Reproductive Health News and Research

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State roundup: N.J. plan would cut Medicaid by $500 million

States and territories are eligible for up to $40 million to strengthen and coordinate efforts to prevent chronic disease, the Health and Human Services Department announced Tuesday. The initiative is funded by the healthcare reform law and targets the nation's five leading chronic diseases: heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and arthritis.

9 Jun 2011

International coalition launches common platform to end AIDS epidemic

An international coalition of scientists and activists today launched a common platform for ending the AIDS epidemic. Thirty years into the epidemic, as world leaders come together at the United Nations to recommit to a global AIDS response, the broad-based international coalition issued a statement calling for world leaders to support a rational, evidence-based approach to responding to AIDS.

8 Jun 2011

Attorneys head to court today over Indiana ban on funding for Planned Parenthood

The reproductive health organization is seeking a preliminary injunction against a new state law that would cut Medicaid funds.

6 Jun 2011

SpermComet: New test for male infertility

A new test for male infertility will save time, money and heartache for couples around the world, scientists have claimed. Queen's University Belfast said that more than a decade's research by Professor Sheena Lewis, who leads its Reproductive Medicine research group, had delivered a medical breakthrough.

5 Jun 2011

Indiana officials say they will defy federal order on Planned Parenthood

State lawyers say they must obey a law signed by the governor last month that bars funding to clinics offering abortions. Medicaid officials warned this week that denying payments for covered health services was illegal and could endanger all federal Medicaid payments to the state.

4 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 3, 2011

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, Marilyn Chase writes: "Memorial, a 278-bed hospital in this city 55 miles north of San Francisco, sued California to try to stop the payment reductions. Now it is part of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that could redefine states' responsibilities on Medicaid services and ultimately determine whether Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown can go forward with cuts he says are vital to closing the state's budget gap.

3 Jun 2011

ACLU and Planned Parenthood sue South Dakota

Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in federal court charging that a South Dakota abortion law set to take effect July 1st violates both free speech rights and a woman's right to obtain an abortion.

1 Jun 2011

Senate Democrats pressure states to maintain funding for Planned Parenthood

Some Democratic senators are asking a top government health official to warn states that if they try to exclude family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood from Medicaid and Title X funding, they'll face penalties from the federal government (5/27).

27 May 2011

Sosei to introduce NorLevo oral emergency contraceptive in Japan

Sosei Group Corporation, the biopharmaceutical company, today announced that Sosei Co., Ltd., its wholly owned Japanese subsidiary, will launch its emergency contraceptive pill, NorLevo(R) TABLETS 0.75mg, tomorrow 24 May, through the distribution network of its commercialization partner, ASKA Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

23 May 2011

16 Countries announce new commitments to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality

Today 16 countries announced new commitments to dramatically reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality, as part of the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health.

21 May 2011

Separation of family planning, HIV funding harms women, girls in developing world, advocates say

Advocates at a meeting in Paris about women, population and development, held ahead of next week's G8 summit, said that HIV prevention methods can be used to further family planning goals, Deutsche Welle reports.

21 May 2011

Bill to expand reproductive health services in the Philippines introduced in country's Congress

A reproductive health bill introduced Tuesday in the House of Representatives in the Philippines "would require the government to provide information on family planning methods, make contraceptives available free of charge and introduce reproductive health and sexuality classes in schools," the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports, noting the scope of controversy surrounding this issue.

20 May 2011

Probability of contamination during handshaking could be lower than is commonly perceived

Graduations are a celebration of achievement and growth, but could all the pomp and circumstance increase your risk of exposure to harmful bacteria? A team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health examined the risk of acquiring pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) through shaking hands at graduation ceremonies across Maryland.

18 May 2011

EMAS publishes position statement on women's post-reproductive health problems in Maturitas journal

Elsevier announced the publication of an important position statement from the European Menopause and Andropause Society in the journal Maturitas on managing menopausal women with a personal or family history of venous thromboembolism.

18 May 2011

Early HIV treatment can reduce transmission risk by 96%, preliminary study results show

Preliminary results from a multicountry clinical trial, sponsored by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), show that HIV-positive people who take combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) can reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to their HIV-negative partners by 96 percent, U.S. researchers announced on Thursday " in what is being hailed as a breakthrough in HIV prevention," the Los Angeles Times reports.

16 May 2011

IVF causing multiple birth rates fall

Birth rates for IVF twins and triplets have begun to fall in line with government targets aimed at reducing health risks caused by multiple pregnancies. This fall shows the efficacy of the guidelines brought in by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) that urged UK fertility clinics to limit multiple births to no more than 24% in 2009/10. Among naturally-conceived babies, only around one in 70 is a twin.

15 May 2011

New circumcision treatment can reduce HIV

Promising study results published in the May issue of JAIDS show that a novel medical device has the potential to revolutionize how male circumcision services are offered in countries hardest hit by the HIV epidemic.

13 May 2011

Fourth U.N. Conference on the Least Developed Countries continues to examine development possibilities for LDCs

"More than 8,000 people - representatives of governments, international agencies, development partners and civil society - are attending the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-IV), outlining a plan to lessen the burden of poverty, hunger and disease on the world's most vulnerable people," Inter Press Service reports.

12 May 2011

Women's Health Issues' new supplement highlights abortion, reproductive health research

The Editors of Women's Health Issues, the peer-reviewed journal of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, are pleased to announce the publication of a new Supplement entitled, Abortion, Reproductive Rights and Health: Highlights from the Charlotte Ellertson Social Science Postdoctoral Fellowship 2003-2010.

10 May 2011

Uganda: First vaccination for GMZ2 malaria vaccine trial

Today, the EDCTP-funded GMZ2 consortium starts volunteer enrolment for the phase IIb clinical trial of the candidate malaria vaccine GMZ2 in Uganda. This is the third trial site to initiate volunteer recruitment for this multi-country study. Vaccination is already underway at trial sites in Gabon (November 2010) and Burkina Faso (April 2011). The Uganda site is in the peri-urban area of Iganga/Mayuge, at the Iganga Hospital. Akin to most areas in Uganda, malaria is one of the major health problems in this district. A team from Makerere University (Kampala) is conducting the trial.

9 May 2011