DH Consultation on publication of abortion statistics

The Department of Health (DH) is proposing changes to the way it publishes abortion statistics for England and Wales, and is seeking the views of commissioners, clinicians, academics and other government departments and special interest groups. The consultation is open until 10 June 2013. The aim of the consultation is to ensure that the abortion […]

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US Judge orders FDA to make Morning-After Pill available over the counter for all

 Judge Strikes Down Age Limits on Morning-After Pill A federal judge has ruled that the Unites States government must make the most common morning-after pill available over the counter for all ages, instead of requiring a prescription for girls 16 and under. The New York Times reported that the decision, on a fraught and politically […]

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April Journal – 20th Anniversary of the FSRH

Hightlights from this edition include: The FSRH’s 20th anniversary It is 20 years since the establishment of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH). In celebrating its anniversary there is much to be proud of, and indeed Community Sexual and Reproductive Health is now a specialty in its own right. Readers should find the story […]

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Sexual health improvement framework, comments and other News

‘A Framework for Sexual Health Improvement in England’ sets out the government’s ambitions for improving sexual health. Designed to be used by local organisations when they are looking at how best to provide sexual health services in their area. This includes the need for: a fall in the number of unwanted pregnancies  greater efforts to […]

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Press Releases: Risk of Unwanted Pregnancies with Morning After Pill Conscience Clause & Cuts to services set to cost UK £136.7 billion

Risk of Unwanted Pregnancies with Morning After Pill Conscience Clause This article is published in the Journal of Medical Ethics today – “The Fox and the grapes: an Anglo-Irish perspective on conscientious objection to the supply of emergency hormonal contraception without prescription” Conscience clauses, which allow pharmacists to opt out of providing the “morning after […]

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The remarkable story of Romanian women’s struggle to manage their fertility

  As mentioned in the previous blog this remarkable story (Editor’s choice in this month’s Journal) documents what can happen when access to abortion is restricted. I include here the graph, from the paper, which shows this so well.   Anne Furedi, Chief Executive of BPAS, writes, in response to the article, The commentary by […]

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Drugs – What’s in a name?

Branded, generics or branded generics? Do you know the difference? When a branded, or proprietary, drug comes ‘off patent’ it is common for other companies to apply for marketing authorisation and we are, increasingly, seeing this in sexual health. This can be for generic versions or for branded generics. Branded generics are simply generic equivalent […]

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World AIDS Day 2012 – News

“Getting to Zero: Zero new HIV infections. Zero deaths from AIDS-related illness. Zero discrimination” is the theme of World AIDS Day 2012 on 1 December. Life-saving antiretrovirals have reduced new HIV infections and deaths. The 2015 target of 15 million HIV-infected people on antiretroviral medicines worldwide looks more achievable now than ever before.   World […]

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MedFASH celebrates 25 yrs

The Medical Foundation for HIV and Sexual Health is 25 yrs old (rebranded as MEDFASH). Established in 1987 by the BMA, as an independent foundation, with the aim of improving knowledge and understanding of HIV among health professionals it has grown and spread to encompass all aspects of sexual health. As part of this celebration […]

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