility rates, with an average of more than six babies per woman.

However, birth control methods are being encouraged by mullahs across the country.

They have been distributing condoms, and quoting the Koran to encourage longer breaks between births.

Many Afghan mullahs are very open about promoting family planning, said Farhad Javid, program director of Marie Stopes International, a British-based family planning organization in Kabul. He was not involved in the study, but said his organization has trained 3,500 religious leaders nationwide on the issue since 2003. It distributed more than two million condoms last year.

"In a couple of districts, mullahs were taking our condom stocks and selling them during (night) prayers because the clinics were not open after 4 o'clock," Javid said.

Although UNICEF estimates that just 10% of women across Afghanistan use some form of birth control, a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) claimed that the use of pills, condoms and injected forms of contraception methods rose to 27% in three rural areas after health workers explained one-to-one what the benefits were.

Dr Douglas Huber, the lead author of the study that appeared in Bulletin, the WHO journal, said: "The fastest, cheapest, easiest way to reduce maternal deaths in Afghanistan is with contraception."

Unlike Catholicism, Islam does not oppose birth control, and various parts of the Muslim world support everything from vasectomies to abortions.

Maternal death numbers "can be cut"

03/03/2010 14:35:00

The huge number of women who die during childbirth in Bolivia can be slashed by 80% within five years if a mother-child subsidy programme is allowed to continue, former health minister Ramiro Tapia has claimed.

Every day two mothers are saved from death relating to complications from pregnancy and childbirth and the project is said to be progressing well, despite having difficulties over administration.

The Bolivian Health Ministry's plan for 2009-15 points out: "In Bolivia the risk of dying from causes related to pregnancy, childbirth or the postnatal period is very high. Every year an average of 623 women die from complications during pregnancy."

Mr Tapia, said to be the driving force behind the strategy, said the "Juana Azurduy" subsidy introduced eight months ago should reduce the maternal mortality rate in South America's poorest country by 80 percent in five years' time.

The 2008 statistics put the maternal death rate in Bolivia at 222 per 100,000 live births, second only to Haiti across Latin America and the Caribbean.

The subsidy covers 98% of Bolivian municipalities and 400,000 people have been helped, including with family planning, according to Mr Tapia.

Action needed to stop Aids in Haiti

03/03/2010 09:05:23

Urgent action needs to be taken in Haiti in order to stop the spread of the Aids virus, according to a UN agency study.

UNAIDS has warned there is a risk of the deadly virus spreading in the overcrowded camps where thousands of survivors of an enormous earthquake are living.

The study said before the disaster struck in mid-January, Haiti was already the Caribbean country most affected by HIV/Aids.

And it warns an already bad situation could get worse in the chaotic conditions that still exist.

Tim Martineau, director of technical and country support at UNAIDS, said: "There is a need to maintain services, but also to scale them up."

He added that the situation is the first significant natural disaster in a country affected by a high Aids epidemic, posing new challenges.

United Nations estimates suggest that 53% of the 120,000 people infected with HIV in Haiti are women.

The UNIADS report revealed that earthquake damage occurred in three areas where 60% of the HIV-infected population lives. It laso added that buildings providing services to help those with the virus were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake.

Row over Philippines' free condoms

02/03/2010 09:45:00

The Department of Health for the Republic of the Philippines is standing by its decision to distribute free condoms to fight HIV/AIDS despite fierce criticism from the country's Catholic bishops.

Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral has defended her position despite demands from the Catholic church for her to resign or for President Macapagal-Arroyo to fire her.

She said she would continue to provide condoms until June 30 or until her term comes to an end.

After the launch of a new government hospital in Narra, she said: "I serve at the pleasure of the President. By July 1, the (new) president is entitled to appoint his own secretary of health."

Cabral said their national information campaign, known as ABC, was comprised of three elements, abstinence, being faithful and contraceptive use.

She said: "The third comes in if in case you can't practise abstinence or fidelity."

According to Cabral the number of HIV cases has increased by 100% since 2008 to 4,400.

However, the government has been condemned by Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles and Bishops Dinualdo Gutierrez and Arturo Bastes from Marbel and Sorsogon, after it distributed condoms on Valentine's Day.

The Church said the campaign broke with the Catholic teachings.

Birth rate drop for South Korea

01/03/2010 09:05:07

A newly published report has revealed that women in South Korea are having fewer children, with the birth rate in 2009 declining for the second straight year.

The research was compiled by Statistics Korea who found the number of children born in 2009 fell by 21,000 to 445,000. This was a 4.4 percent decrease.

According to the report, the decline in births was due mainly to a drop and delay in marriage.

South Korea has been attempting to encourage its population to have children through a number of incentives. It is feared the decline in childbirth could be detrimental to the country's growth potential.

Despite the incentives the number of babies that a woman is predicted to have during her lifetime fell from 1.19 to 1.15 in 2009.

The report also showed the crude birth rate or the number of babies born for every 1,000 people also fell from 9.4 to 9.0.

Talks to outlaw genital mutilation

26/02/2010 09:15:06

A conference has been held to discuss how to abolish female genital mutilation (FGM).

Experts gathered in Cyprus, where FGM is a growing concern, to promote a campaign to eradicate the surgery across Europe.

Led by Amnesty International, End FGM aims to offer asylum and educational programmes in practising communities in a bid to develop a comprehensive approach to the problem across the EU.

Up to 140 million girls and women worldwide suffer the consequences of FGM - which is common practice in 28 African countries, across the Middle East and in Asia.

Leyla Hussein, a British healthcare worker who underwent FGM during her Somalian upbringing, spoke at the conference of her belief that the barbaric surgery could be brought to an end.

She said: "There is hope. I am proof that you can break the cycle."

The World Health Organisation defines FGM as procedures under which the external female genitalia is removed or when female genital organs are injured for non-medical reasons.

Dina Akkelidou, president of the house committee on equal opportunities, said: "The average age of FGM is between four and eight, and it happens on average every 10 seconds. Moreover, it is a serious form of discrimination and a cultural offence."

Pakistan birth rate 'should be 2%'

25/02/2010 09:45:07

Pakistan's rising birth rate has threatened the country's food supplies, economy and other resources, according to a government minister.

Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, the federal minister for population welfare, said the birth rate must be lowered to 2% to combat the problem.

She said an autonomous body called the National Trust for Population Welfare (Natpow) had begun awarding grants to fund reproductive health and family planning projects in remote areas of the country.

Natpow, which was established by the late politician Benazir Bhutto, works under the Ministry of Population Welfare and was unused for more than 10 years.

Dr Awan said 27 projects were awarded to non-government organisations since the current leaders approved Rs 25 million (£350,000) to reactivate the trust last year.

Since then Natpow used Rs 10 million, with a government pledge for Rs 436 million during the coming five years, although the trust could require up to Rs 950 million to implement family planning policies effectively.

HIV drug pair 'risky for heart'

25/02/2010 09:05:09

A combination of two HIV drugs increases potential health risks, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned.

Roche's Invirase and Abbott Laboratories' Norvir were found to be affecting the electrical activity of the heart when used together in preliminary investigations, the agency said.

The change in electrical activity can delay the signals triggering heart beats and can even lead to irregular heart rhythms, resulting in lightheadedness, fainting, and even death.

Roche submitted data to the FDA about the heart activity of patients using its drug with Abbott's Norvir. The agency is continuing its review of the matter.

Patients should not stop taking the drugs concerned without talking to their doctor, the FDA said in an online statement.

It added that doctors should examine patients' heart health and current medications to decide whether they should continue taking Invirase.

Tara Cooper, spokeswoman for Invirase marketers Genentech said: "The safety of patients is of the utmost importance to Genentech, and we continue to monitor and report to FDA adverse event reports from patients and physicians."

Filipino bishops in condom row

24/02/2010 09:05:12

Roman Catholic bishops have called for the removal of a senior minister after the Filipino government gave out free condoms on Valentine's Day.

Health secretary Ezperanza Cabral led a promotional campaign to encourage citizens to protect themselves from the risk of catching HIV and AIDS, which angered church leaders.

A church statement by Bishop Ramon Arquelles, from the Lipa diocese south of the capital city Manila, was signed by two other bishops and posted on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines website.

It read: "It's so immoral for someone in the government to be pushing the use of condoms, which we all know is not deterrent to AIDS prevention."

Catholicism does not allow believers to use birth control methods such as condoms, but Gary Olivar, spokesman for Philippine president Maria Macapagal-Arroyo, said the government was not considering sacking Mrs Cabral.

"We should remember that public officials should be judged by standards of public policy interest as set forth in our laws and legal precedents and not the morality of this or that institution," he said.

Women 'waiting until 30s for kids'

23/02/2010 14:35:00

A survey has shown that most women in Ireland are waiting until they hit their 30s to become mothers.

Women with a higher level of education are also likely to delay motherhood and go on to eventually have fewer children, according to the study Family Figures: Family Dynamics and Family Types in Ireland, 1986-2006.

The figures showed that the majority of women who have children go on to have two or three. However, more than one in six women have not become mothers by the age of 45, the research claimed.

The study, which analysed families over two decades, also showed that married couples with only one child are up to a third more likely to split than people with bigger families. However, it was found that although break-ups rose sharply in the 1990s, they had now levelled off.

The Economic and Social Research Institute study also said that 10,000 fathers were bringing up children alone - many after broken marriages.

Many girls in Egypt 'circumcised'

23/02/2010 09:05:08

A study has shown that the majority of girls in Egypt are circumcised.

Around 82% of girls aged 10-29 in the country undergo female genital mutilation, according to the Population Council and the Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC).

More than 15,000 people aged 10-29 were questioned in the survey on topics such as health, education, reproductive health and sexuality, employment, marriage and social engagement.

The study also revealed that among the 22-29 age bracket, 93% of those surveyed were circumcised. The surgery was less common among younger people - with only 66% of those aged 10-14 having the operation.

It was also claimed that parents veered away from discussing sexual health with their children. This was backed up by almost three-quarters of those surveyed claiming they never talked about puberty with family members.

Minister of Family and Population Moshira Khattab said: "This is a valuable survey which studies an important segment of the population covering both social and economic factors of this age group."

Population plans 'need cooperation'

22/02/2010 14:35:01

Provincial and federal governments in Pakistan need to work together for the successful implementation of population programmes, according to a senior minister.

Efforts should be made to hire the services of religious parties and groups to promote family planning, said Federal Minister for Population Welfare Dr Firdaus Ashiq Awan.

At a family planning seminar, Dr Awan hailed the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for involving Imams of mosques in the programme and welcomed the role of NGOs as these could help in providing funding for facilities in far-off places.

Religious communities' reservations prompted the government to change its model from family planning to birth spacing, and contraceptives were highly recommended to check family sizes, said said, adding that the federal government had done much to engage religious groups in family planning.

The seminar was organised by the Mir Khalilur Rehman Memorial Society in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Ministry of Population Welfare on Tuesday.

Indonesia faces population problem

22/02/2010 09:05:11

Indonesia has set up 23,500 family planning clinics in a bid to slow its rapidly-increasing population over the coming four years.

The country's population growth rate was officially recorded at 1.3% in 2007, but previously the government had not acted decisively to tackle the problem.

Sugiri Syarief, head of the National Family Planning Coordination Board (BKKBN), said: "The government targets a population growth rate of below 1 percent in 2014."

Speaking at the opening of the National Working Meeting on Population Development and Family Planning, he conceded family planning programmes in cities and regencies had missed previous targets due to lack of support for their methods, workers and infrastructure.

"These shortcomings have come to our attention. The family planning operational budget provision is also our concern," he said.

Teen pregnancy shows 'affect women'

19/02/2010 14:35:00

Television dramas have more impact on young women's attitude to contraception than news programmes, a study has suggested.

US researchers found university-age women felt more vulnerable a fortnight after watching a fictional show about teenage pregnancy, encouraging contemplation about birth control methods.

Young women who viewed a more serious news programme that covered the facts and repercussions of young motherhood reported no difference in their opinion of contraception, according to the study.

Co-author Emily Moyer-Gusé, assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University, said narratives appeared more influential than factual information.

"A message that is hidden inside of a story may overcome some of the resistance people have to being told how to behave," she said.

"The impact that dramatised stories have on people's beliefs and intentions depends a lot on the individual viewers, and not just the message - but our results suggest the effect can be there."

Ms Moyer-Gusé worked with Robin Nabi of the University of California on the study, which was published in the journal Human Communication Research.

Indonesia 'faces population boom'

19/02/2010 09:05:16

Indonesian officials have warned the country's population control programme is unlikely to have made much headway in the past 10 years.

Sugiri Syarief, head of Indonesia's Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), said the organisation was concerned about the results of a population census due to take place in May.

"Population growth is projected at 1.3%, down from 1.4% from the 2000 census," he said while in Jakarta for a workshop on how professional organisations can help meet population targets by 2015.

Although BKKBN remained optimistic of future success with its revised family planning programme (KB), he said the legacy of President Soeharto's New Order in the 1990s had damaged public conceptions of the agency's work.

He explained: "Population control is important in reaching the millennium development goals, because it is closely related to problems such as poverty and maternal death."

Soeharto's New Order gained international recognition for its effective family planning, but the programme came to be associated with intimidation and was neglected by newly autonomous regions for about a decade after the president resigned.

Bid for older women to get vaccine

18/02/2010 15:15:00

A cervical cancer vaccine could soon be offering protection to women in their 40s, it has emerged.

The Gardasil vaccine, manufactured by Merck & Co, is already approved to prevent cervical cancer in women aged between 9 and 26.

However, the company is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval to make the drug available to women up to the age of 45.

If the approval is granted, rules allowing the vaccine to be used to prevent genital warts in females and men aged 9-26 would also be extended to include women up to 45.

The vaccine would also be used to prevent anal cancer in men, if plans are approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The vaccine is designed to block four common strains of the sexually transmitted HPV - two of which cause the majority of cervical cancer and anal cancer cases. The remaining two can cause genital warts.

The results were presented at a European conference of doctors and researchers specialising in cancer and genital infections.

Polygamy bill welcomed in Indonesia

18/02/2010 09:25:07

The Indonesian government's plan for a bill banning unofficial marriage and regulating polygamy, both practices allowed under Islam, has been hailed by the Indonesian National Family Planning Board chairman.

Polygamy and unofficial marriage, also known as nikah siri, obstruct family planning in the country through an increase in married couples and the population, claimed board chairman Sugiri Syarief.

The family planning programme, declared a national priority, would benefit from restriction of polygamy, said Mr Sugiri to the country's national news agency Antara at the opening of a national meeting on family planning in the vice presidential office.

The average age of women getting married, 19.8, is a concern in the move to curb the rising birth rate, he said. "Hopefully, we can see women delay marriage to the age of 21 by 2014," Mr Sugiri said.

East Timor adopts 'spacing' policy

18/02/2010 09:05:11

Women in East Timor have been urged to wait at least three years between having children in efforts to control the Asian country's rapid population growth.

Government officials have found it difficult to promote the use of contraception in the largely Roman Catholic country, where the fertility rate is the second-highest in the world.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), women have 6.38 children on average during their lives, which is only surpassed by Afghanistan.

One in eight East Timorese infants died in 2004, and about 660 women die in labour per 100,000 live births, the UN said.

Spacing, or waiting a certain period between births, is the focus of East Timor's population control programme, which UNFPA said was vital to reduce infant and maternal mortality rates.

Mariano Redondo, UNFPA communications officer in East Timor, said: "The mortality rate increases because women don't have time to recover from one pregnancy to the next one. And also children suffer because they don't have the same opportunities if there are 10 children in the house instead of two or three."

Kenyan girls get free sanitary pads

17/02/2010 09:25:04

Girls in Kenya have been given washable sanitary pads, underwear and soap to enable them to continue at school while on their period, a charity has announced.

According to an Oxford University study in Ghana, poorer girls miss up to five days of school as they stay at home during menstruation. As well as embarrassment, the study found men put more pressure on the girls to have intercourse when it was apparent they were sexually mature, including their male teachers.

Sanitary pads allow children to attend school, but disposable versions are expensive and using cloth, newspaper or mattress padding can cause leaks or infection.

One Kenyan girl told the broadcaster Voice of America that pads cost the same as a bag of corn flour.

Huru International, a US-backed charity, has developed reusable terry-cloth pads which are sewn and packaged into kits with information about AIDS and safe sex at a community centre in Nairobi, funded by the charity AmericaShare.

The partnership project includes the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Sunflag Steel and Warner Brothers.

AmericaShare, set up by New York travel company Micato Safaris, plans to encourage African women to set up their own pad-making businesses using microfinance loans.

More Rwandans using contraception

16/02/2010 14:35:00

More married women in Rwanda are now using contraception, according to new figures.

Some 51% of women were using birth control last year, according to statistics obtained by the Ministry of Health.

This figure is up on the 31% recorded in an interim Demographic Health Survey (DHS) between 2007 and 2008.

Emile Nkusi, head of Health Monitoring and Evaluation taskforce in the Ministry of Health, said: "After the genocide the people complained that they had lost so many dear ones and needed to replace them, which increased the fertility rate."

He explained that in the years that followed, the family planning campaign was intensified and methods that conformed to tradition were incorporated within the strategy.

"We intensified the sensitization campaign on family planning methods. We even used cycle beads to conform to tradition," he said. Despite the decelerated fertility rate since the post genocide the current population growth rate is still high.

With the current 2.3 percent population growth the population is projected to be 16 million by 2020 from the current 10 million. Rwanda is one of the countries with the highest population density in Africa with 345 people per sq km.

Anti-herpes drug combats AIDS virus

15/02/2010 14:35:00

An anti-herpes drug has been found to slow progression of the AIDS virus, doctors have reported.

Aciclovir, used to treat genital herpes, which has a small braking effect on HIV's spread, can be used before patients have to be given the more powerful drugs used to combat HIV. The results point towards an additional weapon against the virus, said research leader Jairam Lingappa, of the University of Washington.

Most sufferers of HIV are also infected with type 2 herpes simplex virus, or HSV2.

Tests were performed with 3,381 heterosexual volunteers at 14 sites in southern and eastern Africa. The volunteers were infected with HSV2 and HIV-1, the main strain of the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS.

Earlier research showed the anti-HSV2 drug aciclovir lowers the levels of AIDS virus in the blood.

Valentine's Day boosts condom sales

12/02/2010 09:35:00

Sales of condoms and contraceptive pills have shot up in India as Valentines plan safe sex with their would-be paramours, according to reports.

Shishir Miglani, the director of online retail service Yes2condom, told the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) sales have jumped ahead of February 14.

"Sales increase up to 10-20 percent during Valentine's week, the reason being people grab this opportunity and try to make full use of their freedom," he said in a telephone interview.

"Awareness about female condoms has surely increased and we see the difference when they phone out of curiosity. Usage is definitely there, but we would be wrong if we compared female condoms with the sale of male condoms."

Push Journal reported that a recent survey showed men and women in India were getting used to condoms, and had begun experimenting with different flavours and lubrications.

Friends Medicos owner Gurbachan Singh told IANS that demand for contraceptives and condoms had increased generally, but usually spiked around Valentine's.

He said: "It is true that the sale of condoms and contraceptive pills increases during Valentine's week. We see a major increase in demand during Valentine's and also at New Year. Our customers range from youngsters to middle-aged people."

Jamaica considers 'HIV sanctions'

11/02/2010 09:05:07

Sexual predators in Jamaica who knowingly spread HIV or AIDS infections could be given criminal sanctions if the country's educational approach does not work, a minister has said.

Pearnel Charles, Jamaica's labour minister, told the House of Representatives: "There are some serious people who don't care how they destroy others."

He was speaking at a House debate on a report about the proposed National Workplace Policy on HIV/AIDS, which has been completed by a parliamentary committee.

Although the Government will try to stop the disease spreading by increasing educational programmes and taking action to prevent stigmatisation, Mr Charles said: "If it becomes necessary, then this minister will make recommendations for serious sanctions."

Mr Charles said the policy guidelines would complement best workplace policies, but the committee had considered whether employers who victimise sufferers should be legally punished.

Dr Fenton Ferguson, the Opposition spokesman on health, told the House he was concerned about the high proportion (31.8%) of homosexual men infected with HIV and AIDS in Jamaica, and compared this with 3% of people with STIs who contracted the virus.

Sexual health lessons for teenagers

10/02/2010 09:35:00

Teenagers are to learn about sex and reproduction at schools in Malaysia.

The Caltex Body Works programme will teach pupils aged 15 to 18 about sexual and reproductive health and HIV/Aids.

Over the next eight months, the Federation of Reproductive Health Associations in Malaysia (FRHAM) will take the programme to selected schools around the country.

FRHAM chairman Dr Kamaruzaman Ali said it was important to educate young people about sexual and reproductive health and HIV/Aids.

Dr Ali said a recent survey had shown nearly half of young people in the country have limited knowledge of sexual and reproductive health.

He said the organisation hoped the programme would lead to more comprehensive sexual and health education being included in the school curriculum.

The programme is being backed by international oil firm Chevron Malaysia Limited.

County chairman Jeremy Oh said they hoped providing young people with information and knowledge on reproductive health and diseases would help them develop into healthy and responsible adults.

Row over US conception teaching

09/02/2010 14:35:00

A US college lecturer has been accused of teaching his Christian views on life and conception to students during health classes.

Bradley Lopez, who teaches at Fresno City College in California, has been accused by students of using the Bible as proof that human life begins at conception, teaching that homosexuality is a mental illness and discussing apocalyptic Christian prophesies during a climate change lesson, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

If the accusations are correct, the lecturer could be breaching states laws which prohibit the discrimination of homosexuals and religious indoctrination at public schools, ACLU staff atorney Ellizabeth Gill said.

She has written to the college's president Cynthia Azaria urging the college "to act immediately to ensure that all its health classes provide only accurate and unbiased information."

The lecturer was unavailable for comment over the claims as was the college.

The Health Science 1 course is described in the college prospectus as a survey of "contemporary science concepts and medical information designed to promote health."

The course covers topics such as sexuality, nutrition, substance abuse, physical fitness and heredity.

Gill said that as a college instructor, Lopez is free to express his opinions but that because Fresno City College is publicly funded, his teaching cannot become "religious inculcation."

TV dramas 'encourage birth control'

09/02/2010 09:25:04

TV dramas may be a good way of encouraging young women to use birth control, it has been revealed.

The study, which appears in the journal Human Communication Research, found that a fictional programme was likely to be more effective than a news show on prompting women to organise protection.

Researchers from Ohio State University found that college-aged women were more affected by a TV drama about unplanned teenage pregnancy than they were about a news programme tackling the same subject.

The drama led to women feeling vulnerable for two weeks after broadcast. The study found that this led more women to consider using birth control. In contrast, none of the women changed their attitudes to birth control following the news show.

Emily Moyer-Guse, co-author of the study, said that the findings reveal how powerful fictional stories can be in influencing people.

She added: "A message that is hidden inside of a story may overcome some of the resistance people have to being told how to behave."

Female genital mutilation condemned

08/02/2010 09:05:05

Two world organisations have criticised the "medicalisation" of female genital mutilation.

The World Medical Association (WMA) and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) issued the condemnation to mark the international day of Zero Tolerance to FGM, February 6.

Death is the most extreme result of the mutilation, said Professor Gamal I Serour, President of FIGO. Others include haemorrhage, tetanus, sepsis, recurrent urinary tract infections, pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, and increased complications of subsequent pregnancy and childbirth.

The World Health Organisation reported a small drop in FGM in recent years, said Professor Serour. The average age of performing FGM also fell, but there was a rise in the proportion of FGM on girls under five.

And the practice is increasingly carried out by health professionals, it was reported.

Dr Dana Hanson, President of the WMA, said: "The medicalisation of FGM is a matter of deep concern for us. It blatantly infringes the code of medical ethics. We would like to see physicians and medical associations taking a more robust stand against these harmful and degrading treatments."

Pentagon offers morning-after pill

05/02/2010 14:35:04

Military bases across the world are to stock the morning-after pill, the US Department of Defence has announced.

The Pentagon said the emergency contraception will be offered at all military facilities following a recommendation from an independent committee of doctors and pharmacists last year.

Leader of the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, Nancy Keenan, welcomed the decision by President Barack Obama's administration after the policy was stopped under former leader George W Bush.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of the the drug, which can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex, to adults over-the-counter almost four years ago despite opposition from campaign groups, which describe it as an abortion pill.

The pill, which contains a high dose of birth control drugs, works by blocking ovulation and preventing a fertilised egg from attaching to the uterus.

A defence spokeswoman said she did not know when the policy would be rolled out.

Sudan lacks national HIV statistics

05/02/2010 09:05:07

HIV programmes are making little headway in southern Sudan due to the country's lack of health workers and facilities, mostly illiterate population and bad infrastructure, an expert has said.

Despite signing the comprehensive peace agreement with the North in 2005, groups trying to fight the HIV pandemic said there are still no statistics to indicate national levels of the virus.

In 2007 the US Centres for Disease Control carried out a site-specific antenatal survey, which showed Tambura, in Western Equatoria State, had 11.5% prevalence of HIV, while Leer in Unity State had a far lower 0.8%.

Bellario Ahoy Ngong, chair of the South Sudan AIDS Commission (SSAC), said HIV was mainly spread through heterosexual transmission, and gave an overall prevalence estimate of 3.1% for southern Sudan, with higher incidence levels in large towns and areas near the Kenyan and Ugandan borders.

He told IRIN/Plus News:"There has been a lot of movement of people since we attained peace, and in the big towns like Juba, Yei and Yambio, sex work has increased along with trade.

"Unfortunately, our people have very low knowledge of HIV transmission and prevention, so they are very vulnerable.

Kenya defines life in abortion row

04/02/2010 14:55:00

Kenya's new draft constitution has defined 'life' as beginning at conception, which seems to have lifted the threat by influential Christian leaders to mobilise a vote against it.

The parliamentary committee specified the definition when it completed deliberations on the draft. The National Council of Churches (NCCK) and the Catholic Church objected when the original draft simply said "everyone has a right to life" while failing to define where life begins and ends.

The draft assembled by the Committee of Experts for consideration by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) did not specifically refer to abortion.

Canon Peter Karanja of the NCCK told Inter Press Service news agency: "Life is sacrosanct. The definition of life must be stipulated in the supreme law of the land, the Constitution. Life must be defined as starting at conception and ending at natural death.

"As health care providers, we are familiar with both the human impact of unsafe abortion and the public health burden it represents. Including prohibition against abortion in the Constitution and defining life as beginning at conception will fail to prevent incidences of abortion," said Dr Otieno Nyunya, chairman of the reproductive health committee of the Kenya Medical Association.

Iowa ponders free family planning

04/02/2010 09:05:11

Plans to provide free family planning services to low-income women aged 45 to 54 in the US state of Iowa have been met with mixed reviews from local health officials.

A proposal covering the introduction of the services is due to be debated by a Senate committee which will decide whether services such as pap tests, annual exams, cervical cancer screenings and birth control should be made available to those on the fringes of what is considered to be child-bearing age.

Under current law, child-bearing age is defined as 13 to 44. Raising the upper limit to 54 would be a "waste of taxpayer dollars" according to one physician.

Donald Young, medical director at Mid-Iowa Fertility, said: "The odds of a woman taking home a baby at age 45 is one in 50,000.

"The idea that we need to provide birth control/family planning services for women up to age 55 is against basic reproductive physiology and a waste of taxpayer dollars."

Nancy Robertson, a staff attorney and lobbyist for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, said birth control was just one of the services that would be provided under the proposals, adding that all women who have not yet entered menopause are still theoretically able to have children and should be covered in the same way as younger women.

Obama makes global health promise

03/02/2010 14:35:00

US President Barack Obama has set out a number of goals after pledging to increase funding for global health needs.

President Obama has proposed a 9% funding increase in his administration's fiscal 2011 budget to allow them to spend more on tackling preventable diseases and reducing childbirth-related deaths among women and children.

His targets include getting 1.6 million people into drug treatment for HIV and Aids, cutting the prevalence of malaria by 50%, and reducing the number of deaths of mothers and children under 5 years old by 2014.

But some AIDS and health advocacy groups have said the funding will not be enough to achieve such goals. Of particular concern was a small proposed increase in spending for HIV/AIDS programs for the second year in a row.

President Obama's request totals $9.6 billion for funds for the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Defense Department, the White House said.

That compares with $8.8 billion enacted for fiscal 2010.

State passes safe-sex teaching bill

03/02/2010 09:05:06

Sex education classes in the US state of Wisconsin will have to include the use of contraception as well as abstinence when the 2010 academic year begins, according to reports.

The state Senate passed a bill requiring all schools that have a sex education programme to cover the benefits, correct use and side effects of different contraceptive devices - although legally Wisconsin teachers must still emphasise abstinence as the best way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STIs).

Sex education is not mandatory in Wisconsin schools, and the bill allows parents to see materials beforehand and remove their children from lessons.

The Appleton Post-Crescent and AP reported all Democrat senators voted for the bill, all Republicans opposed it, and it passed 18-15 after a change to the original legislation passed by the Assembly in November 2009. It has now been sent to Governor Jim Doyle.

Supporters of the bill, such as nursing groups, the Wisconsin teachers' union and Planned Parenthood, said the legislation will help reduce teenage pregnancies.

Opposing groups say it transmits the message that sex with birth control is condoned, and the Wisconsin Catholic Church and Wisconsin Right to Life want children to focus on abstinence.

Global sex education trends exposed

02/02/2010 09:05:04

New research has painted a mixed picture of the sex education practices of developed countries across the world, sparking a fresh debate about who should shoulder the responsibility of teaching children the facts of life.

The study from the National Foundation for Educational Research reveals a broad spectrum of different curricula and striking differences in the age at which schools in different countries are allowed to begin teaching sex and relationships education (SRE).

Almost all of the 17 countries that were examined as part of the study taught SRE as part of a larger subject area such as health and physical education. However, some countries, such as France, saw SRE as "one of the core social and civil competencies to be acquired in the course of mandatory education".

The research also shed light on the debate over the age at which SRE is taught in schools. In Ireland, for example, SRE is taught to children as young as four, while others, such as Finland or Japan, choose to introduce SRE at a much later age.

Parental attitudes toward sex education were also exposed by the study. Parents in British Columbia, Sweden and Singapore, for example, are permitted to withdraw their child from SRE.

In Singapore, "parents bear the main responsibility for the sexuality education of their children", the report found.

Zuma's '20th child' sparks AIDS row

01/02/2010 09:05:07

South African president Jacob Zuma has been accused of undermining his own government's message on HIV/AIDS following claims he fathered a child out of wedlock last year.

Mr Zuma has been criticised by South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, following speculation about the outcome of his liaison with Sonono Khoza, which has hit the front pages of the country's leading newspapers.

There has been no comment from Ms Khoza, the ANC or Mr Zuma himself about the claims.

The reports have been leapt upon by Mr Zuma's rivals who say they are fresh evidence of his unwillingness to practice what he preaches about unprotected sex.

Mr Zuma, who is said to have fathered at least 20 children, admitted making a mistake by having unprotected sex in 2006 after he was acquitted of rape.

While his supporters will claim that such speculation, even if proven to be true, is Mr Zuma's private business and not for the public forum, his detractors will use this as evidence of him contradicting his own message of not having unprotected sex with multiple partners to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Condoms 'affect women's reputation'

29/01/2010 14:55:00

Research has shown that the way in which a woman suggests using a condom could determine whether a couplke has unprotected sex or not.

According to the Medical College of Wisconsin study, the way condom use is broached by a woman could sometimes lead to the couple having unprotected sex.

It was also suggested that the way in which a woman introduces using a condom could affect how she is viewed.

A woman who suggests protection as a fun and erotic part of having sex could be judged harsher by her gender than if she refused to have sex without a condom or shared her concerns about sexually transmitted infections.

However, those who proposed using a condom were generally seen as more mature and less romantic than individuals who did not. And women who suggest condom use are seen as less promiscuous, the study says.

Dr. Michelle Broaddus investigated the ways in which a woman's reputation could be tarnished by how she suggested the use of condoms in the study, published in Springer's journal Sex Roles.

Th research comes as statistics show that nearly half of the 19 million annual new STI cases in the US were among the under-25s.

Study: Men 'sabotage' birth control

29/01/2010 09:05:07

Teenage girls and young women have been forced into becoming pregnant by abusive male partners who damage condoms or stop them taking birth control, according to research.

A study at the University of California-Davis (UC-D) found that about 20% of young women had suffered "reproductive coercion", when a man used physical or sexual violence to make women have children.

Questioning 1,300 English and Spanish-speaking women aged 16-29, researchers discovered 15% had experienced birth control sabotage, and 53% had received sexual or physical violence from a partner.

Of these, 35% also reported birth control interference or reproductive coercion, and risk of unintended pregnancy doubled in such cases.

"What this study shows is that reproductive coercion likely explains why unintended pregnancies are far more common among abused women and teens," said Jay Silverman, study co-author and associate professor at the Harvard School of public health.

Study leader Elizabeth Miller, from UC-D Children's Hospital, said it revealed "an under-recognised phenomenon where male partners actively attempt to promote pregnancy against the will of their female partners."

The computerised survey took place at five reproductive health clinics in northern California between August 2008 and March 2009, and the findings were published in the journal Contraception.

US state's new HIV cases rise 13%

27/01/2010 09:05:08

New HIV infections soared by 13% in the US state of Minnesota last year, leading to speculation that young people are "not taking the disease seriously".

This is the biggest increase in 17 years, jumping from 326 new cases in 2008 to 368 in 2009, with cases in gay and bisexual men aged between 15 and 24 almost doubling from 42 to 77.

In previous years the rate of new diagnoses stayed relatively stable, but this unexpected increase led the Minnesota Department of Health to release 2009's totals more than two months early.

Peter Carr, manager of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases for the Health Department, said there was no single cause for the rise in cases, but suggested: "It could be that people are not taking it seriously."

Ignorance about HIV among young people could be a reason, as could the ease which with gay men can now find casual sex through social networking websites, but Mr Carr said increased testing was not responsible for inflating numbers.

Minnesota's Commissioner of Health, Dr Sanne Magnan, said: "This tells us that HIV/AIDS remains a significant health threat in Minnesota, and we need to take steps to strengthen our prevention efforts."

Teenagers shun contraceptive pill

26/01/2010 14:35:00

A sexual health clinic in the US has revealed that more teenagers and young adults are choosing long-term alternatives to the Pill such as injections and implants.

Researchers at the Baylor Teen Health Clinic in Houston found an increasing number of young people opting for 'hassle free' methods of contraception such as Depo-Provera, an injection that lasts 90 days, and Implanon, which is implanted in the arm and provides birth control for three years.

However, Dr. Peggy Smith, director of the Baylor Teen Health Clinic, said that although these methods offer a worry-free alternative, they still do not offer any protection against sexually transmitted infections.

"The birth control pill, although it is widely available and once was considered a revolution in contraception, is old technology for today's teens," Dr Smith said.

"These new options eliminate the once-a-day, every day usage of the pill, which is an issue for young people. They find it easier to use something they can get, and then forget about for 90 days or even longer."

Dr Smith said long-term solutions such as implants and injections may be more beneficial to teenagers who are at a high risk of becoming pregnant through their high school years. Long-term options allow the "windows of opportunity to remain open for them," she said.

Bishops urge anti-abortion voters

25/01/2010 09:05:07

Filipino bishops have published a guide to the Church's doctrines that calls for Catholics to vote against political candidates who support abortion rights in the country's upcoming elections.

The 'Catechism on Family and Life for the 2010 Elections' urges Catholics to vote according to Christian family values and in the interests of society rather than the individual. This means boycotting candidates who advocate pro-choice and family planning agendas.

Secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, Fr Melvin Castro, said it "was created for the Catholic faithful and is intended to help in the choice of voting ".

"It is not morally acceptable to vote for those candidates who promote abortion, euthanasia and the use of condoms," he said.

Catholic lawmakers have managed to block the controversial law on reproductive health from gaining the necessary 120 votes with the help of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, who is against such policies, despite support from the United Nations.

If passed, the law would introduce a family planning programme preventing parents from having more than two children, with fines or prison sentences for those who infringe the restrictions. However, the legislation does not support abortion clinics.

Harsh law link to maternal deaths

22/01/2010 09:25:00

More than half the women who die during childbirth in Africa do so because of a lack of access to contraception and restrictive family planning laws, an expert has said.

Philip Darney, a US consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, said women should not be compelled or forced into having children and called for countries to reject leaders who have an inhumane regard for mothers' lives.

He was speaking at the First International Congress on Women's Health and Unsafe Abortion in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday, where he made a presentation called Abortion: An essential component of women's health.

In this second paper he said about 54% of maternal deaths were due to legal and administrative restrictions.

The international conference was organised by the Women's Health and Reproductive Rights Foundation of Thailand, the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the country's Department of Health and Ministry of Public Health. It was endorsed by the Asia Oceania Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Circumcision 'reduces HIV risk'

20/01/2010 09:15:15

Health officials in Rwanda have said that circumcising newborn boys is the most cost-effective way of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country.

The operation, which has been found the cut the risk of transmission of the virus from women to men, costs only $15 per baby but $59 for every adult male, prompting calls for the widespread introduction of the practice for newborn boys across the country.

By preventing the spread of the virus, long-term treatment costs could be cut dramatically.

A study by Agnes Binagwaho and colleagues at Rwanda's health ministry recommended that the practice be rolled out across the country to maximise its potential for prevention in the future.

The report, published in the Public Library of Science Medicine Journal, stated: "Rwanda should be simultaneously scaling up circumcision across a broad range of age groups, with high priority to the very young."

Seth Kalichman of Connecticut University, who wrote a commentary on the Rwandan study, said: "The cost-savings of neonatal male circumcision are compelling and suggest that implementation is economically feasible in developing countries hit hardest by HIV/AIDS."

Mr Kalichman added that the procedure had "the potential to stem entire HIV epidemics, saving countless lives".

Utah bill 'promotes contraception'

19/01/2010 09:05:05

Utah lawmakers will debate whether to allow teachers to discuss the pros and cons of contraceptives with students when a proposed bill reaches the State Legislature.

Currently, educators are prohibited from encouraging the use of contraceptive devices, although they can teach about them.

The draft bill, proposed by a cross-party group, would remove this barrier and teachers would be required to discuss how beneficial or limiting contraceptives can be, as well as initiate talks on the importance of parental guidance.

A Democrat, the Utah Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and the Planned Parenthood Action Council all worked on Republican senator Stephen Urquhart's proposed legislation, with Democratic representative Lynn Hemingway announcing his intention to be the bill's House floor sponsor.

So far the PTA's legislative action committee has failed to express its stance on the bill.

Egypt population plan 'essential'

18/01/2010 09:05:06

Fresh calls for a population control plan in Egypt have been made by a government body which warned that overpopulation could undermine the country's social and economic development.

Suzanne Mubarak, head of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), said population growth is "a key challenge for this generation and the generations to come" at a meeting with Egypt's executive committee of the National Council for Population on Sunday.

She told ministers and population and family planning experts that the steadily growing population increased health risks for women and children, as well as making education, nutrition, employment, plus resources such as drinkable water, less accessible.

"It is essential to formulate effective plans for birth control and to encourage a more balanced geographical distribution of population," she said.

Some experts predict Egypt's burgeoning population will hit 105 million by 2025, and possibly 130 million by 2030.

Mrs Mubarak called for widespread support of a national campaign to make people more aware of the knock-on effects of overpopulation, urging the private sector, civil society and government ministries to join together.

Writers, intellectuals, the media and religious leaders were also targeted to support the Egypt-wide campaign.

Conference to discuss sexual health

15/01/2010 09:25:00

A conference to discuss development targets on HIV/Aids and family planning is to be held in Ethiopia in February.

The Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE) and the African Federation for Sexual Health and Rights, which is the regional representative body of the World Association for Sexual Health, will help host the 4th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights.

It will be held in Addis Ababa between February 9 and 12, with approximately 500 participants expected to attend.

The conference will act as a forum for experiences to be shared across a number of countries.

Feyissa Mekonnen, FGAE's director, said the conference would present a good opportunity for participants to share and discuss their experiences.

Focus stays on abortion legislation

15/01/2010 09:15:05

Two anti-abortion lawmakers in the US will be among those closely watching final negotiations over President Barack Obama's controversial healthcare bill this week.

Lancaster Republican congressman, Joe Pitts, and Democratic senator for Pennsylvania, Bob Casey, have both played a significant role in formulating amendments to curb the use of government funding for abortion.

Pitts, along with Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak, co-sponsored an amendment forbidding any use of federal funds for abortions.

He thinks that enough anti-abortion Democrats could join Republicans in defeating the bill, if the current proposals go ahead.

Casey alienated anti-abortion advocates by supporting a Senate compromise that allows low-to-middle income people entitled to healthcare subsidies to buy insurance that covers abortion, but still prohibits the use of government cash to pay directly for it.

The senator is playing up what he says are abortion curbs - such as an adoption tax credit and a fund to aid pregnant women - in the bill to help prevent defections.

Campaign to increase use of condoms

15/01/2010 09:05:05

A campaign in Rwanda aiming to significantly increase the use of condoms by both sexes has been launched.

It is estimated that sexually active people in the country use an average of three condoms a year, with one of the biggest challenges to the use of prophylatics being their perceived association with promiscuity, the government said.

This is coupled with limited distribution in rural areas.

Anita Asiimwee, head of the country's National Aids Control Commission, told IRIN/PlusNews: "We want to change people's attitudes to the use of condoms.

"We want to reduce infections among the youth by at least 50%, both men and women should act responsibly about their lives."

High-risk groups, including sex workers and discordant couples, will be specifically targeted by the three-month campaign, launched in December 2009.

Male condoms are being offered at a subsidised price of 100 Rwandan Francs (£0.11) per pack of three.

Female condoms are being distributed free of charge.

Aisha Rutaro, member of Rwandan Women Living with HIV which supports the drive, said: "We are training women to understand and embrace the use of female condoms."

High HPV numbers 'not unexpected'

14/01/2010 09:15:08

A sexual health study in Canada has found that more than half of young heterosexual adults who have begun a new sexual relationship in the past six months have been infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV).

According to the HITCH Cohort Study - which looked at couples who had started a new sexual relationship over the past half-year - almost half of those that tested positive had contracted a cancer-causing strain of the virus.

Researchers analysed data from women aged between 18 and 24 and their partners, aged 18 and older, who had begun having sex in the past six months - the period of time when the risk of transmission is at its highest.

Project co-ordinator Ann Burchell said: "It is a high number, but that number was not entirely unexpected. We know that HPV is a very common infection already, particularly in young people. We know that people are at a high risk of getting HPV just after acquiring a new partner.

"When two people are meeting for the first time, one or both of them might have caught HPV from a previous sexual contact and so then when you're meeting this new person, there's an opportunity for it to be transmitted to the next partner."

Family planners target tax Bill

14/01/2010 09:05:04

Politicians in the Philippines have threatened to veto the passage of tax measures after the House leadership failed to prioritise a Bill designed to curb the country's burgeoning population.

The Reproductive Health Bill aims to address the social and financial implications of failing to address the population's 2.36% growth rate as well as establishing national policy on reproductive health and family planning, however, it has been removed from a list of priority bills, prompting the bill's 132 authors to declare a stalemate with the House leadership.

"The House leadership had better prioritize the RH bill or they will pass nothing," warned Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, principal author of the bill.

"All 132 of us would take turns in raising many valid questions about these priority tax measures until the House leadership runs out of time and passes nothing.

"No amount of new tax laws will shore up the economy if the government continues failing to address the ballooning population, which is expected to reach a staggering 94 million Filipinos this year.''

The bill is fast becoming a re-election issue for many of the country's mayors and politicians.

Mahar Mangahas, president of social survey institute Social Weather Stations said: "Because of their anti-family- planning stand, congressmen who seek re-election may lose their bid."

Trial ended after HIV infection

13/01/2010 10:55:00

An African clinical trial testing if a vaginal gel can prevent HIV infection has ended after at least 46 women became infected with the virus.

The Microbicides Development Programme (MDP) 301 trial, which tested the PRO2000 gel between September 2005 and 2009, was conducted at six research centres in South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Of the 1,332 HIV-negative women tested in the trial, between 46 and 50 contracted the virus - despite using the gel before sex, according to the National Aids Council of Zambia.

Dr Maureen Chisembele, principal investigator for Microbicides Development Programme Zambia, said: "Some participants did become HIV positive because the study was conducted in the normal environment.

"This trial is not to blame, it’s not a failure because it has given us the results and it has shown that it does not work in preventing one from getting the HIV virus,” she said.

“After putting together the data from South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia where the clinical trials were carried out at the same time, we discovered that the gel does not work. Women who became infected during the study were given further counselling and referred to local health services for ART (antiretroviral therapy)."

The University of Zambia Biomedical Research Ethics Committee (UNZAREC) said it saw no reason to think the trial was the cause of the women's infection.

UNZAREC acting chairperson Dr James Munthali said: "We will continue to ensure that the lives and health of Zambians participating in research are safeguarded through rigorous review and monitoring of any research to be conducted in the country."

Copyright © Press Association 2010

Singapore's STI rate jumps 10.6%

13/01/2010 09:05:10

Singapore has seen a 10.6% rise in sexually transmitted infections other than HIV over the past three years, with about 62% of infections affecting Singapore citizens, according to government figures.

Gonorrhoea, non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU) and syphilis are the city-state's most prolific infections, and the total number of STIs rose from 11,000 in 2006, to 12,300 in 2008.

Singapore's Ministry of Health is concerned at the high proportion of non-HIV STIs among people in their 20s and 30s, who account for 70% of cases and the STI notification rate per 100,000 people increasing 67%, rising to 451 in 2008 from 270 in 2000.

To protect patients' confidentiality, STI notifications need not include personal particulars. A patient who consults several doctors will chalk up several notifications. Repeat visits to the same doctor for the same STI will however require only one notification by the doctor.

STI Control Clinic statistics reveal two-thirds of cases in people older than 20 were men, while two-thirds were women in cases under 20, but the under-20 notification rate has risen faster than any other age group - more than doubling from 61 per 100,000 in 2000 to 133 in 2008.

Of the cases notified in public clinics and hospitals, 33% of the cases were first-time infections, and follow-up cases made up the other two thirds. There was no concrete figure for the number of infections seen in private hospitals.

Australia chlamydia rates 'triple'

12/01/2010 14:35:03

Chlamydia infection rates have more than tripled in the past 10 years in Australia, prompting experts to demand a national sexual health campaign similar to one being rolled out in the UK.

Sexual health professionals have called for Australia's Federal Government to fund a screening programme as the Department of Health pushes forward the "Sex: Worth Talking About" drive, which aims to help young people look after their sexual health.

Figures show more than 61,000 people in Australia were diagnosed with the infection last year, an increase from about 17,000 in 2000.

New South Wales had the second highest rate of infection, with almost 14,500 people diagnosed in the state alone, NSW Health figures revealed.

Experts have called for more education on Chlamydia, which can cause infertility if left untreated, and in most cases shows no symptoms. One professional blamed a rise in the figures on the fact that "a whole generation" have not been subjected to somber campaigns like the "grim reaper" advert in 1987 , which raised awareness of HIV and AIDS and encouraged condom use.

The deputy director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, Anthony Smith, said: '''It is beyond time now for the Federal Government to co-ordinate a national response to this and commit substantial funding to education and screening.''

Chlamydia rate stable despite tests

12/01/2010 09:05:07

Chlamydia remains prevalent amongst teenage girls in urban areas in the US even though frequent tests and treatments for the sexually transmitted infection (STI) are performed, a long-term study has shown.

Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine found that the proportion of infected girls barely changed even when they received three-month tests and treatment after catching the infection.

When the study began, 10.9% of the teenagers had chlamydia, which dropped to 10.6% after 18 months, and 10.4% after four years.

A high proportion - 84% - of repeated infections were actually reinfections, with young women having unprotected sex with untreated or new partners and re-catching the bacteria, even though they kept diaries of their sexual encounters and met study staff at least once every three months.

Study author and IU School of Medicine professor, Byron E Batteiger, said: "The rate of infection we found in the 365 Indianapolis girls we followed is similar to the rates reported by other researchers for girls in Denver and Baltimore, so it is likely that our important new findings on reinfection can be generalised to urban teenage girls in other cities."

Aid workers help mutilation victims

11/01/2010 14:35:00

Health workers at refugee camps in Chad are keeping a close eye on pregnant women who may face potential complications in child birth due to mutilated genitalia.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said women who have suffered genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) can tear during child birth.

These tears can lead to painful and uncontrollable urination and may need multiple surgeries to heal.

Since September last year, one camp in eastern Chad has recorded some 22 pre-natal refugees who were found to have been cut.

But aid workers said girls are also being cut in the camps, with nearly 60 incidents recorded in 2009.

Nassourou Drassadou, camp health director, said some 10% of prenatal patients at the camp at Djabal faced a high risk of complications during birth in part due to FGM/C.

He said: "Despite efforts to wipe out FGM/C we know it is still happening."

US supports global sexual health

11/01/2010 09:55:00

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has renewed the country's support of women's rights to access reproductive healthcare around the world, in a speech commemorating the 15th anniversary of 1994's International Conference on Population and Development.

Global family planning agency Marie Stopes International welcomed Mrs Clinton's comments and said: "Secretary of State Clinton's address will bring renewed hope to all those people in the world living in poverty, but particularly to the women of the developing world, who simply by dint of their sex are among the most marginalised, poor and discriminated against on the planet.

"Both the Secretary of State - who has long been a champion of this cause - and the US administration itself are to be congratulated for providing leadership on this issue. We urge all 179 country signatories to International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action to follow this lead.

"With the US taking a lead for the first time in a decade, the 200 million couples worldwide who want to control their fertility but are unable to access modern contraception methods may now find the means to do so; and we may begin at long last to see some real reductions in the intolerably high numbers of women – over half a million every year – who die as a consequence simply of being pregnant. These tragic deaths are unnecessary, because they are so easily preventable.

"As one of the world's leading family planning agencies, Marie Stopes International stands ready to work with the governments around the world to meet the challenge of achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health, which with this new impetus is now far more likely to be met than ever before."

Indian women using emergency pill

08/01/2010 09:05:05

A swift upsurge in emergency contraception use in India has led doctors to believe women may be using it instead of regular contraception - leaving them vulnerable to sexually transmitted infection, according to a US newspaper.

The Washington Post reports Indian gynaecologists have said young women use emergency contraception (EC) several times a month rather than condoms, as the Indian version of the "morning after" pill grows more popular.

Since its launch in August 2007, the I-pill has sold about 200,000 units per month. It costs less than £1.25 and has been heavily marketed as a way to "avoid the quandary of an abortion" among young people, as it lowers the chance of pregnancy if taken within 72 hours.

Although abortions are legal in India, with about 7 million carried out every year, the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India said more than 200,000 women die from complications.

Gynaecologist Kaushiki Dwivedee told the Post: "India is the second-largest population in the world, and we have never been proactive as far as the contraception is concerned."

75,000 circumcised in Kenyan drive

07/01/2010 14:35:04

A voluntary male circumcision drive in Kenya has seen more than 75,000 men circumcised since its launch in November 2008.

The drive is aimed at having more than one million men circumcised by 2013 in a bid to combat sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

The Kenyan government's initiative is mainly concentrated on Nyanza Province where fewer than half of men are circumcised and HIV is 15.4% prevalent, around twice the average for the country.

More than 35,000 Nyanza men were circumcised within six weeks in a recent rapid results initiative.

Most people in Nyanza only sought treatment for STIs in the advanced stage, said Charles Okal, provincial AIDS and STI control officer.

The prevalence of genital herpes in Nyanza has been put at 49%, and that of syphilis at 2.4% by the government.

"We are happy that most of those seeking circumcision are treated when found to be infected," said Nicholas Muraguri, director of the National AIDS and Sexually transmitted infections Control Programme.

"Medical male circumcision also provides partial prevention of the HPV virus, responsible for cervical cancer in women, which is a leading killer of women with HIV, especially in rural areas," aid Mr Muraguri.

Cuba reports population growth

07/01/2010 09:05:06

Cuba witnessed a 3,000-person population rise last year - its first growth since 2006, according to official figures.

The growth, which helped to relieve concerns over ageing and a decline in population, represents an increase of 0.03%, the Cuban National Statistics Office confirmed in a report.

Juan Carlos Alfonso, director of Cuba's Population and Development Studies Centre called the reversal "delightful".

He said improved fertility in the country, which had risen to 1.63% in 2009 from 1.59% the previous year, had been behind the growth

Cuba has also seen the life expectancy of its residents steadily grow.

The country's total population stood at 11.23 million at the end of last year, with residents over 60 accounting for 17%.

Funding hope for abstinence groups

06/01/2010 09:15:04

Supporters of abstinence-only programs in American schools are "optimistic" that federal funding will be restored to their projects under the Senate's health reform bill, after missing out on money for in the fiscal year 2010 budget, according to reports.

An amendment by Republican Senator for Utah Orrin Hatch on the bill allocates $50 million (£31 million) to pay for abstinence-only curriculum that encourage young people to delay having sex until they are married as a way of cutting the number of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infection rates.

Teenage pregnancy prevention initiatives that are "proven effective through rigorous evaluation" are to be given $110 million (£68 million) under the fiscal year 2010 budget, which would be run by a new Office of Adolescent Health. Abstinence-only programmes would lose funding by September unless money is restored in the health reform bill.

National Association of Abstinence Education Association's Valerie Huber said: "Nothing is certain, but we're hopeful."

The programmes have been subject to criticism after studies found that they were ineffective and that the decline in the number of teen pregnancies was slowing.

Older doctors 'misinform' patients

05/01/2010 09:05:12

Older healthcare providers could be misinforming patients about contraception methods, according to a new study.

A US study found a considerable amount of prescribed misinformation about contraception methods among older healthcare providers, those who practice family medicine, and male providers.

Researchers found that younger providers - under the age of 45 - were the most knowledgeable about contraception, along with obstetricians/gynaecologists, female providers, and those who fit intrauterine devices (IUDs).

But 23% and 29% respectively of the 524 healthcare providers surveyed answered incorrectly on the risk of infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease involved with IUDs.

In addition, 26% also answered incorrectly when asked if combined hormonal contraception can be used in women with well-controlled hypertension and 36% on those suffering from migraine with aura.

Kira Levy, from the University of California in San Francisco, said the study had revealed there was a need for improved medical education.

She said it also showed efforts are needed to ensure women are not inappropriately restricted from specific contraceptives, do not receive methods that could put them at increased risk of complication and that they can use a method well-suited to their needs so they can avoid unintended pregnancies.

Levy and her team concluded: "Dissemination of evidence-based guidelines, such as the World Health Organization medical eligibility criteria, can help to standardize contraceptive advice."

Ghana calls for condom promotion

05/01/2010 09:05:11

A Ghanaian health official has said improved education and access to contraception methods, such as condoms, is the key to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country.

Speaking at an HIV/AIDS sensitisation conference, Amos Adu Okyere, of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghama (PPAG), said the spread of the disease could be curbed through the widespread promotion of condom use coupled with improved family planning education.

Mr Okyere said young people who are unable to abstain from sex must have better access to contraception if the disease is to be stopped in Ghana.

Mr Okyere issued the call for action at the conference where he was also recruiting peer educators for the Adukrom, Ayigya-Zongo, Sawaba, Kotei and Ayeduase regions as part of a joint initiative by the PPAG and Salim Plus, a Netherlands-based NGO dedicated to youth reproductive health.

US HIV entry ban removal welcomed

04/01/2010 09:05:06

The US government's decision to lift the ban on HIV positive foreign nationals from entering the country has been welcomed by campaigners.

People with HIV have required a special waiver to travel through or visit the US, but the 22-year-old restriction is being removed this week.

British charity the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) hailed the Obama administration's move, announced in October last year, saying policies such as entry bans only serve to increase the stigma associated with HIV.

THT head of policy Lisa Power said: "It's ridiculous that for over 20 years people living with HIV have been banned from entering the US simply because of a medical condition.

"Removing the ban is long overdue and we congratulate the US government on seeing economic and medical sense."

In view of the decision, the 2012 World Aids Conference is due to be held in the US. The THT provides information to people with HIV on their right to travel internationally.

Ms Power added: "Blanket entry bans have no justification on public health grounds and only increase stigma.

"We hope other countries with similar bans in place will now remove them too."

UN revamps family planning campaign

30/12/2009 14:35:00

Family planning is to be used as a tool to drive down the number of African women who die during childbirth, an international expert has said.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said the UN and the African Union will launch a revamped campaign to reassert the importance of family planning in public health policy interventions.

Dr Eric Akinyele, UNFPA's senior programme advisor on reproductive and maternal health, said the benefits of family planning for the African population were not previously emphasised, and the concept was seen as an 'external' tool.

Previous research has shown that a lack of contraceptives and proper planning leads to 40% of deaths of African women in labour, known as maternal deaths, while complications from HIV/AIDS are responsible for between 21% and 55%. A certain percentage comes from abortions.

Dr Akinyele said: "There was an initial loss of momentum on family planning since 2003 but there are some efforts to re-position it within Africa. The most recent one was at a conference on family planning in Uganda on 19-21 November."

Vietnam plans healthcare reforms

30/12/2009 09:05:04

A new healthcare plan that will overhaul the old system is being constructed in Vietnam, amid concerns that the country's ailing ageing population is becoming a serious concern.

Due to the large number of elderly, ensuring social welfare and health care is an urgent need. In addition, the number of malnourished, overweight, diabetic and autistic children is on the rise.

The General Department of Population and Family Planning under the Ministry of Health is working with relevant ministries, sectors and experts to draw up a strategy.

The head of the General Department of Population and Family Planning, Nguyen Van Tan, says that ensuring the quality of life for people is becoming a "major challenge" to Vietnam.

The percentage of the population of working age, from the ages of 15 to 59, has rapidly increased and is expected to reach around 65 million in 2020.

In 2008, the gender ratio of live birth was 112 male to 100 female. If no tough measures are taken, the ratio is likely to hit 120 in 2020, badly affecting social security and causing difficulties for future generations in building families.

Asian health service 'inaccessible'

29/12/2009 14:35:00

Women in Asia face more difficulty obtaining sexual health services and governments need to take political action to improve their accessibility by 2015, a non-governmental organisation has said.

Asia has fallen behind international targets for reproductive health services set in 1994, according to the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (Arrow).

In a regional report,. Arrow called on respective Asian governments to work harder to meet targets set by an International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action in Cairo twenty years ago.

After 15 years of observation, Arrow found women from marginalised groups in Asia still struggle to exercise their "sexual and reproductive health and rights" - a key finding in its report published on December 24, entitled Reclaiming and Redefining Rights – ICPD+15: Status of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Asia.

Contraceptives help fight cancer

23/12/2009 09:05:05

Hormonal contraceptives can be used to treat menstrual pain and help fight against cancer, as well as preventing pregnancy, according to experts.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' bulletin also suggested that contraceptives containing both estrogen and progesterone can minimise the chances of contracting cancers such as endometrial, ovarian and colorectal.

They can also help to tackle pelvic pain caused by endemetriosis, menstrual migraines and bleeding because off uterine fibroids.

"We've known for many years that hormonal contraceptives have health advantages beyond preventing pregnancy," Dr. Robert L. Reid, who led the development of the bulletin, said in a news release from the organisation. "These recommendations examine the scientific data supporting the non-contraceptive uses of hormonal contraceptives to treat specific conditions."

"Combined oral contraceptives are effective in normalising irregular periods, reducing symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder, improving acne and allowing women to avoid having their period at inconvenient times, such as during a business trip, vacation or honeymoon," Reid added.

"Although there is little data on the newer forms of hormonal contraception in terms of their off-label benefits, experts suggest that they may be as effective as the more studied ones in treating the same conditions."

The bulletin is published in the January issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

India falls behind fertility target

22/12/2009 09:05:04

Newly released figures have shown that vasectomy accounted for just 4% of sterilisation operations across India between 2005 and 2008.

The audit of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) shows that the country is lagging behind its target of reducing total fertility rates to 2.1% by 2012.

At a state level the picture was even grimmer, with vasectomy making up less that 1% of total sterilisations in 10 states, including some with high levels of literacy.

These were Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Tripura, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Records for the NRHM showed that the number of women opting for a laparoscopic tubectomy was also low. The figure varied between 11% and 27% across 10 states between 2005 and 2008.

The NRHM was launched in 2005 with the aim of promoting family planning through terminal methods such as a vasectomy for men and tubectomy for women.

Bid to aid Cambodian mothers-to-be

21/12/2009 09:05:05

A new bid to drive down Cambodia's high maternal mortality rate by constructing new maternal health centres around the provinces has been launched by the Kingdom's health minister Mam Bun Heng.

The centres - called 'waiting houses' - which will be located near rural health centres and referred hospitals, were announced at a seminar at the National Assembly.

The new centres will be created in addition to the 28 already built in Kratie, Stung Treng, Pursat, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear, Preah Sihanouk and Battambang provinces.

They will be used to accommodate pregnant women leading up to the birth of their babies so they do not have to travel long distances on difficult roads to receive treatment, he said.

"It is a very good way to help the people who live far away from the health centres and do not have the means to commute to the centres," he said.

Pen Sopahanara, communications officer at the UN Population Fund, said her organisation financed the building of waiting houses in two provinces in 2006, as well as another two recently this year.

"We see that this project is useful in promoting maternal health and the health of the baby during the delivery process," she said.

Call to publicise circumcision law

18/12/2009 09:05:09

Health workers in Uganda have urged government officials to make people in the north east of the country more aware of a recent Bill which outlaws female genital mutilation (FGM).

The practice of FGM, otherwise known as female circumcision, is still prevalent in the north-eastern districts of Bukwo and Kapchorw, where locals are again preparing for the "cutting season" next year, unaware of the severe jail terms that are now enforcable for those convicted.

Under the new law, practitioners now face jail terms ranging from five to 10 years or life imprisonment if convicted, leading to fears that many people in more remote areas of the country will fall foul of the Bill.

Claudia Cherotwa, a former surgeon from Suma sub county in Bukwo district, said: "In Bukwo and Kapchorwa districts, the Sabiny communities are already making preparations for the cutting season next year. People are preserving maize grain for making brew and animals to slaughter, unaware of the new law. It would be unjust to the communities unaware."

Huge HIV increase among Malay women

17/12/2009 09:05:04

Health experts have revealed that 30% of new cases of HIV in Malaysia are among women.

And in a worrying trend, most of those cases involve married women who contracted the disease from their husbands.

The World Health Organisation said the latest figure is a 400% increase from just five years ago.

The figure has set alarm bells ringing among government officials and medical professionals, as women have overtaken homosexuals and drug users as those most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.

Kamal Malhotra, UN coordinator for Malaysia, said: "It has brought a new set of issues that we need to deal with and it is becoming more complex and urgent now."

"It is no longer multiple-sex partners or homosexuals (that are the sources of infection). What was once considered safe sex in the home is now the main source of infection," said Hisham Hussein, chairman of PT Foundation, an activist group involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS and which was behind the event.

Although no in-depth research has been undertaken yet on the new alarming trend, medical experts and rights activists are pinning the blame on poor HIV/AIDS awareness among young people and husbands engaging the services of sex workers.

US study reveals safe-sex division

16/12/2009 09:05:05

A study in the US has revealed that abstinence-only sex education methods taught in some high schools may be responsible for a gulf in young adults' attitudes towards pregnancy and contraception.

A survey of 1,800 people aged 18 to 29, conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, found that 29% of women and 42% of men said it is 'slightly likely' that they will have unprotected sex in the next three months despite the majority of participants agreeing that pregnancy should be planned.

A further 17% of women and 19% of men said it was either 'quite likely' or 'extremely likely' for them to have sex without contraception in the next three months.

Laura Lindberg, senior research associate at the non-profit Guttmacher Institute, said: "Abstinence-only curriculums have gone explicitly out of their way to teach misconceptions about contraception," she said. "This generation of 20-somethings have missed many opportunities to get medically accurate and correct information."

Nigerian women affected by HIV/AIDS

15/12/2009 09:05:08

Women make up around 60% of the total amount of people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, according to the chairman of a health agency.

Dr Rilwanu Muhammad, chairman of the Bauchi State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis/Leprosy and Malaria (BACATMA), said that women make up the majority of the three million HIV/AIDS sufferers, and with many of them living in rural areas, treatment can be difficult.

He was speaking during an annual campaign with the theme "Universal access and human right". It is run every December to raise awareness of the effects of the disease and of what treatment and support is available.

Outlining a plan of action for the next year, Dr Muhammad said that in Bauchi State, more than 13,000 people were currently infected with HIV/AIDS. Of the 20 local governments in the state, Katagum, Ningi, Tafawa Balewa and Jama'are had the highest numbers of sufferers.

In total, around 22.5 million Africans are HIV positive, with AIDS being the biggest cause of premature death. Dr Muhammed said young women were particularly affected, making up around 61% of the total figure. In addition, he said around 30% of pregnant women who are HIV positive pass the disease on to their children.

Uganda bans female circumcision

14/12/2009 09:05:03

A law banning the practice of female genital mutilation has reportedly been passed in Uganda, where more than 3,000 girls are traditionally subjected to the routine each December.

According to the country's Minister of Ethics and Integrity, James Nsaba Buturo, the new law passed without opposition late on Thursday. Offenders now face a potential life sentence.

Female genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision, involves the removal of a girl's clitoris or other genital parts at a young age. The practice, which takes place mostly in the north east of the country, can lead to complications during childbirth as well as eliminating any pleasure for women during sex.

Female circumcision is illegal in more than a dozen African countries, although laws are rarely enforced.

Vandals blow up condom machines

11/12/2009 09:05:08

Condom dispensers in Mumbai are being targeted by vandals who blow them up with firecrackers and then sell the exploded machine parts piece by piece on the open market.

India's financial hub and neighbouring areas have seen the destruction of more than 700 of its 3,200 machines, developed by Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT).

Any leftover money and condoms are taken away as "fringe benefits".

Rajesh Nainakwal, programme manager at HLFPPT, told the Times of India: "We have noticed several instances of people putting bombs inside the machines for a bigger bang.

"This destroys the machines and the criminals then take away the structure, one piece at a time, to sell in the open market."

Within the last three years, nearly 22% of the condom vending machines placed in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region have been stolen or vandalised and the developers say they are shocked at the reaction of the police to the issue.

Mr Nainakwal said: "Police stations issue an acknowledgement slip and assure us of a probe into the incidents but routinely refuse to register proper complaints. We have made repeated requests but there is no action so far."

Joint police commissioner Himanshu Roy said the programme developers needed to approach higher-ups "instead of filing a general diary at a police station".

Call to enforce child marriage laws

09/12/2009 09:05:06

West African governments have been urged by a children's organisation to maintain laws preventing child marriage.

PLAN International wants the laws to be strictly enforced to protect adolescents from sexual health problems and complications related to pregnancy.

It is also calling for the banning of female genital mutilation and the sexual harassment of teenage girls in the sub-region.

It said young girls are most at risk of dying during pregnancy or labour and of health problems linked to inducing abortions.

In a report, Adolescent sexual health in West Africa in Accra, the child-centred community development organisation said its aim was to reduce maternal mortality and the spread of HIV/AIDS among adolescent girls. These aims are in line with the sub-region's Millennium Development Goals.

Girls in Ghana are not legally allowed to marry until they are 18, although they are allowed to have sex at the age of 16. However, it is not uncommon for teenage girls to become pregnant before this age after having had sex with older men.

Ghana polygamy blamed for HIV cases

08/12/2009 09:05:05

The high rate of HIV/Aids cases in Ghana may be the result of polygamous marriages, according to Nana Oye Lithur, chief executive officer of the Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC).

She said: "Polygamous marriage which is accepted in the country could be cited as one of the major causes of sexually transmitted diseases."

She was addressing a seminar on reproductive health and human rights organised by HRAC for law students in the capital Accra. She said the reproductive health concept is an ideal to help control the population.

She also urged the government to punish all those who ignore reproductive laws and human rights, and to “refrain from acts that impeded the rights of the citizenry”.

The HRAC focuses on children's rights, reproductive health, election monitoring and police accountability and reform, and seeks to help ordinary Ghanaians understand their rights and legal entitlements.

Beckham visits mothers' HIV clinic

07/12/2009 09:05:09

David Beckham has visited a clinic in South Africa that is working to reduce the transmission of HIV from mothers to babies.

The footballer met women living with HIV while visiting the Mothers to Mothers (M2M) programme, which is supported by Unicef.

It aims to cut the chance of the virus being passed on by giving pregnant women higher doses of anti-viral medicine before they give birth. When born, the baby is also given more medicine to prevent them developing the disease.

Beckham, a Unicef goodwill ambassador, said: "It gives me such hope that in a country like South Africa where over five million people are living with HIV, this inspiring work is being done by Unicef and their partners to help prevent the virus passing from pregnant mothers to their newborn children.

"The solution is cheap and it's simple and can help save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children each year.

"Children have a right to be as healthy as possible and I can think of no better thing than ensuring babies are born free from HIV.

"If all the women who needed it received treatment to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies, a generation of children free from the virus could be within reach. Now, everyone needs to come together to make sure this happens.

"I urge everyone to support this work and help save the lives of babies."

Contraception fights global warming

04/12/2009 09:05:13

Curbing population growth in poorer countries by providing free contraception is the best way to reduce the likelihood of global warming, according to veteran broadcaster and wildlife expert Sir David Attenborough.

He and other 'green' figureheads, including Jonathon Porritt and James Lovelock, have set up the Optimum Population Trust (Opt), which advocates that consumers in the developed world pay for contraception in developing countries.

They argue that family planning is the most effective way to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic global warming, although they stress that it will be provided only to those who otherwise have no access to it, and that only unwanted births would be avoided.

Opt says that every £4 spent on contraception saves one tonne of CO2 being added to global warming, which would otherwise require £8 of tree planting, £15 invested in wind power, £31 in solar energy and £56 in hybrid-vehicle technology.

Trust director Roger Martin says that reducing the population not only cuts emissions but also the number of people who will become victims of climate change. "The scheme, known as PopOffsets, underlines the connection between population increase and climate change," he says.

Education key to population control

04/12/2009 09:05:11

The United Nations population chief has said the global population growth can be slowed down simply by allowing women in developing countries access to family planning.

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid rejected punitive approaches taken by some countries, such as China's One Child policy, claiming that population growth can be slowed down voluntarily if women in developing nations were able to choose to cap their family sizes through the successful implementation of family planning methods.

Research showed that 235 million of the world's women wanted to have control over the size and spacing of their families, but were unable to do so due to lack of access to contraception.

Ms Obaid said: "If these 235 million can plan their family, they all want smaller families. This means it will slow population growth.

"When population growth is slowed that will lead to smaller total population, which will have a lighter footprint on environment (and) climate change."

The world's population currently stands at 6 billion. The United Nations Population Fund predicts that this will rise to either 9 billion or 11-12 billion by 2050.

HIV diagnosis rate doubles - study

03/12/2009 09:05:03

A Europe-wide health study has found that the rate at which people are diagnosed with HIV more than doubled between 2000 and 2008.

The study, conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) regional office for Europe and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, revealed that HIV rates are highest in the UK, Estonia, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Portugal, the Republic of Moldova and the Ukraine, with wide variations in the most likely cause of infection.

In eastern Europe, where the rate is almost double that in the west and more than 10 times that in central Europe, the most common method of HIV transmission is through injected drug use, while in western Europe, the most common cause of infection is through sex between men, followed by heterosexual sex.

However, researchers stressed that the figures could be hugely underestimated as data for many countries such as Denmark, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Monaco, the Russian Federation, Sweden and Turkey, was not available.

Dr Nata Menabde, deputy regional director of the WHO regional office for Europe, said: "Good surveillance systems, and better and more accurate data collection, will help us control the HIV epidemic by planning appropriate measures to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support."

The study, released to mark World Aids Day on December 1, found almost 51,600 people were newly diagnosed as infected with HIV in 2008, with around 13% of cases in young people aged 15 to 24, while 35% were in women.

HIV cases increase among gay men

02/12/2009 09:05:06

New figures show that the number of gay men contracting HIV has doubled in two years, prompting calls for renewed focus on testing and prevention measures.

According to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, new diagnoses among men who have sex with men (MSM) rose from 36 in the first half of 2007 to 72 in 2009 - accounting for 41% of all cases where route of transmission was reported.

Overall, the number of new HIV cases dropped from 212 in the first half of 2008 to 210 this year. Of the new diagnoses, 65% were male and 35% female.

Campaign group Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (Glen) urged the Government to improve testing facilities and widen their reach across the country

Director of Glen's Gay HIV Strategies (GHS), Tiernan Brady, said: "The reasons for this increase must be better understood so as to reduce this rising incidence of HIV.

"GHS would encourage all sexually active gay men to test regularly. HIV testing is quick, straightforward and saves lives. If detected early and treated, most people with HIV can expect to live to old age."

Mr Brady also called for a wider National Sexual Health Strategy, adding: "If implemented they will result in promoting better sexual health and a reduction the numbers of new HIV infections."

HIV drugs 'should be given earlier'

01/12/2009 09:05:09

Guidelines have been issued suggesting that anti-retroviral drugs (ARV) should be given to HIV patients worldwide at an earlier stage.

However, the advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO) will create "an enormous challenge" to the international community, according to a British minister.

It has been recommended that drugs are given before the patient's immune system strength dips below 350 cells/mm3, even if the patient appears to have no symptoms.

But international development minister Mike Foster said this would "significantly increase the demand for treatment".

WHO is also suggesting that breast feeding mothers and their babies be given the drug to prevent the spread of HIV.

Another recommendation is to phase out the widely available and cheap drug Stavudine, in favour of either Zidovudine or Tenofovir, which have less severe side effects.

Dr Hiroki Nakatani of the World Health Organisation said: "These new recommendations are based on the most up to date, available data. Their widespread adoption will enable many more people in high-burden areas to live longer and healthier lives."

Daisy Mafubelu, WHO's assistant director general for family and community health, said: "In the new recommendations, we are sending a clear message that breastfeeding is a good option for every baby, even those with HIV-positive mothers, when they have access to ARVs."

Mr Foster said: "The Department for International Development is committed to increasing access to effective and affordable HIV treatments. That is why UK aid supports the cheaper manufacturing of current treatments, and the UNITAID patent pool to help develop new, effective and affordable HIV treatments, particularly for children and for people living in developing countries."

Commonwealth free health care plan

30/11/2009 09:05:09

Universal health care for a third of the world's population - including free care for women and children - is expected to be agreed upon at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Trinidad and Tobago.

The deal follows Prime Minister Gordon Brown's call at the United Nations earlier this year for all developing countries to abandon health care fees, starting with services for women and children.

Adding to the £400 million the UK already spends on improving health services in the 53-nation grouping, Britain will also provide an extra £5 million for charities and non-governmental organisations to support free health services for women and children in Commonwealth countries where fees prevent many from receiving the treatment they need.

No deadlines are being set for the achievement of free care for women and children, which is expected to be most difficult in large countries like India and Pakistan where fees are a problem.

But a communique being issued at the end of the three-day summit will sign up all Commonwealth states - representing around 2 billion people - to work towards the goal.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "It is fitting that having recently marked 60 years of the NHS, now on the occasion of the Commonwealth's 60th anniversary, all Commonwealth countries are expected to sign up to the principle of universal free healthcare."

Women 'more vulnerable to HIV'

27/11/2009 11:22:05

Recent clinical research has shown that women are at greater risk of contracting HIV infection than their male partners due to the "receptive sex role" they play.

A population symposium heard that women are about 10 times more likely to contract HIV.

Since 2003, as much as 47% of new HIV infections were among women, the majority of whom were infected by husbands and boyfriends, according to Fiji School of Medicine's senior lecturer in public health Litiana Kuridrani.

She said: "80% of the women infected with HIV are not sex workers, nor are they promiscuous persons. Most are married and in one partner relationship. Others were infected while working in commercial sex or through injecting drugs."

Research shows that an un-infected woman is about 10 times more likely to contract HIV from an infected man than the reverse, owing to the greater likelihood of infection through vaginal tears and abrasions.

And multi-sexual relationships had been identified as closely associated with the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Ms Kuridrani further added that out-of-wedlock births also provided officials with a clear picture that pre-marital sex was common.

Abortion pill safety investigation

27/11/2009 11:22:05

Safety fears have caused an Italian senate committee to prevent the RU-486 abortion pill from being available until its safety has been evaluated.

According to Antonio Tomassini, the committee's leader, there are "many doubts" over the safety of the pill and his colleagues on the panel voted to stop the process of putting the drug on the market.

Eugenia Rocella, a health ministry official, said it would decide if women should be in hospital while using the drug.

Although abortion is not against the law in Italy, the Vatican has threatened doctors who prescribe the pill and for women who use it of excommunication.

The pharmaceutical regulatory authorities in Italy approved its use last year. The RU-486 pill is available in much of Europe.

Chinese HIV infection rates soar

26/11/2009 09:05:06

Heterosexual sex is now the number one cause of HIV infection in China, accounting for 40% of all new cases, a UN report says.

Statistics show that homosexual intercourse accounts for 32% of HIV infections, while drug abuse is responsible for 28%.

HIV rates in the country have soared in recent years, with infections through heterosexual sex tripling between 2005 and 2007. Rates of infection from homosexual sex have more than doubled in the last three years.

UN officials have urged the Chinese government to shift their HIV prevention strategy, arguing the statistics show the need to concentrate on different sections of the population.

"We are seeing a shift in the nature of the epidemic - similar trends in Asia and Africa highlight the need to focus on populations most at risk, such as migrants and sex workers," Michel Sidibe, executive director for UNAIDS, said.

Beijing remains sensitive about the disease, regularly clamping down on activists demanding more rights.

HIV cases drop 17% in eight years

25/11/2009 09:05:05

New cases of HIV infections have dropped 17% worldwide since the United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS was signed in 2001, figures have shown.

The 2009 AIDS epidemic update revealed there were about 15% fewer infections in sub-Saharan Africa in 2008, which is about 400,000 fewer cases of the disease.

According to a report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), other regions with lower HIV incidence were South and South East Asia (10% lower) and East Asia (25% lower).

Some regions showed signs that new cases of HIV rose in the past eight years, while Eastern Europe had a dramatic increase among injecting drug users, which later levelled off again.

Overall the magazine-style report, which explores how "modes of transmission" studies change HIV prevention, indicates prevention programmes are having an impact beyond the peak and natural course of the HIV/AIDs epidemic.

Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS, said: "The findings also show that prevention programming is often off the mark and that if we do a better job of getting resources and programmes to where they will make most impact, quicker progress can be made and more lives saved."

Inequality 'fuelling HIV infection'

24/11/2009 09:25:02

Social and economic inequality is fuelling an HIV pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The situation is made worse, it says, by high levels of stigma, discrimination, gender inequality and homophobia.

A report released to mark World Aids Day 2009 on December 1 says: "Despite efforts to reduce the impact on HIV in the region, many of these factors have not been adequately addressed.

"Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are affected by ... a growing gap in health conditions between those who can afford medical services and have access to higher education and those who live in precarious conditions with little or no medical services and limited access to education and prevention information."

The report mentions that even if many countries in the region can be considered as having "low level" epidemics among the general population,

It adds that rates among highly vulnerable communities - such as men who have sex with men, prisoners, sex workers, and injecting drug users - are typically over 5%.

Says spokeswoman Julie Hoare: "It is vital to work directly with most at-risk populations to try to prevent further infections."

More Aids deaths in South Africa

23/11/2009 09:05:03

More deaths from HIV/Aids have accompanied a fall in the birth rate in South Africa, according to a Pretoria News report that cites the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR).

The South Africa Survey reports that half of all deaths in 2008 were HIV/AIDS related, up from a third in 2001, and that 12% of the population are HIV-positive compared with 9% in 2001.

Meanwhile, a live-birth rate of 2.7 per 1,000 women between 2001 and 2006 is projected to fall to 2.4 between 2008 and 2011.

Said SAIRR spokeswoman Gail Eddy: "The survey shows that in South Africa, the spread of HIV/Aids, as well as lower fertility rates, have led to a declining population-growth rate.

"This is compared to a higher rate of 1.5% between 2001 and 2002. The 43% reduction in the rate over seven years highlights the extent to which the HIV/Aids pandemic is affecting the South African population."

Birth control 'can lower emissions'

20/11/2009 09:05:10

Fertility rates must be reduced in order to slow the increase of the global population, which is on course to reach 10.5 billion by 2050, according to a United Nations (UN) report.

The report states that reduction of greenhouse gas emissions would be better helped by investing in birth control than by building nuclear power stations or wind turbines, according to the The Times newspaper.

Preventing one billion births by 2050 would have an effect on carbon dioxide levels comparable to constructing 2 million giant wind turbines.

The current global population stands at 6.8 billion, but even a medium-growth forecast of 2.3 billion more people by 2050, presuming a fall in average fertility from 2.56 to 2.02 children per woman, would make it difficult to prevent catastrophic climate change.

"No human is genuinely carbon neutral. Therefore, everyone is part of the problem, so everyone must be part of the solution in some way," said the report. "Each birth results not only in the emissions attributable to that person in his or her lifetime, but also the emissions of all his or her descendants."

The idea of Chinese-style laws to control population are rejected by the report, which states the outcome can be achieved by promoting contraception and education among women.

'Few affected' by US abortion laws

19/11/2009 09:15:05

Abortion restrictions imposed by the US House of Representatives may only mean a small number of women cannot easily afford the procedure, it has been reported.

The new government-run public insurance plan would not cover abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or when the pregnancy endangers a woman's life, to ensure that taxpayers' money does not fund the procedure.

Those on federal subsidies buying insurance on a healthcare exchange would also be banned from buying policies that cover abortion, unless this is paid for with their own money. Legal abortion supporters fear this may mean many insurers stop offering abortion coverage to streamline their plans.

Nine out of 10 abortions occur in the first trimester and cost an average of $413 (£248), which would be a difficult sum for some women, but for many who pay for private insurance without abortion, it would be possible to pay out of their own pocket.

However, late-term procedures, which can take several days and cost $5,000 (£3,000), would be more expensive but only account for 1% of all abortions.

Family planning calculator launched

17/11/2009 09:55:00

Family planning and reproductive health workers have been given a new tool to measure their programmes' effectiveness by Marie Stopes International (MSI).

The Impact Calculator works out demographic and health impacts in a given area, such as the number of prevented deaths and averted abortions.

It combines several commonly used models and calculates effects on community, national, regional or global levels.

Hospitals, government health departments, NGOs and other agencies can access the Impact Calculator next year.

Michael Holscher, MSI's director of strategy and external affairs, previewed the tool at the International Conference on Family Planning in Kampala, Uganda.

It revealed MSI's services stopped almost seven million unplanned pregnancies and saved household, community and health system budgets more than US$1 billion in 2009.

Mr Holscher said: "When the Impact Calculator becomes available to third party agencies in 2010 it will enable anyone working in the field of sexual and reproductive health to demonstrate persuasively to governments and donors how an investment in family planning programmes can have a transformative effect at every level of society - from saving lives and improving the living conditions of families and whole communities to improving national health outcomes and contributing to economic and ecological sustainability."

US sex education 'fails to cut STIs'

16/11/2009 10:05:00

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise in the US, a situation not helped by the lack of comprehensive sex education, statistics have shown.

Chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis rates increased across the country, despite the infections being highly treatable, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

John Douglas, director of the division of sexually transmitted diseases at CDC, said: "Chlamydia and gonorrhoea are stable at unacceptably high levels and syphilis is resurgent after almost being eliminated.

"We have among the highest rates of STDs of any developed country in the world."

So-called abstinence-only sex education was promoted by conservative state and local governments under President George W. Bush, but studies indicated the approach was not working.

Mr Douglas said abstinence should be encouraged but young people need information on how to prevent STIs as well as pregnancy. They should be taught about condom use and warned to limit their sexual partners to protect themselves from disease, he said.

"We haven't been promoting the full battery of messages," he said. "We have been sending people out with one seatbelt in the whole car."

Masturbation advice issued in Spain

13/11/2009 10:25:00

A Spanish region is running a campaign to educate children on the benefits of masturbation, alongside advice about contraception and self-respect, it has emerged.

Extremadura's socialist government has begun the 14,000 (£12,600) campaign, leading with the slogan "pleasure is in your own hands", to the dismay of political opponents and against Roman Catholic views on sex.

Leaflets, flyers and a "fanzine" have been distributed among children in the region and officials in the neighbouring Andalucia have expressed an interest in running a similar campaign. Extramadura's youth and women's affairs departments are funding the campaign.

"This is an intimate subject that should be dealt with at home," said local opposition leader Hernández Carrón of the People's party. "We have become the laughing stock of Spain."

President of the Youth Council of Extremadura Laura Garrido said: "The campaign is simple, clear, natural and easily understood by the people it is aimed at, who are aged between 14 and 17."

Common chemical linked to impotence

12/11/2009 09:15:03

Chinese workers exposed to large doses of a substance used to make plastic bottles have high rates of sexual problems, research suggests.

US scientists say men who regularly encountered bisphenol A (BPA), had an increased likelihood of impotence and reduced sexual desire.

BPA is used in a variety of consumer products, including hard plastic bottles and metal cans.

Now researchers say the public should be kept away from the substance until more is known about its effects.

Study leader Dr De-Kun Li, an epidemiologist at healthcare company Kaiser Permanente, said he "didn't know" what more typical doses could cause, but added it would be prudent to limit exposure while research was carried out.

A Food and Drug Administration study concluded last year that trace amounts of BPA were not dangerous - a stance it is now reviewing.

The investigation, financed by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, was published in the journal Human Reproduction.

US study backs more sex education

11/11/2009 09:05:02

Comprehensive sex education combined with abstinence-only programmes is the best way to tackle unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), according to a US study.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report says there is not enough evidence to say whether abstinence-only reduces risky sexual activity among young people.

The report is published as Congress considers a Bill to redirect federal funding from abstinence-only sex education to programmes that have been validated by scientific research.

CDC spokesman Randy Elder said the study found "sufficient evidence that comprehensive risk-reduction efforts are effective".

But dissenters argue that comprehensive sex education in schools does not significantly increase condom use or reduce pregnancy and STI rates.

Meanwhile, James Wagoner, of Advocates for Youth, said: "At long last, evidence and common sense have returned to public-health policy" which "endorses the comprehensive approach to prevention that includes condoms and birth control."

Said Sarah Brown of the National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy: "Most Americans would like their teens to stay away from sex. Research shows that the best way to do this is to encourage teens to delay sex and also talk to them about family planning and protection."

Erectile dysfunction implant tested

10/11/2009 09:05:03

Patients who develop erectile dysfunction after surgery for prostate cancer have been offered new hope by the development of "implants" that recreate the "stiffening" elements of the penis from donor cells.

Scientists in the US tested the technology on highly-sexed rabbits, 83% of which were successful in mating with female partners after the surgery.

Study leader Professor Anthony Atala, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University in New Carolina, said: "Our results are encouraging and suggest that the technology has considerable potential for patients who need penile reconstruction.

"Our hope is that patients with congenital abnormalities, penile cancer, traumatic injury and some cases of erectile dysfunction will benefit from this technology in the future."

The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Study shows lubricant improves sex

09/11/2009 10:05:00

Using lubricant during sexual activity leads to a more pleasurable and satisfying experience, according to a study by Indiana University.

The research involved questioning 2,453 women aged from 18 to 68.

For a long time, personal lubricants have long been recommended to women to improve the comfort of sexual intercourse and to reduce the risk of vaginal tearing.

But there is very little available data on women's use of lubricants or associated vaginal symptoms.

The study, conducted by Debby Herbenick, associate director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at IU's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, involved women who used one of six different water or silicone-based lubricants.

The study also found that side effects were rarely associated with lubricant use; vaginal tearing occurred during less than 1% of vaginal intercourse events and genital pain was reported in less than 5% of intercourse acts when lubricant was used.

Researchers from the Center of Sexual Health Promotion conducted more than 15 studies being presented at the APHA conference.

Public health professionals routinely recommend the addition of lubricant to condoms during sexual activity, yet virtually no research has assessed the sexual situations during which the recommendations are followed.

African abortion laws review urged

04/11/2009 09:15:06

A review of abortion laws among members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is being urged after an assembly of regional health ministers.

It is intended to tackle high death rates among women forced to seek backstreet abortions in countries where they are only permitted to save the life of the woman.

In Nigeria, for example, hundreds of thousands of women resort terminations outside the healthcare system, with all the risks that this involves.

A communique issued after the meeting at Obudu Mountain Resort in Cross River State has prompted mixed feelings in a region where abortion is something of a taboo subject.

Findings reveal that while a number of Nigerians welcome the move, others are opposed to the idea of passing any law that would relax the current abortion policy.

This despite the fact that, according to the ministers, abortion laws must "reflect the social contexts" of respective ECOWAS member states.

Israelis teach sex health in Africa

03/11/2009 09:25:01

Four experts from Israel have received funding to train young people in Sierra Leone about sexual health and AIDS prevention.

Sponsored by the Israeli Sierra Leone Friendship Association, in collaboration with Shepherd's Hospice and the African nation's ministry of education, the aim of the programme is to promote adolescent sexual health as a means of stopping the spread of AIDS in Sierra Leone.

Head expert Dr Anita Nudelman said part of the plan was for participants to go on and teach sexual health and AIDS prevention in their communities based on the educational model developed in Israel.

Senior governmental staff, such as those from the ministry of health and social welfare, as well as senior professionals of non governmental organisations in Sierra Leone Africa, will also receive training.

Martin Ellie, from Shepherd's Hospice, said the initiative will target 30 youths from across the country, who will receive 10 days intensive training. Once they have developed a model to suit their individual communities, they will take the training and pass it on to other adolescents.

Scientists to map chlamydia genome

02/11/2009 09:05:03

Researchers are set to conduct molecular genomic analysis of the bacteria that causes chlamydia and how it interacts within the human body, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said.

The multidisciplinary team at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), which includes experts in clinical human sexually transmitted disease studies and others in biostatistical and bioinformatics data analysis, received a £7.4 million ($12.2 million) grant by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the NIH.

The team will use precise genome mapping of changes that happen to the bacteria as it interacts within its natural environment with other microbes in the body.

With the genomic technologies, researchers hope to find the link between chlamydial infections and the vaginal microbiome and also look into its genomic diversity.

It is believed that the results of the five-year project will greatly help scientific understanding of chlamydia, a major cause of infertility in women.

The study is led by microbiologist Patrik Bavoil, PhD, associate professor at the Dental School at UMB, and researcher Jacques Ravel, PhD, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Institute for Genome Sciences.

Uganda facing contraception crisis

30/10/2009 09:35:00

A Ugandan health official has warned that 41% of women are unable to access contraception despite needing it.

Dr Moses Muwonge said that despite the amount increasing, there are not sufficient resources to tackle access rates, which are worse than the country's neighbours Kenya (25%) Tanzania (22%), Rwanda (38%) and Ethiopia (34%)

Mr Muwonge estimates that the government would need to find $25 million funding in order to meet the population's needs by 2015.

Mr Muwonge told a press conference following a health workshop in Kampala: "Uganda's contribution towards funding family planning is negligible. It is less than 5%. Unless donors increase funding, it might not be easy for the country to meet the unmet needs."

The conference, part-funded by the US-based Population Reference Bureau and organised by the Uganda Health Communication Alliance, was told that almost 50% of the country's one million births a year were unintended.

The country's Bureau of Statistics added that with population growth rate, currently 3.2%, will strain the country's resources in future.

Aids 'out of control in Russia'

29/10/2009 09:25:03

The Aids epidemic in Russia is spiralling out of control because of misguided actions by health officials, according to experts.

Specialists meeting in-country are urging officials to scrap their abstinence-based strategy - no drugs, no sex, no problem - for curbing the spread of HIV as the epidemic threatens to enter a dangerous new phase.

The experts agreed that the situation is worsening amid evidence that the virus is increasingly being spread by heterosexual sex.

Said International AIDS Society executive director Robin Gorna: "Studies show that an abstinence-based message on drug use or sex simply doesn't work."

And she added: "It does appear that ideology is getting in the way of public health-care policy."

She is urging Russia to adopt successful strategies such as needle-exchange programs and provide drug addicts with the heroin substitute methadone.

However, according to Chris Beyrer, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Russian officials "have never embraced" needle exchange, free condoms and other harm-reduction techniques.

Sperm 'could also transmit HIV'

28/10/2009 09:35:00

Researchers from Argentina have suggested that sperm, and not only semen, can transmit HIV.

During a series of test tube experiments, Buenos Aires University scientists found that traces of the virus had attached to sperm and could be a cause of the infection.

But the scope of the experiment, which was published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, did not find favour with leading HIV specialist Dr Stephen Taylor.

Based at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Dr Taylor said it was not likely to apply to "real life".

"The argument over whether sperm is a major factor is a long-standing debate which was very much put to bed, probably about 10 years ago," he said.

"The majority of the evidence suggests that healthy motile spermatozoa themselves do not transmit HIV.

"It is very important to realise that this is an in-vitro model system - a test tube study - which may not relate to what happens in real life at all.

"It may raise some interesting scientific questions but, in real life, I think that the findings aren't going to change very much."

Experts generally accept that HIV is transmitted during sexual intercourse in semen.

First sex 'early in Singapore'

27/10/2009 09:05:05

Teenagers in Singapore are getting sexually active at younger ages and the number of youngsters diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is on the rise, raising concerns for both parents and teachers.

Data from the DSC Clinic in Kelantan Lane until August this year was presented at the Community and Parents in Support of Schools Convention, a meeting of principals, teachers and parents.

Figures show that 526 teenagers have been diagnosed with STIs, with most girls having contracted chlamydia while the boys had gonorrhoea. Genital herpes and genital warts were found in both boys and girls.

Previous data shows that STIs are on rise among teenagers, with last year seeing 791 teenagers diagnosed with STIs - more than three times in 2002 (238).

A survey last year of 226 teenagers revealed that they were "starting younger" - among sexually active teenagers aged between 10 and 19, three had their first sexual experience at 11. More than half of these had had at least three sexual partners. One teenager had 34, which might suggest that money was involved.

Dr Priya Sen, deputy head for the DSC, who presented the results, said: "They're starting younger as they've no parental supervision. They may meet people who are a lot older than them, and some may even get paid money to have sex."

Electric shocks boost AIDS vaccine

26/10/2009 09:05:03

Experimental DNA-based AIDS vaccines may be more effective if delivered using short pulses of electricity, according to researchers.

The technique, known as electroporation, involves injecting the vaccine using a handgun-like device that gives brief electric shocks.

Electric pulses open up cell membranes and let more of the vaccines inside, improving the body's response, say US scientists who tested the method.

DNA vaccines use the genetic material of the bug causing the infection to trigger an immune reaction.

A comparatively weak vaccine created in 2001 using four genes from an AIDS virus circulating in China was trialled by the researchers.

They found that while only 25% of volunteers developed an immune response when the vaccine was injected, the effect was much stronger when it was delivered using electroporation.

One of the experts, Sandhya Vasan of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York, told Reuters: "With a brief pulse of electricity, our cell membrane temporarily opens up and allows a lot more of the DNA to get inside.

"The reason why DNA vaccines by themselves don't trigger a powerful immune response is because most of it (DNA) does not get inside our cells."

Speaking at a meeting in Paris she said they had been able to improve the duration as well as the breadth of the participants' response using the new technique.

Backpackers 'spreading STIs' abroad

22/10/2009 09:05:02

A study has shown British backpackers touring Australia are helping to spread sexually transmitted diseases across the country as they continue to have unprotected sex with a multitude of partners.

The findings showed Brits often had three times the amount of sexual partners they would usually have at home, the survey of just over a thousand backpackers at hostels in Sydney and Cairns revealed.

A quarter had unprotected sex with several partners while nearly half admitted to inconsistent condom use, the study's British and Australian authors claimed in the recent edition of journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

The study added more than a third (39.7 per cent) claimed to have multiple partners in Australia, rising to 45.7 per cent in those holidaymakers arriving single.

Heavy drinking, drug use and unsafe sex conspired together to put backpackers at a very high risk of getting a sexually transmitted infection and other health problems, said the report authors.

The majority of those quizzed by Liverpool's John Moores University and Australia's National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre said they regularly used bars and nightclubs.

Drug trend 'risks sexual health'

21/10/2009 09:05:01

Campaigns to encourage the use of condoms in Kenya may be failing as teenagers turn to sex-enhancing drugs to impress their friends, according to the head of Kenya's sexual disease monitoring scheme.

Dr Nicholas Muraguri, of the National AIDS/STD Control Programme (NASCOP) said: "The urge to show that you are a good performer most likely leads a person to have multiple partners. The young person is likely to have unprotected sex."

He gave this warning after hearing from a 17-year-old student, who confessed to using Viagra pills to "boost his staying power" and impress his female friends.

He blamed increased liberalism in the country, along with absentee parents for the trend, and warned that many of the products on the market were fake.

He said: "These products have over-glorified performance and don't have any scientific evidence to support their claims for enhancing sexual performance. Unfortunately the value people attach on sex and sometimes beauty makes them invest in such dubious products."

"Some of these could be prescription-only drugs like Viagra for people suffering from erectile dysfunction while others are patented herbal supplements or traditional herbal aphrodisiacs that are purported to enhance sexual performance. The fact that they have a huge market means that it is easy for them to be accessed."

Zambia AIDS programme 'in danger'

19/10/2009 09:25:00

HIV and AIDS programmes in Zambia rely too heavily on funding from corporate and charitable donors and are in danger of being decimated if the money is withdrawn, the National AIDS Council (NAC) says.

NAC chairperson, Joshua Banda, speaking in Lusaka, said 80% of the money spent on the National AIDS Strategic Framework (NASF) comes from external sources.

The NAC's Joint Mid-Term Review (JMTR) strategic framework report for 2006-2008 states that the dependence on donor funding threatens the sustainability of programmes because if the funds dried up, it would leave serious gaps in treatment as well as on staff retention in rural areas. It stressed the need for more local funding.

Zambia's actual expenditure on HIV/AIDS increased by almost 50% from £88 million in 2005 to £130.3 million in 2006. However, in 2006 domestic public resources accounted for 15% while 85% was provided from external sources.

NAC, through its NASF advocacy, has recommended the establishment of an AIDS Trust Fund to sustain the HIV/AIDS activities.

Inuit campaign for sexual health

16/10/2009 09:35:00

A campaign has been launched to promote sexual health among the Inuit people, who live in the Arctic regions of Canada, Greenland and Alaska.

The first National Inuit Policy Forum on Sexual Health was hosted by Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada (PIWC) with delegates from Nunavut, northern Quebec, Labrador and the Northwest Territories.

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada, and was separated officially from the Northwest Territories in 1999.

Said its premier Eva AAriak: "Everyone deserves to have healthy sexuality as a fulfilling and affirming aspect of life," stressing that she is committed to good sexual and reproductive health.

PIWC spokeswoman Rhoda Innuksuk said: "There's a lot of really serious issues regarding sexuality and unmarried couples having children, and young kids having children.

"We will be able to bring more understanding, in depth, as to what our lives are all about. I hope that they will be able to start planning, start thinking about planning for themselves and their own future."

Disposable trocars effective: study

15/10/2009 09:05:02

New research has found that a disposable device for inserting contraceptive implants reduces the need for instrument sterilisation, compared to the traditional reusable kind.

The new trocar is nearly as effective as the reusable trocar, according to research carried out by Markus Steiner, from Family Health International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA.

Mr Steiner and colleagues compared the results from using disposable trocars for two-rod implants and reusable two-rod trocars when inserting contraceptive implants.

The team, which carried out the study in two Marie Stopes International clinics in Kenya, found that the use of disposable trocar posed no problems, and could be inserted under the skin nearly as easily as reusable trocars.

Except for one case where the reusable trocar did not advance easily under the skin in a total of 160 insertions, the team found that the use of the disposable trocar did not cause any bending, breaking, adverse events or difficulty in plunger movement as different from the use of reusable trocars.

The team says: "The use of the disposable trocar eliminates the clinic-level burden of sterilisation maintenance and may prevent HIV transmission in high prevalence areas if reusable trocars are not adequately cleaned."

Global abortion decrease 'uneven'

14/10/2009 09:05:00

The increasing use of contraception globally has meant that the number of abortions and unwanted pregnancies worldwide fell by nearly four million in eight years, according to a report.

By 2003, the number of abortions across the world was an estimated 41.6 million, compared to 45.5 million in 1995.

But the report, entitled Abortion Worldwide: A Decade of Uneven Progress, highlighted that while progress has been made, it is not happening at the same levels throughout the world.

With 32 countries having laws that make abortion illegal, the Guttmacher Institute said there are still too many unsafe abortions. Many developing countries have "highly restrictive" abortion laws, which can lead to unsafe practices.

In Africa, 92% of reproductive-age women live under such laws, while in Latin America, 97% do so. However, 19 countries have reduced their legal restrictions on abortions since 1997, with only three having added restraints.

Unsafe or illegal abortions that go wrong result in 70,000 deaths and five million women requiring treatment each year. A further three million do not seek any treatment.

Dr Sharon Camp, president of the Guttmacher Institute, said: "The gains we've seen are modest in relation to what we can achieve."

(Guttmacher Institute)

Marie Stopes International comments:

This new report confirms what Marie Stopes International has known for decades - that global increases in the use of modern family planning methods have contributed to a decrease in the number of unintended pregnancies and, in turn, a decline in the number of abortions. Through its programmes in 43 countries, Marie Stopes International provides a full range of modern contraceptive methods to offer women the widest possible choice and in 2008 provided 143 million condoms, 7.9 million contraceptive pills and 779,000 contraceptive injections to meet women’s reproductive health needs.

However, as the new report notes, whilst both the developed and the developing world experienced positive trends in increased contraceptive use, developed regions saw the greatest progress. In order to achieve a lasting lower rate of abortion globally, people in both developed countries and the developing world need access to contraceptive services and information in an environment which is politically, economically and culturally supportive of their basic human right to choose whether, and when, to have children.

The decline in worldwide abortion numbers occurred alongside a global trend toward liberalising abortion laws, revealing that giving women the legal right to abortion does not mean that numbers of abortions will increase. Nevertheless, 40% of women of childbearing age (15-44) still live in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws. Abortion, when legal and provided with care by skilled practitioners, is one of the simplest and safest procedures known to medical science. But in the absence of safe, lawful services, women risk their lives accessing unsafe, back street abortions often performed by unqualified practitioners, or by trying to self-induce abortion using dangerous methods; 70,000 women die each year from the effects of unsafe abortion. This is unacceptable, given that such deaths are preventable.

To reduce unsafe abortion and its consequences politicians, medical professionals and healthcare agencies need to expand contraceptive access to prevent unplanned conceptions. We also need to continue the struggle to achieve frameworks for safe, legal abortion wherever it is denied, to break-down the procedural, economic, informational and cultural barriers that currently prevent women from accessing services.

'Lab-on-a-chip' cancer breakthrough

12/10/2009 00:00:00

A breast cancer detection and therapy breakthrough has been announced by Belgium-based nanotechnology research company IMEC.

The research involves a 'lab-on-a-chip' that provides a fast, easy-to-use, cost-effective test method which can be performed in a doctor's surgery.

Developed in conjunction with the Institut fur Mikrotechnik Mainz (IMM), it uses research from the European Sixth Framework Project MASCOT.

It is the first time that lab-on-a-chip technology, including complex sample preparation and multiplex detection, has been used for cancer detection.

The system will be clinically validated in a breast cancer therapy study in Oslo, Norway.

African maternal health unimproved

08/10/2009 00:00:00

The health of mothers in Africa during pregnancy and labour is not improving, according to leading gynaecologists and obstetricians.

The International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), has stated that of the worldwide total of deaths during pregnancy and labour, half of those take place in Africa.

Speaking at FIGO's 19th World Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, held in Cape Town, the president of FIGO, Dorothy Shaw said: "The overall situation in sub-Saharan Africa with regards to maternal health has not improved.

"Of the 529,000 maternal deaths worldwide that die each year during pregnancy and child labour, half lived in sub-Saharan Africa,"

More than 2,000 gynaecologists, obstetricians and other health workers attended the conference, where FIGO launched its 2009 world report on women's health.

(International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics)

Leaders slammed over women's rights

07/10/2009 00:00:00

The South African government has come under fire after it allegedly failed to promote full equality for women during a UN debate.

The debate took place at the United Nation's Human Rights Commission in Geneva and Thabo Makgoba, the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, has now spoken out on the issue.

He has called for the government to ensure it upholds its commitment to women's rights and pointed to its importance in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

After speaking at a seminar hosted by the Anglican AIDS and Healthcare Trust, he said: "This is especially so in our region, where gender inequality has been identified as one of the drivers of the pandemic, and wherever women have limited or no power to protect themselves against infection."

Equality Now, a women's rights advocacy group which has researched laws discriminating against women for the past 15 years, said: "By blocking the proposal for an independent expert, South Africa is not only letting down its own women but also the women of the world. It is a shame that the South African delegation is choosing to oppose a resolution that appears to finally have a chance of succeeding at the UN."

Education 'cuts pregnancy rate'

07/10/2009 00:00:00

The number of unwanted pregnancies falls when teenagers are given health education and contraception information, a review has found.

Researchers, led by Chioma Oringanje of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital in Nigeria drew on 41 studies involving 95,662 ethnically diverse boys and girls, most between 9 to 19 years old, concluding that there was a direct correlation between education levels and teenage pregnancies.

The study said: "Adolescents who have an unintended pregnancy face a number of challenges, including abandonment by their partners, inability to complete school education and increased adverse pregnancy outcomes."

The report also highlighted the global nature of the problem, pointing out that, even in developed countries like the US, 9% of adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 become pregnant each year.

The study appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration - an international organisation that evaluates research in all aspects of health care.

Calls for fake hymen ban in Egypt

06/10/2009 00:00:00

A Chinese company which make kits to help woman convince their husbands they are virgins has been criticised by Egyptian politicians.

The company, Gigimo, distributes The Artificial Virginity Hymen to help women fake their virginity. The product costs around 30 dollars and leaks a blood-like liquid when inserted and broken. Delivery of it is available in all Arab countries.

But politicians in Egypt want to ban the import of the product as they believe it is culturally important to preserve sex before marriage.

The row started when a reporter from Radio Netherlands broadcast an Arabic translation of the Chinese advertisement of the product.

The report sparked fears among conservative parliament members that Egyptian women might start ordering the kits.

Sheik Sayed Askar, a member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood who is on the parliamentary committee on religious affairs, said the kit will make it easier for Egyptian women to give in to temptation. He demanded the government take responsibility for fighting the product to uphold Egyptian and Arab values.

"It will be a mark of shame on the ruling party if it allowed this product to enter the market," he said.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest political opposition group, holds 88 of Egypt's 454 parliament seats.

Prominent Egyptian religious scholar Abdel Moati Bayoumi said anyone who imports the artificial hymen should be punished.

"This product encourages illicit sexual relations. Islamic culture forbids these relations except within the confines of marriage," he said. "I think this should absolutely not be allowed to be exported because it brings more harm than benefits. Whoever does it (imports it) should be punished."

Heavy bleeding treatment approved

05/10/2009 00:00:00

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new treatment for heavy menstrual bleeding.

Developed by Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Mirena is the first non-surgical option to treat the problem that effects between 9% and 14% of women.

Heavy menstrual bleeding is one of the most common reasons for women to visit their GP.

Signs include the need to use double sanitary protection, menstrual flow that soaks through one or more sanitary towels an hour, or the need to change protection during the night.

Dr Andrew Kaunitz, of the University of Florida, said many women choose to suffer privately with their symptoms due to a lack of options available to them.

He said non-surgical options are limited, and women often have to choose surgical procedures such as hysterectomies.

"In a clinical trial, nearly nine out of 10 women were treated successfully for heavy menstrual bleeding with Mirena. This makes it an effective, non-surgical first-line option," he said.

AIDS treatment sees global increase

01/10/2009 00:00:00

Four million AIDS sufferers worldwide are now receiving treatment - a 10-fold increase in five years - according to the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the UN AIDS program.

But they report that five million others are still in "dire need" of drugs, particularly in Africa, the current focus of the global HIV epidemic.

Says Daniel Halperin, a Harvard University AIDS expert: "Even though there are some unanswered questions, this is a dramatic improvement. It shows that all this money that has gone to treatment has made some difference."

Official estimates for last year indicate that four million people in low- and middle-income countries are taking AIDS drugs, including three million in sub-Saharan Africa.

There, 44% of people who need drugs are now taking them, rising to 71% in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Says WHO acting AIDS director Dr Teguest Guerma: "We have invested a lot of funds into HIV/AIDS, but it has been a worthwhile investment because we have saved lives."

FDA questions oral contraceptives

30/09/2009 00:00:00

Oral contraceptives Yasmin and Yaz have been the subject of health warnings by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to a the New York Times.

Both were approved by the FDA, in 2001 and 2006 respectively, despite evidence that an ingredient, drospirenone, can increase the body's potassium levels.

Such an increase may risk the health of women with liver and kidney problems, and is the focus of lawsuits filed against manufacturer Bayer Healthcare.

The Times reports that the drugs' popularity - they generated £1.13 billion in worldwide sales last year - is in part due to multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns.

It says that industry analysts believe the health fears may "rattle consumer confidence" and harm the drugs' image as the "go-to brands for women under 35".

It cites warning letters the FDA has sent to the company, which repeat lawyers' allegations that Bayer was aware of, or should have been aware of, the problems.

There are many different methods of contraception available globally, and it is vital that women discuss their contraceptive options with a healthcare professional in order to choose a method that best suits her lifestyle, and to consider the health benefits and health risks of each contraceptive option based on her individual medical history.

Spanish morning after pill rules relaxed

29/09/2009 00:00:00

The "morning after" contraceptive pill is available without prescription in Spain for the first time, the health ministry has said.

According to health ministry figures, the number of abortions doubled between 1998 and 2007, prompting the government to make the pill available on demand.

Trinidad Jimenez, health minister, said: "It's important to facilitate access to all women, irrespective of their place of residence, as it is important to take this pill in the 72 hours after sexual relations."

However, Ms Jimenez said that the move was aimed at "avoiding unwanted pregnancies" but cautioned that it should not be used as a "habitual method of contraception".

The pill, which was available only on prescription until now, will be sold over-the-counter to persons of any age.

The Spanish health ministry had announced the move last May, as other countries - including France, Britain and the United States - which allowed over-the-counter access to the "morning after" pill, had seen a "significant" decrease in the number of unwanted pregnancies.

Most fail to use contraception for first-time sex

28/09/2009 00:00:00

The results of a new survey have found that 55% of Irish people do not use contraception when having sex for the first time.

Monday is World Contraception Day which specifically targets those between 18 and 25 years and aims to raise awareness of contraception and improve the level of education.

The theme of this year's campaign is "Your Life, Your Voice; Talk Contraception."

Alison Begas from the Dublin Well Woman Centre said we need to make more educated choices in relation to reproductive and sexual health.

"No need" for smears in 50 years

25/09/2009 00:00:00

Smear tests could become unnecessary if European governments take decisive action to vaccinate all women against cervical cancer, according to an expert.

In five decades it could be possible to wipe out all cases of the disease, as vaccines are available or in development for every strain of human papilloma virus (HPV) that leads to the cancer.

Two of the nine strains already have vaccinations, which could eradicate up to 75% of cervical cancers, said Professor Jack Cuzick of the Cancer Research UK Centre for Epidemiology in London.

Speaking about vaccines in development at a cancer conference in Berlin, he said: "If they are successful, there should be no need to screen women that have been vaccinated at all.

"That's the long term future: vaccination and no screening. After about 50 years, we could see cervical cancer disappearing."

Prof Cuzick told the ECCO 15-ESMO 34 congress that vaccinated women over the age of 16 will still need regular screening throughout their lives, because "the vaccine is not effective in women who have already been exposed to the virus". He called for automated HPV screening to replace traditional "Pap" smear tests which search for abnormal cervical cells.

Tests provide hope of AIDS vaccine

24/09/2009 00:00:00

Tests into an experimental AIDS vaccine have shown it can prevent the risk of becoming infected by up to 31%, according to researchers in Bangkok.

Results from more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand provide hope that "we could have a safe and effective preventative vaccine," according to study leader Col Jerome Kim, of the Thailand Ministry of Public Health.

The scientists involved in the study used strains of AIDS common in Thailand, and it is not known whether the vaccine would work against strains of the virus found in Africa, the US, or other parts of the world.

A two-drug "prime-boost" vaccine combination was used in the study. The first vaccine primes the body to attack HIV/AIDS, while the second strengthens the immune system's response.

The drugs used in the study were ALVAC, made by French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis, and AIDSVAX, developed by VaxGen. ALVAC, which uses an altered form of the bird virus canarypox, carries synthetic versions of three HIV genes into the body. AIDSVAX is made up of a genetically engineered version of a protein found on the surface of HIV. Neither vaccine can cause the disease.

The UN estimates around two million people died of AIDS worldwide in 2007, while every day 7,500 people are newly infected.

Women's sexual desire multi-faceted

23/09/2009 00:00:00

The motivation behind a woman's desire to have sex is not necessarily just to do with romantic emotions or an urge to reproduce, according to a study.

Psychologists at the University of Texas interviewed over 1,000 women and found the decisions ruling why they had sex were many and varied. Motivations ranged from boredom or feeling sorry for someone, to downright maliciousness - with one women admitting she wanted to give someone a sexual disease.

Evolutionary psychology professor David Buss and Cindy Meston, a clinical psychology professor, collected personal accounts from women of diverse educational, ethnic and religious backgrounds on their reasons for having sex and recorded them in their new book Why Women Have Sex: Understanding Sexual Motivations from Adventure to Revenge (and Everything in Between).

Of those surveyed, 50% said they had engaged in sexual activity in order to cure a migraine. A massive 84% of women said they had had sex out of a sense of duty, compared with 64% of husbands.

Prof Buss said: "One thing that's interesting about our study is that it goes against the stereotype that men desire sex for pleasure while women have sex only for love or commitment."

Prof Meston added: "We knew motivations for sex were more complex than what had previously been talked about in the literature -- having a baby, love and physical pleasure.

"But we were still astonished by the amazing diversity of sexual motivations -- from curing a headache to feeling closer to God to getting their partners to take out the trash."

One third neglect contraception use

22/09/2009 00:00:00

Nearly one in three women at risk for an unintended pregnancy do not use contraception, a new study has revealed.

The study by Pamela Xaverius and colleagues, of Saint Louis University, Missouri, examined health-related behaviours of fertile women who do not intend to conceive.

The survey of 55,539 women found that the group also involved in a higher rate of unhealthy behaviours and lesser healthcare encounters than those using contraception.

According to the study, 29% were at a high risk for unintended pregnancy as they do not use birth control.

When demographic adjustments were taken into account, high-risk women were 1.23 times more likely to be obese and 1.20 times more likely to smoke than low-risk women who used contraception.

Additionally, this high-risk group were also 27% less likely to exercise when compared with the low-risk women and were 27% less likely to consume alcohol and 11% less likely to binge drink.

The percentage of high-risk women going for a Papilloma virus smear test, sexually transmitted disease counselling, and a HIV test, was respectively 62%, 44%, and 19% less compared with women using birth control.

AIDS vaccine to commence testing

21/09/2009 00:00:00

Clinical trials of the first AIDS vaccines to be created by a developing country are to begin later this month.

The treatment, which was designed by the University of Cape Town with technical help from the US National Institutes of Health, was made specifically for the HIV subtype C strain common in South Africa.

Anthony Mbewu, president of South Africa's government-supported Medical Research Council, who shepherded the project, said he wanted to "ensure that once developed, the vaccine would be available at an affordable price".

Trials to test the safety of the vaccine in humans will commence later this month on 36 healthy volunteers.

South African politicians have previously shocked the world with controversial statements about AIDS, with former South African President Thabo Mbeki linking the virus to poverty in a speech to the International AIDS Conference.

Condoms could reduce climate change

18/09/2009 00:00:00

Developing countries need better access to contraception to help contain the impact of climate change, research led by Maire Stopes International's Leo Bryant and published in The Lancet has said.

Providing contraception to 200 million women around the world could stop 76 million unwanted pregnancies a year, reducing population pressure on the environment.

In an editorial, the journal said: "Countries in the developing world least responsible for the growing emissions are likely to experience the heaviest impact of climate change, with women bearing the greatest toll.

"In tandem with other factors, rapid population growth in these regions increases the scale of vulnerability to the consequences of climate change, for example, food and water scarcity, environmental degradation, and human displacement."

Non-government organisations (NGOs) were criticised by the journal for not doing enough to change social attitudes, instead "working in silos".

Family planning falls under health rather than environment ministries, which may explain why 37 of the least developed countries recognised the link between climate change and population growth, but only six included family planning in their adaptation strategies in World Health Organisation (WHO) studies, said The Lancet.

In fact, of 448 projects submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change by developing countries, only 7% involved the health sector.

Drug boost for oral HIV/AIDS infection

16/09/2009 00:00:00

The yeast mouth infection thrush can be effectively treated in HIV/AIDS patients with a single tablet rather than the traditional regime of five pills a day, according to research.

And because the medication is not absorbed into other parts of the body, it avoids side effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and liver dysfunction.

Dr Jose Vazquez, of the infectious diseases division of the Henry Ford Hospital, presented the research to the annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco.

He outlined how a small daily tablet that sticks to the gum and dissolves inside the mouth effectively combats the oral candidiasis (OC) condition, which affects up to one half of HIV and most AIDs patients.

It is also found in three quarters of patients suffering from many forms of cancer, particularly those of the head and neck.

Says Dr Vazquez: "This is an exciting, new, convenient way for treating this infection. It releases an anti-fungal agent over the course of six to eight hours. Because it stays in the mouth, it provides the same relief as the oral medication, but with few or no side effects."

(Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy)

Genetics clue to early sexual activity

15/09/2009 00:00:00

Genetics may explain why children who live in homes without fathers have sex at a younger age than others, according to a new report.

The study, published in the American journal Child Development, found a genetic theory to challenge "environmental" theories which previously explained the link.

Researchers looked at more than 1,000 cousins aged 14 and older, testing for genetic influences as well as factors such as poverty, education opportunities and religion.

It compared children who were related in different ways to each other, and who differed in whether they had lived with their fathers.

The more genes the children shared, the more similar their ages of first intercourse - regardless of whether or not the children had an absent father.

This finding, the researchers say, suggests environmental theories do not fully explain the link. Instead, genetic influence can help understand the tie between fathers' absence and early sex.

"Our study found that the association between fathers' absence and children's sexuality is best explained by genetic influences, rather than by environmental theories alone," according to Jane Mendle, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, which led the study.

Among prior environmental explanations of why children who live in homes without fathers have sex earlier are that early childhood stress accelerates children's physical development; that children who see their parents dating may start dating earlier, and that it's harder for a single parent to monitor and supervise children's activities and peers.

(Child Development)

Seizure drug helps menopausal sleep

15/09/2009 00:00:00

Menopausal women who have trouble sleeping due to hot flushes could be treated with a seizure drug to help them sleep through the night, researchers have suggested.

Trials of seizure treatment drug Gabapentin indicated women who took a 300 milligrams daily dose enjoyed better sleep.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center, New York, had previously found the drug helped relieve hot flushes, but also that about 40% of women going through menopause could not fall asleep easily, or wake during the night.

They claim their current study is the first to show sustained increases of sleep quality with Gabapentin.

Using their previous study results, the researchers took 59 menopausal women who had between seven and 20 hot flushes a day. Half the volunteers took the drug, and the others took a placebo.

The results were compared with a well-known and validated sleep questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and women on Gabapentin reported higher sleep quality than those on the placebo.

"Gabapentin improves sleep quality but does not have the potential dependency problems of some other sleep medications and does not involve the use of hormone replacement therapy," wrote Dr. Michael E. Yurcheshen, who led the study, in a university-issued statement.

Texas girls denied contraceptives

14/09/2009 00:00:00

It is harder for young girls to get confidential access to contraceptives in Texas than any other US state, according to a report in the Dallas Morning News.

This is despite the fact the state reportedly has the highest rate of repeat teen pregnancies in the country.

It is one of only four states that does not include contraception in its version of the Children's Health Insurance Program.

And while spending $1.2 billion on Medicaid to cover 228,000 births a year, it does not automatically extend coverage for family-planning services.

The newspaper reports that access to prescription birth control without parental consent is severely restricted, while state funds cannot be used to provide minors with confidential contraceptive services.

Even girls who have already given birth cannot obtain contraceptives without parental consent at nearly one third of family-planning clinics.

This is partly due to the fact that doctors are apparently unaware that Texas law does not actually rule on whether a minor may independently be given contraceptives, says the newspaper.

Circumcision 'prevents HIV/Aids'

14/09/2009 00:00:00

The spread of heterosexual HIV/Aids in Africa could be tackled cheaply and effectively by male circumcision, according to a UN study published in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.

It says that one infection could be prevented for every five to 15 operations at a cost over 10 years of between $150 and $900. Each circumcision procedure costs between $30 and $60, with neonatal circumcision costing just one-third of that.

That compares with lifetime first-line treatment for the disease of more than $7,000 (£4,200) per patient, double that if second-line therapies are also employed.

The report is based on findings of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA).

However, the report says that circumcision would not have the same impact on HIV transmission among homosexual men.

Cervical cancer jab nears approval

10/09/2009 00:00:00

A long-delayed vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline successfully blocks the leading virus that causes cervical cancer in women, federal health officials have announced.

The vaccine Cerafix was voted overwhelmingly as safe and effective for females between the ages of 10 and 25 by the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) vaccine panel. Glaxo will be able to compete with Merck's vaccine Gardasil, which has controlled the market in the U.S. since 2006, if the FDA follows the panel's advice.

The U.S. launch of the vaccine was delayed when the FDA said it required more data on it in 2007, despite the London-based drugmaker Glaxo already securing European approval of the vaccine.

Panellists have recommended follow-up studies to monitor miscarriages and inflammatory-muscular problems reported by a low number of patients, although the newer studies suggest the vaccine is safe. The issues are unlikely to be caused by the vaccine, but should be noted on the product's labelling, according to the panel.

"This wasn't a pregnancy trial and it wasn't meant to be used in pregnancy, it just happened accidentally," said Dr. Kenneth Noller, of Tufts University. "I think this could be marketed with the usual caveat that it's not to be used in pregnancy."

Free HIV/Aids tests in Ethiopia

09/09/2009 00:00:00

Free HIV/Aids tests are being offered in Ethiopia in a mobile-phone text-messaging campaign timed to coincide with the country's New Year celebrations.

The message reads: "New Year! New Life! Test for HIV, test with your partner, get your children tested and brighten the future of your family! Free testing. Happy New Year!"

Because sub-Saharan Africa's second most populous nation still adheres to a calendar of 13 months, its New Year falls on September 11.

An officially estimated 1.1 million of Ethiopia's 78 million population are infected with HIV, according to the government.

Says Meskele Lera, deputy director of the country's Federal HIV and Aids Prevention and Control Office: "About half a million a year used to be tested. That has been increasing every year and, with the help of the publicity campaign we started with our millennium, we tested 5.8 million last year."

Gardasil 'safe for use in boys'

07/09/2009 00:00:00

A US medical reviewer has said that Merck's Gardasil vaccine could be safe and effective in preventing genital warts caused by certain strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) among young men and boys.

The vaccine is currently approved for use in girls and young women, and Merck is seeking permission to market it for males aged between 9 and 26 years.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the memo by its staff reviewer ahead of a meeting of its advisory panel to discuss the new use of Gardasil.

The reviewer said no issues with safety had been observed in Merck's data and the drug appeared to be effective in preventing warts caused by certain types of the virus.

There are more than 100 strains of HPV, many of which are sexually transmitted. Gardasil was first approved in 2006 as a vaccine protecting against cervical cancer and precancerous cervical and vaginal lesions as well as genital warts.

Merck said it expects the FDA to make its final decision this autumn.

HPV vaccine may prevent breast cancer

04/09/2009 00:00:00

Some forms of breast cancer could be prevented by vaccinating women against the human papillomavirus (HPV), saving tens of thousands of lives every year, according to a study.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales used genetic probes to test cancerous breast cells and discovered several strains of HPVs known to have a high risk of initiating cancer of the cervix. HPV plays a causal role in between 90 and 95% of cervical cancers.

Published in the British Journal of Cancer, the study was carried out by a team from the UNSW School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences and led by Professor James Lawson.

The team observed the presence of high-risk HPV in the nuclei of breast cancer epithelial cells in five of 13 ductal carcinoma and three of 14 invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) breast cancer specimens.

UNSW researcher, Dr Noel Whitaker said: "The finding that high risk HPV is present in a significant number of breast cancers indicates they may have a causal role in many breast cancers.

"Confirming a cancer-causing role for HPV in some breast cancers establishes the possibility of preventing some breast cancers by vaccination against HPV."

Plea for more contraception funding

03/09/2009 00:00:00

It would cost just 10 days worth of global military spending to ensure that women are not condemned to die in childbirth, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

That sum, estimated at $23 billion (£14 billion), would fund contraception and maternity services to prevent women from having unintended pregnancies and dying in childbirth.

UNFPA director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid was speaking at the start of a forum on sexual and reproductive health that included hundreds of health experts and aid workers from around the world.

The population fund finances contraception campaigns aimed at reducing the annual toll of 500,000 women who die during pregnancy or childbirth.

The forum seeks to assess progress since a landmark population and development conference in Cairo in 1994 at which 179 nations pledged to spend $17 billion (£10.5 billion) a year on family planning and maternal health.

It was the first time that population problems had been discussed in terms of individual rights rather than demographic control.

UN appeals for maternal health help

03/09/2009 00:00:00

With a woman dying every minute due to complications in childbirth or pregnancy, the UN has appealed for more to be done to improve women's health and access to contraception.

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), claims it would cost $23 billion (£14.2 billion) worldwide to stop unintended pregnancies and women dying in childbirth.

At the start of a forum on sexual and reproductive health, Mr Obaid said such a sum represents "less than 10 days of the world's military spending".

The UNFPA finances contraception campaigns aimed at reducing the annual toll of 500,000 women dying in pregnancy or childbirth. The aim of the forum is to assess progress since a landmark population and development conference held in Cairo in 1994.

The conference was the first time that population problems were discussed in terms of individual rights rather than demographic control. The 179 nations present agreed at the time to spend $17 billion (£10.5 billion) on family planning and maternal health.

Positive contraceptive test results

02/09/2009 00:00:00

A very low dose of ethinyl estradiol (EE) combined with chlormadinone acetate is an effective oral contraceptive, according to research by Jurgen Spona and colleagues at Vienna-based Vitalogic.

They report that a 24/4-day intake regimen effectively inhibits ovulation, cervical function and endometrial growth.

The study included 36 women treated with 0.02 mg EE/2 mg chlormadinone acetate, and resulted in three-quarters achieving Hoogland and Skouby grade 1 scores, indicating no ovarian activity.

The highest incidences was seen in cycles 2 (82.8%) and 3 (79.4%). Residual ovarian activity was seen in 15.9% of cycles, which compares favourably to that seen for chlormadinone acetate combinations with 0.03 mg EE given in a 21-day intake regimen (14.8%).

Meanwhile, residual ovarian activity with other 0.02 mg EE-containing COCs in a 21-day intake regimen has been reported to be between 21% and 30%.

Endometrial thickness follicular diameter was suppressed to 4-5 mm and less than 10 mm compared with 10-12 mm and 19.65-20.70 mm, respectively, without medication.

Progesterone and EE levels were also significantly suppressed during medication cycles compared with non-medication cycles. Cervical reaction was negative.

Utah discusses two-tier sex ed plan

01/09/2009 00:00:00

A controversial law dictating how children in Utah are taught sexual education is under consideration following a Planned Parenthood Action Council meeting between lawmakers and local residents.

The meeting, which discussed revisions to sex education in the state, proposed that only two methods of teaching sex education should be offered in schools. State Rep. Lynn Hemingway said in a draft bill that one method would teach abstinence-only sex education.

The other method would emphasises abstinence - including discussion of sexually transmitted infections and contraception. This method would require parental permission. Teachers are allowed to discuss contraceptives and STIs with pupils under current Utah law. The law allows students to be taught less than the law requires, but not more.

The current law is ineffective because although teachers can discuss contraceptives, they cannot encourage their use, Hemingway said.

She added that the law needed revising due to rising rates of teenage pregnancy and STIs in Utah.

Hemingway said: "I want to be sure parents can be certain if they want abstinence only education, their children can get it. I also want to be certain that if parents want to get a little more detail in their children's education, they can do that."

Work 'affects teen sexual health'

28/08/2009 00:00:00

A study has claimed that allowing teenagers to work long hours in the wrong environment can be dangerous for their sexual health.

It can create conditions that lead them to older sexual partners, according to the University of Michigan report on what factors predict the age of sexual partners.

One of its authors, Jose Bauermeister, believes the age difference of sexual partners is important because a larger age difference is linked with riskier sexual behaviour and STDs, including HIV.

Bauermeister, an assistant research professor in the School of Public Health, found that a youth's self esteem and alcohol use also affect the age difference between sexual partners.

Overall, the research shows that teenagers who work part-time benefit in almost all areas. However, those benefits come with caveats, according to Bauermeister.

He warned that working too many hours in an adult atmosphere without adequate supervision can lead to exposure to adults and eventually sexual activity with older partners, especially for young girls.

(University of Michigan)

Warning over fatal HIV drug effects

27/08/2009 00:00:00

A pharmaceutical company has sent out warnings about the potentially lethal side effects of HIV drug Intelence.

Johnson & Johnson`s Tibotec unit has written to doctors about the drug, which was approved for use in January, but has caused allergic skin reactions and liver damage.

Some patients have developed Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a skin disease which can turn deadly but starts with fatigue, fever and a sore throat.

The US regulator Food and Drug Administration has changed the label on Intelence, which blocks the enzymes HIV needs to multiply, to include details of the reactions.

Patients who develop fever, rash, fatigue or other undesirable reactions while using the drug should stop immediately, it warned.

(Johnson and Johnson)

US students gets access to One-Step

26/08/2009 00:00:00

College students in the Chicago returning after the summer break can now access the emergency contraceptive, Plan B One-Step (levonorgestrel) at local pharmacies.

Students aged 17 and older can now get the 1.5 mg tablet as part of a drive to tackle unwanted pregnancies.

Ashlesha Patel from Hospital of Cook County in Chicago, said: "With new Plan B One-Step, women can now help prevent an unintended pregnancy after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure with just one pill in one dose.

"Emergency contraception is more effective the sooner it's taken, and Plan B One-Step provides a back-up plan that's only one pill away."

Figures show that in the US the number of unintended pregnancies is higher among among college-age women.

As a result sexual health groups are making it a priority to give these women options.

Kelli Conlin, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, said: "I encourage all women to use primary contraception consistently and correctly, and also keep emergency contraception on-hand in their dorm room or apartment so it is readily available if the unexpected does happen."

HPV virus linked to penile cancers

25/08/2009 00:00:00

Sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) could be responsible for nearly half of all penile cancers, according to a new study.

Spanish researchers evaluated the prevalence of HPV in penile cancer from 31 major studies published between 1986 and June 2008. They concluded that HPV vaccines already in use could help fight tumours of the penis.

The virus is also linked to cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina and anus in women, and to anal and penile cancers in men.

Risk factors for penile cancers include poor hygiene, multiple sexual partners, unretractable foreskin and not being circumcised. A history of smoking and of other sexually transmitted infections are also thought to heighten the risk.

The study was conducted by researchers from the Cancer Epidemiology Research Program at the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, Spain. It is due to be published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology.

The researchers conclude: "Systematic international studies are ongoing, they will probably help in reducing uncertainty and provide new evidence on the involvement of HPV in penile carcinomas."

The incidence of penile cancer is relatively low. In Europe and North America they account for less than 1% of adult male cancers, but in Africa and Asia the figure is as high as 10%. Nearly 26,300 new cases are reported across the globe every year.

US considering universal circumcision

24/08/2009 00:00:00

US health officials are considering whether to promote routine circumcision for all baby boys born in the country as a way to reduce the spread of HIV.

The New York Times reports that experts are also considering whether circumcision should also be offered to adult heterosexual men whose sexual behaviour puts them at higher risk of infection.

The reasons behind the consideration stem from several studies in support of male circumcision as a way to reduce HIV spread.

Trials in Africa, where there are several countries with severe AIDS and HIV epidemics, have shown that male circumcision reduced HIV infection risk by 50% in heterosexual men who were at high risk of infection from women with HIV.

And earlier this year, an Australian study suggested that the inner foreskin has the largest concentration of Langerhans' cells, which are the initial cellular targets in the sexual transmission of HIV. The researchers suggested that removing the skin surface which is most susceptible to the virus would reduce the risk of contracting HIV.

"What we've heard from our consultants is that there would be a benefit for infants from infant circumcision, and that the benefits outweigh the risks," Dr Peter Kilmar told the New York Times.

Dr Kilmar is the chief epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's official, which will publish draft recommendations on the subject at the end of the year.

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Nurses 'can treat HIV in Africa'

21/08/2009 00:00:00

Researchers believe nurses and clinical officers can determine when a person should receive antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS.

This would ease the strain on overstretched doctors in sub-Saharan Africa and thereby help increase access to antiretroviral therapy, particularly in rural areas, according to researchers writing in BioMed Central's journal Human Resources for Health.

Ashwin Vasan, from the University of Michigan and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, worked with researchers in 12 Ugandan clinics.

They examined the degree of agreement between the decisions of non-physician clinicians and those made by fully trained doctors.

He concluded: "Nurses and clinical officers showed moderate to almost perfect agreement with physicians in their final ART recommendations. Considering that the scarcity of physicians in sub-Saharan Africa is constraining access to HIV treatment, particularly in rural clinics staffed only by NPCs, our results could lead to immediate benefits with respect to ART scale-up and decentralisation.

"Non-physician clinicians at primary care clinics should be trained, supported, and empowered to deliver antiretroviral therapy independently, with the support - but not necessarily the full-time presence - of a physician."

Director lays out plans for NIH

20/08/2009 00:00:00

The director of US research centre the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has said his religious beliefs will not influence the decisions he makes on medical science and research.

Francis Collins, who has an evangelical Christian faith, was nominated by President Obama for the new director post and was unanimously voted in by the Senate.

He is well known and respected for "finding common ground between belief in God and science" and has worked in the field of mapping the human genome.

President George W Bush's administration was criticised for allegedly allowing religious ideology to influence policy, such as restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research.

But in an interview, Mr Collins said: "The NIH director needs to focus on science. I have no religious agenda for the NIH."

Before working for Obama's presidential campaign, Collins worked at NIH for 15 years and found the BioLogos Foundation, which works to bridge gaps between faith and science.

However, he has resigned from his post at BioLogos to start his job as NIH director.

While outlining some of his objectives for NIH, he said he planned to focus on personalised medicine to prevent unnecessary treatment such as chemotherapy to rule out aggressive forms of cancer.

Simple test to detect endometriosis

19/08/2009 00:00:00

Experts are calling for the introduction of a new simple test that can detect endometriosis with almost 100% accuracy.

Endometriosis is a painful condition that arises when cells normally found in the womb lining attach themselves to other parts of the body. It occurs in several places in the body, such as the fallopian tubes, ovaries and bladder and can lead to infertility. There are currently around two million sufferers in the UK.

While some women have few or no symptoms at all, the most common symptom is pain or discomfort.

The condition is currently detected using the invasive surgical procedure laparoscopy, which involves going through the belly button and is performed under general anaesthetic, but researchers from Australia and Jordan have tested a new tool to replace it.

The findings published in the journal Human Reproduction show that a sample of the the lining of the uterus (endometrium) can be removed during a biopsy via the vagina, which can then be tested for the presence of nerve fibres that predict endometriosis.

The researchers said: "There is still a substantial delay in the diagnosis of endometriosis in most countries.

"The length of time from the onset of symptoms to the definite diagnosis is often quite long, with an average of 6 to 10 years in many centres."

Asian women at high risk of HIV

18/08/2009 00:00:00

A report claims around 50 million women in Asia are at risk of contracting HIV from their husbands or long-term partners.

The report released at the Ninth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific shows in 2008 women accounted for 35% of all adult HIV cases in Asia, compared with 17% in 1990.

According to UNAIDS, 90% of the 1.7 million HIV-positive women in Asia contracted the virus from their husbands or long-term partners. Other data shows that most new cases in Cambodia, India and Thailand occur among married women.

The report cites the spread of HIV in Asia mainly to unprotected commercial sex, the sharing of dirty needles among drug users and unprotected sex among gay men.

However, the report claims men who regularly buy sex - at least 75 million men in Asia - make up the largest group living with HIV and most of these are either married or will get married.

UNAIDS said: "This puts a significant number of women, often perceived as low risk because they only have sex with their husbands or long-term partners, at risk of HIV infection."

Genital cutting a risk in pregnancy

17/08/2009 00:00:00

Women face an increased risk of needing an emergency Cesarean section or suffering serious tears during childbirth if they underwent female genital cutting as children, according to a study.

Researchers from the University of Berne, in Switzerland, looked at 122 pregnant women with a history of genital mutilation - which is also known as female "circumcision" and involves removing part or all of a girl's clitoris and labia, and sometimes narrowing the opening to the vagina.

Researchers, writing in the medical journal BJOG, compared their childbirth experiences with 110 other women the same age and found that 18 women with genital mutilation needed an emergency C-section, compared with three women in the comparison group.

Nine women who had undergone the procedure also suffered severe vaginal tears during delivery, while only one woman from the comparison group had the same experience.

Previous research put the number of women worldwide who have undergone female genital mutilation at around 130 million. It remains a common practice in some countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. However, with the growth in immigration, increasing numbers of healthcare workers in developed countries are seeing women who have undergone the practice.

US churches push early marriage

14/08/2009 00:00:00

A number of evangelical Christian groups in the US are promoting marriage at a younger age to bridge the gap between abstinence teachings and a trend toward later marriage.

Eight out of ten conservative Protestants aged between 18 and 23 who consider themselves to be religious and are in a romantic relationship are having sex. Pastors say the push for younger marriage has spread from a small number of churches to the wider evangelical community.

University of Texas sociologist Mark Regnerus is in favour of young marriage, although he says teenage marriage is too early, marrying in the early 20s is not as risky as people believe. Mr Regnerus said that evangelicals "have made much ado about sex" but are hurting marriage by discouraging and delaying it.

"I think marriage is just a fantastic institution for people who think rightly about it, have realistic ideas about it and put the requisite work into it," said Mr Regnerus.

Andrew Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University who studies families and public policy, said the changing role of women in society and the economy means that early marriage is less attractive than it was 50 years ago.

Recession hits U.S birth rate

13/08/2009 00:00:00

A 2% slump in American birth rate - the first fall since 2000 - has been blamed on the financial downturn, the New York Times has revealed.

The 2008 decline followed a record year for birth rate in the U.S during 2007, which was the highest for 50 years. Experts believe the lack of job security and the impact maternity leave would have on young families are the main reasons why people are avoiding having babies.

Preliminary data published by the U.S National Center for Health Statistics showed that only 10 states did not see a downturn in rate. All of these states were located in the northern region, supporting the claim that the recession is affecting statistics, as the impact of the credit crunch has not been as grand in that region.

Stephanie Coontz, research director for the Council on Contemporary Families, said that because men have been hit hardest by the recession, couples can not afford to lose the would-be mother's income.

She said: "More than 80% of the job losses in this recession have been borne by men. There are a lot of families where a maternity leave would mean that no income at all was coming in."