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The women, girls, and gender equality of the GHI: Assessment of the GHI plus country strategies

This report from the Kaiser Family Foundation assesses how countries are responding to a GHI principle to address women, girls and gender equality. The report examines country strategies for seven of the eight "GHI Plus" nations: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kenya, Mali, Malawi, and Nepal.

1 Jul 2011

NPR examines controversial drug being used to save women's lives

In another installment in NPR's summer-long series "Beginnings," NPR's All Things Considered aired a story on Wednesday examining how the controversial drug misoprostol is being used worldwide to save women's lives.

1 Jul 2011

Women more likely to survive after major gastrointestinal surgeries than men

In the first study to consider the impact of gender on patient outcomes in major gastrointestinal surgeries, researchers at UC San Diego Health System have found that women are more likely to survive after the procedure than men.

1 Jul 2011

Women's rights becoming 'cornerstone' of U.S. foreign policy

"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is spearheading a quiet revolution in progressive foreign policy by making the empowerment of women and advancement of their rights a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy," Peter Juul, a policy analyst at American Progress, writes in a post on the American Progress National Security Strategy issue page, before listing multiple programs, including GHI and Feed the Future, that have incorporated women's rights into their core values.

1 Jul 2011

Avoidance of routine thyroid testing on pregnant women would have let 80% of cases go undetected

A recent study completed by researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) demonstrates that BMC conducts a high rate of thyroid function testing in pregnant women.

1 Jul 2011

Ovarian cancer molecular updates

In a new study a genetic mutation was found in the most common form of ovarian cancer. This according to the US scientists could pave the way for a more effective treatment of the disease. The detailed genetic map already helped scientists identify existing drugs with the potential for treating the mutations found in ovarian cancer tumors and also identified mutations that could respond to new drugs.

1 Jul 2011

Panel advises FDA to reject Avastin as breast cancer drug

The unanimous recommendation by this committee of cancer experts increases the likelihood that the drug will no longer be widely available for the treatment of breast cancer. Avastin, however, will continue to have the Food and Drug Adminstration's approval for use in treating certain other cancers.

1 Jul 2011

Viewpoints: Abortion law debates; Medicare cost examinations; state reform building blocks

The Susan B. Anthony List's Pro-Life Leadership Pledge has garnered praise from a number of Republican presidential candidates, including Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Tim Pawlenty, each of whom has signed the pledge. It has also faced some misinformed criticism, however, not only from the media but from other presidential candidates who refuse to sign on to the pledge's four basic principles.

30 Jun 2011

Non-smoking women more likely to be obese: Study

According to the latest research non-smoking women are more likely to be obese and die of associated illnesses than those who smoke. About 8,000 women were recruited to the Renfrew and Paisley study from 1972 to 1976. Of these, 40% had never smoked.

30 Jun 2011

N.C. Gov. Vetoes abortion bill; 2 Kansas doctors file suit against Kansas law; R.I. exchange bill caught in dispute

Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed a bill Monday that would require women seeking abortions to wait 24 hours after state-prescribed counseling, leaving the bill's House supporters looking for override votes. The bill would have made significant changes in state abortion policy, changes supporters said would give pregnant women important information about fetal development and abortion alternatives.

30 Jun 2011

Diagnostic delay in women with tuberous sclerosis complex increases mortality risk

Women with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) are often misdiagnosed because the condition, commonly recognized in early childhood when it presents with seizures, manifests differently later in life, typically with renal angiomyolipomas - a benign tumor of the kidney - and pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) - a rare lung disease that affects almost exclusively women.

30 Jun 2011

Girl's Book Project delivers critical information about puberty and health

The onset of puberty is a critical moment for reaching girls with health messages and information, and the stakes are particularly high in countries where the HIV/AIDS epidemic rages and where threats to female reproductive health abound. Yet to date, the healthcare community in low-resource countries has tended to neglect this opportunity and instead concentrate efforts on young women who are older and of reproductive age.

30 Jun 2011

Women recover faster from knee replacement surgery than men

Although women generally have worse knee function and more severe symptoms before undergoing surgery for knee replacement than men, they recover faster after the operation. Men take longer to recover but, after a year, they catch up with women and there are no differences in surgery outcomes at that time.

30 Jun 2011

Social stigma surrounding abortion

An international team of researchers says abortion stigma is under-researched, under theorized and over emphasized in one category: women who've had abortions. As a result, they're launching a new direction into research that explores the social stigma surrounding abortion.

30 Jun 2011

Early metformin treatment may prevent adolescent polycystic ovary syndrome

A recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) found that early, prolonged treatment with the diabetes drug metformin may prevent or delay the development of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in adolescence.

30 Jun 2011

FDA's ODAC recommends withdrawal of Avastin approval for metastatic breast cancer

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, announced today that, during a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hearing, the FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) recommended that the FDA withdraw its approval of Avastin in combination with paclitaxel chemotherapy for previously untreated HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

30 Jun 2011

FDA looks at Avastin risks

The US Food and Drug Administration is holding a two-day hearing that pits the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research against Genentech, that manufactures breast cancer drug Avastin. A handful of breast cancer patients testified Tuesday that Avastin helped in treating their metastatic breast cancer but a review of studies conducted by the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research suggests the risks outweigh the benefits of Avastin for treating breast cancer, FDA officials said at the hearing.

29 Jun 2011

NPR examines maternal, child health in Mozambique

NPR's All Things Considered reports on efforts to improve maternal health in Mozambique. The piece, which is part of a summer series, looks at the challenges involved with getting pregnant women to hospitals and shortages of trained health worker (Block, 6/27).

29 Jun 2011

PEP intervention increases breast cancer awareness

Educating women about breast cancer increases their knowledge about the disease should they develop a symptom - and could help increase survival from breast cancer, new research today shows.

29 Jun 2011

Stop ignoring historical western advocacy of sex selection

Mara Hvistendahl, a correspondent with Science magazine and author of the recently published "Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men," writes in a Foreign Policy feature that "as American politicians argue over whether to cut Planned Parenthood's U.S. funding and the Christian right drives through bans on sex-selective abortion at the state level, the effects of three decades of sex selection elsewhere in the world are becoming alarmingly apparent.

29 Jun 2011