Reproductive Health News and Research

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CONRAD receives USAID Pioneers Prize for developing tenofovir gel to reduce HIV infection in women

CONRAD, a leading reproductive health-research organization based at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), today announced that they are a winner of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Science and Technology Pioneers Prize for their work in developing tenofovir gel.

29 Jan 2014

Study: About 50% of reproductive-age women never discussed reproductive health with medical provider

A new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers provides insight into how much women of reproductive age in the United States know about reproductive health.

28 Jan 2014

Specialists identify opportunities to reduce unnecessary first cesarean deliveries

A recently published article, based on a workshop, Preventing the First Cesarean Delivery: Summary of a Joint Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Workshop, outlines a collaboration of specialists providing obstetrical care in helping to identify opportunities to reduce unnecessary first cesarean deliveries.

25 Jan 2014

Viewpoints: Mass. abortion debate comes down to 35 feet; Tampa mayor leads charge to get young people signed up for health care

The First Amendment protects the speech of short, elderly women and large and intimidating men equally, but you would be forgiven for thinking otherwise after oral arguments before the Supreme Court Wednesday morning.

17 Jan 2014

UCSF study finds widespread exposure to banned endocrine disrupters

Americans are being exposed to significantly lower levels of some phthalates that were banned from children's articles in 2008, but exposures to other forms of these chemicals are rising steeply, according to a study led by researchers at UC San Francisco.

17 Jan 2014

New Access Total βhCG (5th IS) assay from Beckman Coulter receives FDA clearance and is granted CE Mark for Europe

Aligned with its commitment to help move reproductive health management forward, Beckman Coulter Diagnostics has received clearance for its new Access Total βhCG (5th IS) assay from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k), as well as being granted the CE Mark specifically for Europe.

16 Jan 2014

Viewpoints: House GOP moves away from health law repeal demands; defeating polio; health website insults Hispanics

Assuming hard-right members of the House don't manage to block it, a $1 trillion appropriations bill is about to be approved by both chambers for the rest of the 2014 fiscal year, through the end of September.

16 Jan 2014

Population Council gets USAID cooperative agreement to develop non-ARV microbicides that block HIV, STI

The Population Council today announced it was awarded a cooperative agreement from the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) Office of HIV and AIDS: "Non-ARV Based Combination Microbicide that Blocks HIV and Other STIs."

6 Jan 2014

GRU combines with national Cooperative to improve treatment of reproductive health

Georgia Regents University has joined the national Cooperative Multicenter Reproductive Medicine Network designed to enable large clinical trials that improve the diagnosis and treatment of reproductive health issues such as male and female infertility.

2 Jan 2014

Experts discuss ways to expand contraceptive choice, increase access to LARCs

In November 2013 at the International Conference on Family Planning in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Population Council convened the third meeting of international experts to discuss ways to expand contraceptive choice and accelerate progress toward the Millennium Development Goal of universal access to reproductive health services by increasing access to highly effective, long-acting, reversible contraceptives (LARCs).

20 Dec 2013

MTN receives $70M to develop and test products that aim to reduce spread of HIV

With funding of $70 million to support its effort into 2021, the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) will continue to develop and test products that aim to reduce the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, federal officials announced yesterday.

17 Dec 2013

Population Council partners with USAID to introduce new line of contraceptive rings

The Population Council was awarded a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Population and Reproductive Health, "Delivering a Family of Contraceptive Vaginal Rings." Included in this agreement is support for two innovative, Population Council-developed contraceptive vaginal rings: a one-year contraceptive vaginal ring that can be used by women to plan their pregnancies and a three-month vaginal ring that can be used by breastfeeding women.

10 Dec 2013

Viewpoints: Optimism about Obamacare; 834 errors; can-you-keep-your-doctor debate

This was the week when liberals decided that it was safe to feel optimistic about Obamacare again. ... A worst-case scenario, in which the website remained unusable well into the new year, seems to have been averted, and with it the danger that insurers or Congressional Democrats would begin to bail on Obamacare entirely.

10 Dec 2013

Researchers assess direct out-of-pocket costs for couples undergoing fertility treatment

From drug therapy to IVF, out-of pocket costs can range from $900 to $19,000 per treatment cycle, report researchers in The Journal of Urology

9 Dec 2013

EMD Serono's TocopheRx to focus on development of oral FSH agonists for infertility treatment

EMD Serono, Inc., a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced today the creation of TocopheRx, a Boston-based spin-off company resulting from the Entrepreneur Partnership Program launched by Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in April 2012.

3 Dec 2013

Supreme Court mulls taking health law contraception case

The justices could announce as early as Tuesday whether they will review provisions in the Affordable Care Act requiring employers of a certain size to offer insurance coverage for birth control and other reproductive health services without a co-pay. The owners of more than three dozen for-profit companies have argued that complying with that provision would violate their religious beliefs.

27 Nov 2013

Research roundup: Meeting the needs of assisted living residents; Medicaid expansion and community health centers; money follows the person

Assisted living facilities provide housing and care to persons unable to live independently, and who often have increasing medical needs. Disease outbreaks illustrate challenges of maintaining adequate resident protections in these facilities. ... Of the 50 states, 84% specify health-based admissions criteria to assisted living facilities; 60% require licensed health care professionals to oversee medical care; ... There is wide variation in how assisted living facilities are regulated in the United States.

25 Nov 2013

Research shows oral contraceptive use over three years could be a risk factor for glaucoma

Research presented today, at the 117th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in New Orleans, has found that women who have taken oral contraceptives for three or more years are twice as likely to suffer from glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness which affects nearly 60 million worldwide. The researchers caution gynecologists and ophthalmologists to be aware of the fact that oral contraceptives might play a role in glaucomatous diseases, and inform patients to have their eyes screened for glaucoma if they also have other risk factors.

19 Nov 2013

Human error: The most common cause of infant asphyxiation at birth

Findings from a 15-year study published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, a journal of the Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology, indicate that human error is the most common cause of infant asphyxiation at birth. Inadequate fetal monitoring, lack of clinical skills, and failure to obtain senior medical staff assistance are most often cited in Norwegian compensation claims following birth asphyxia.

18 Nov 2013

Researchers create intravaginal ring using MPT to protect women from HIV and unintended pregnancy

A new intravaginal ring (IVR) has been developed for the sustained 90-day co-delivery of tenofovir and levonorgestrel, an anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) drug and a contraceptive.

13 Nov 2013