By Hayase Hakariya The Japanese government finally initiated a market test to sell emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs), levonorgestrel (approved in 2011 in Japan), or its generic product, at the designated pharmacies on 28th November 2023. This has been achieved through the long-lasting 6-year endeavours by individuals or voluntary groups to voice easier access for […]
Category: Contraceptive methods
Contraception prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic – opportunities and challenges
By Malcolm Moffat, Tanha Begum, Emer Cullen & Judith Rankin When the COVID-19 pandemic began almost four years ago, few of us could have predicted the profound and enduring impact that the events of 2020 and 2021 would have on all our lives. Not least among those impacts were the effects that lockdown restrictions […]
How can we Offer Better Contraceptive Care for Trans, Nonbinary and Gender-Diverse People?
By Tyne Baynton Cairns (They/Them) & Julia Bailey (She/They) Contraceptive care guidelines are usually designed for cisgender, heterosexual women. In the heavily gendered context of contraceptive care, gender dysphoria is common among trans, non-binary and gender-diverse people. In healthcare settings, gender dysphoria can be brought on by the environment, the behaviours of providers, and […]
Are You Listening? Black Voices on Contraception Choice and Access to Sexual Health Services
By Dr Shardia Briscoe-Palmer Ten new videos launch this month, highlighting the views and experiences of Black people when accessing sexual and reproductive health services. The videos are available on the Contraception Choices website. The videos were produced by Dr Shardia Briscoe-Palmer (project researcher) in collaboration with Dr Julia Bailey from the University College London […]
Reflections on a Silver Lining
By Dr. Kate Campbell In our paper, ‘Our COVID-19 cloud silver lining’: the initiation and progress of postnatal contraception services during the COVID-19 pandemic in a UK maternity hospital, we describe our experience of starting an immediate postnatal contraceptive service during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The paper demonstrated how an […]
There’s the IUD, but can it be provided conveniently to women after medical abortion?
By Deborah Constant, Margit Endler, Daniel Grossman, Gregory Petro and Malika Patel Termed “forgettable contraception” as it only requires attention every 5-10 years, the intrauterine device (IUD) is a highly effective long-acting method and has potential to liberate women and girls from the hassle of frequent method administration required by short term methods. In high […]
Questioning Colonial Legacies in Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Interventions
by Kayla Beare Contraception has improved the lives of countless since entering the mainstream in the 1960s. However, like most facets of sexual and reproductive health, contraception is imbued in a history of colonialism. As someone who was born and raised in a previously colonised country, the presence of colonial legacies in global health have […]
Transforming abortion access beyond the pandemic: patient experiences with at-home medical abortion through telemedicine in Australia
By Laura Fix,1 Jane W Seymour,1 Monisha Vaid Sandhu,2 Jacquie O’Brien,2 Catriona Melville,2 Danielle Mazza,3 Terri-Ann Thompson1 Telemedicine delivery of medical abortion is common and safe In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has emerged as key to sustaining access to essential reproductive health care services. Medical abortion care provided via telemedicine has been […]
Signposting patients to sexual health online – don’t forget the health (or the sex)
Dr Julia Bailey, University College London eHealth Unit @juliavbailey The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted an unprecedented shift to remote health services as a response to social distancing for patient and practitioner safety. Sexual health clinic capacity has been cut as staff have been deployed to other parts of the health service, and patients are now […]
Covid-19 and Abortion Update: Approval Order for England Made
This evening the Department of Health and Social Care issued an approval order enabling women in England to have early medical abortions at home during the Covid-19 crisis. The provisions affect women seeking abortions before 10 weeks, allowing them to take both pills for early medical abortion at home. The approval also allows doctors to […]