Contraception

Birth control, also known as contraception and fertility control, is a method or device used to prevent pregnancy.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Contraceptive Patch

The oral contraceptive pill was used widely because of its high efficacy. However, poor patient compliance inevitably led to higher-than-ideal pregnancy rates, as users often forgot to take the pill at the right time, to take it every day, or had gastrointestinal conditions which interfered with its digestion and absorption.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Contraceptive Implants

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Contraceptive Vaginal Ring

Do Contraceptive Injections Affect Bones?

How Does the Progestogen-only Pill Work?

Natural Family Planning: an Overview

Natural Family Planning: Advantages and Disadvantages

Contraception and STIs

Contraception in Over 50s

Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) Types

Female Sterilization

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Progestogen-Only Pill (POP)

See more featured articles »

IUD: Advantages and Disadvantages

IUS: Advantages and Disadvantages

Intrauterine Device (IUD) and Intrauterine System (IUS) Differences

How Does the Contraceptive Vaginal Ring Work?

How Does the Contraceptive Implant Work?

How is the Contraceptive Implant Put in and Taken Out?

How Effective are Different Types of Contraception?

How to insert a diaphragm, cap or vaginal ring

How to Use the Patch

What is the Contraceptive Patch?

Types of Contraception

Types of Combined Birth Control Pills

Male Condom versus Female Condom

How Does The Combined Pill Work?

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Combined Pill

Emergency Contraception

Does Breastfeeding Act as a Contraceptive?

Condoms for Oral and Anal Sex

Condoms - Advantages and Disadvantages

How Effective are Condoms?

Combined Pill FAQs

Blood Clot Risk and the Oral Contraceptive Pill

Latest Contraception News and Research

Repurposing an existing, cheap drug into long-acting injectable therapy to treat Covid-19

Researchers from the University of Liverpool have shown the potential of repurposing an existing and cheap drug into a long-acting injectable therapy that could be used to treat Covid-19.

5 May 2021

Disruptions to essential health services due to COVID-19 pandemic persist in 90% of countries

The second round of a World Health Organization "pulse survey" reveals that over one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, substantial disruptions persist, with about 90% of countries still reporting one or more disruptions to essential health services, marking no substantial global change since the first survey conducted in the summer of 2020.

23 Apr 2021

Repurposing an existing, cheap drug into long-acting injectable therapy to treat Covid-19

Researchers from the University of Liverpool have shown the potential of repurposing an existing and cheap drug into a long-acting injectable therapy that could be used to treat Covid-19.

16 Apr 2021

Myths about modern contraceptive impact family planning in Sub-Saharan Africa

Cultural and social norms, and myths about how modern contraceptives affect men's virility are just some of the reasons why the uptake of contraception remains low in Sub-Saharan Africa, despite increasing demand.

9 Apr 2021

Study highlights how women's choice of birth control is affected by out-of-pocket costs

Getting a birth control implant used to cost some women hundreds of dollars, if they were among the nearly half of privately insured Americans covered by a health plan with a high deductible that they were responsible for paying.

7 Apr 2021

Contraception counseling, pregnancy planning are necessary to optimize health of women with heart disease

Pregnancy can increase the risk of morbidity and mortality in women with cardiovascular disease; however, many cardiologists are not having pre-pregnancy contraception discussions with their patients of child-bearing age.

5 Apr 2021

‘Incredibly concerning’ lawsuit threatens no-charge preventive care for millions

With a challenge to the Affordable Care Act still pending at the Supreme Court, conservatives are continuing to launch legal attacks on the law, including a case in which a Texas federal judge seems open to ending the requirement that most Americans must receive preventive services like mammograms free of charge.

26 Mar 2021

Statement on the worsening humanitarian situation in Tigray region of Ethiopia

Amid a worsening humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, reports of indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians, including rape and other horrific forms of sexual violence, continue to surface. This must stop.

24 Mar 2021

New guidelines outline key new actions to improve delivery of HIV testing, treatment and care

These guidelines provide new and updated recommendations on the use of point-of-care testing in children under 18 months of age and point-of-care tests to monitor treatment in people living with HIV; the treatment monitoring algorithm; and timing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people living with HIV who are being treated for tuberculosis.

23 Mar 2021

Women with diabetes less likely to use contraception after diagnosis, study finds

Uncontrolled diabetes increases maternal and fetal risks during pregnancy. As a result, the American Diabetes Association recommends that family planning should be discussed and effective contraception should be available to the more than three percent of (more than one million) reproductive-age women in the United States with diabetes.

18 Mar 2021

Clinical trials of new treatments for COVID-19 often do not include vulnerable populations

Studies examining the effectiveness of treatments for COVID-19 often do not include the very populations hardest hit by the disease, according to a new review by University of Chicago Medicine researchers.

3 Feb 2021

WHO recommends dapivirine vaginal ring as additional HIV prevention choice for at-risk women

WHO today recommended that the dapivirine vaginal ring (DPV-VR) may be offered as an additional prevention choice for women at substantial risk of HIV infection as part of combination prevention approaches.

1 Feb 2021

Change in evidence-based guidelines for vasectomy may reduce number of follow-up tests

A change in evidence-based guidelines for vasectomy may have led to a reduction in the number of follow-up tests to confirm the procedure was successful, reports a study in Urology Practice®, an Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

13 Jan 2021