Women's Health News and Research

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HHS names interim replacement for Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs

HHS on Friday named Evelyn Kappeler, a senior legislative analyst, to serve as an interim replacement for Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Population Affairs Eric Keroack, the Washington Post reports.

2 Apr 2007

Precautions against C. difficile infection

Illness related to C. difficile, a bacterium commonly found in hospitals, is becoming more widespread, more severe, and harder to treat, reports the April 2007 issue of Harvard Women's Health Watch . Health experts are worried that a new, more virulent strain may be to blame.

2 Apr 2007

Mexico City lawmakers begin hearings on abortion during first three months

Mexico City lawmakers on Wednesday began hearings on a bill that would allow pregnant women in the city to obtain a legal abortion during the first three months' gestation, the Los Angeles Times reports (Tobar, Los Angeles Times, 3/29). Lawmakers from Mexico's Party of the Democratic Revolution recently proposed the measure.

2 Apr 2007

FDA discourages consumers from purchasing Accutane online

FDA last week launched a Web page aimed at discouraging consumers from purchasing the acne drug isotretinoin, sold by Roche under the brand name Accutane, on the Internet, Dow Jones/Marketwatch reports.

2 Apr 2007

Exercise in old age prevents onset of arthritis symptoms

Women in their 70s who keep active could be dodging painful arthritis symptoms, according to research published in Arthritis Research and Therapy.

30 Mar 2007

Should male circumcision be recommended for the prevention of HIV infection?

In response to the urgent need to reduce the number of new HIV infections globally, WHO and the UNAIDS Secretariat convened an international expert consultation to determine whether male circumcision should be recommended for the prevention of HIV infection.

28 Mar 2007

Mexican Senate to consider bill allowing abortion in first three months of pregnancy

Senators from Mexico's Party of the Democratic Revolution, the country's largest leftist party, on Tuesday introduced a bill that would legalize abortion nationwide during the first three months of pregnancy, the AP/Guardian reports.

22 Mar 2007

HPV vaccine proposals in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Dakota

Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline's HPV vaccine Cervarix in clinical trials have been shown to be 100% effective in preventing infection with HPV strains 16 and 18, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases.

22 Mar 2007

Canada budgets $258 million for human papillomavirus vaccination programs

The Canadian government on Monday announced that it is including about $258 million in the 2007-2008 budget to help pay for provincial human papillomavirus vaccination programs, Toronto's Globe and Mail reports.

22 Mar 2007

SIDS risk lowered by use of pacifier

The risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the third leading cause of infant death, may be lowered through the use of a pacifier.

13 Mar 2007

18% of young women sexually victimized

Sexual victimization can mean several things -- verbal coercion to have sex with an intimate partner, rape by a stranger, a woman fondled in a bar or forced intercourse when a woman is too intoxicated to consent or object.

13 Mar 2007

Louisiana hospital system to focus on neighborhood clinics

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D) on Wednesday said that a new Louisiana State University-operated medical clinic in Baton Rouge will serve as a model for the future of health care delivery in the state, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports.

11 Mar 2007

WHO Director-General discusses effect of HIV/AIDS on women on International Women's Day

World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan in a statement released in recognition of International Women's Day, which is scheduled for Thursday, discussed the effects of HIV/AIDS on women in sub-Saharan Africa, Xinhua News Agency reports.

11 Mar 2007

Lack of preventive care, not HPV vaccine, 'real' reason 'too many women still die of cervical cancer'

The "real" reason that "[t]oo many women still die of cervical cancer" is the "lack of access to preventive medical care for low-income women and not the lack of a vaccine," Wall Street Journal columnist and Illinois-based physician Benjamin Brewer writes in an opinion piece.

11 Mar 2007

Gardasil not provided at most New York City health clinics

Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil is not provided at most New York City health clinics, and girls and women who are eligible for no-cost or low-cost vaccination often are told they must pay for it, according to a report released on Wednesday by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, the New York Sun reports.

11 Mar 2007

Advocates on International Women's day highlight discrimination, need to end impunity for sexual violence

Advocates worldwide on International Women's Day on Thursday highlighted issues such as gender equality, discrimination and the need for justice for survivors of sexual violence, Reuters reports .

11 Mar 2007

New Jersey hospital launches program encouraging expectant couples to bank adult stem cells

Livingston, New Jersey-based Saint Barnabas Medical Center officials on Tuesday announced that the clinic has partnered with LifebankUSA to launch a program devoted to encouraging expectant couples to bank both umbilical cord blood and placental stem cells, the Newark Star-Ledger reports.

11 Mar 2007

Advocates call on Kroger Pharmacies to make emergency contraceptive Plan B available

Advocates are calling on Cincinnati-based Kroger stores to make the emergency contraceptive Plan B available to women at its pharmacies after a Georgia woman said a store did not sell her the drug, the AP/Akron Beacon Journal reports.

11 Mar 2007

Response to opinion piece saying global maternal health programs deserve more support

The New York Times on Sunday published several letters to the editor in response to a Feb. 25 Times column by Nicholas Kristof. According to Kristof, maternal health programs should receive support from the U.S. in part because the country knows how to lower maternal mortality and morbidity.

8 Mar 2007

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle rejects federal abstinence education funds

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) has directed the state Department of Health and Family Services to notify federal officials that Wisconsin is refusing $600,000 in Title V federal abstinence education funds for fiscal year 2007, health department spokesperson Stephanie Marquis said on Friday, the Madison Capital Times reports.

8 Mar 2007