By Matthew Hibbert and Aedan Wolton The sexual health needs of trans people remain understudied in the UK and internationally. It is estimated that the worldwide prevalence of HIV among trans women is around 19%, but there is currently no research in the UK regarding HIV prevalence among trans people. Previous research into trans sexual […]
Latest articles
Sexual healthcare and contraception provision after sexual assault
by Sinead Cook People who attend Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) have a variety of acute and longer-term sexual health and contraceptive needs. In Cardiff, we introduced a local policy in 2017 that aimed to ensure high-quality immediate care within the SARC and onwards referral to the local integrated sexual health clinic. A year later, […]
Climate change and contraception
John Bongaarts and Regine Sitruk-Ware Global climate change represents a grave threat to the future of human welfare and our natural environment. The contentious ongoing policy debate about potential interventions focuses on switching to renewable energy sources and increasing energy use efficiency. But, given the urgency of the problem and the lack of political will, […]
Why neglect of STIs and infertility could be undermining family planning programmes
Why do people still not use effective contraceptive methods? One reason is that many women and their families in low- and middle-income countries fear the most effective contraceptives can cause infertility. A conventional response to this is that people simply need more information to put them on the right track – that women who, […]
Male contraception: where are we going and where have we been?
John Reynolds-Wright New male contraceptive methods are closer than they have been before. Progress in developing new reversible male contraception has been slow – research originally began at roughly the same time as female contraceptive research in the 1950s but did not enjoy the same success and investment as female contraceptives. Various publicly funded initiatives […]
Violence against pregnant women is wrong. Full stop.
By Isra Arif and Susan Bewley Pregnancy Termination and Intimate Partner Violence In a recent paper in the International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Khan et al. address the well-known association between intimate partner violence (IPV) and pregnancy terminations in Latin American countries and are clearly empathetic towards women affected by IPV. However, they seem […]
Small-sized ‘gold standard’ copper intrauterine devices may have lower discontinuation and fewer side effects than standard-sized counterparts
By Hannat Akintomide Pain and bleeding are the commonest unwanted effects of copper intrauterine contraception and pose barriers to continued use. When choosing copper intrauterine contraception, the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare recommends a ‘gold standard’ intrauterine device (IUD). Gold standard IUDs are the most efficacious and have the longest duration of use. They […]
Jaydess – An Underused IUS
By L. Matytsina-Quinlan Despite Jaydess levonorgestrel intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) being introduced to UK users in 2014, there are no recent publications regarding Jaydess use. My recently published manuscript, Jaydess audit standards and benefits, is a result of a small audit. This audit is an important first step towards increasing clinical use because more robust data are required to confirm advantages of offering Jaydess. […]
Self-Administered Misoprostol for Early Medical Abortion Is Effective and Efficient
by Rebecca Finch In October 2017, the Scottish government changed the law to allow women to self-administer misoprostol in their own homes. Misoprostol is the second of two drugs used in early medical abortion (EMA), and prior to this, was required by law to be administered on a licensed premises, such as in a hospital […]
Poco pero existe: explorando la utilización de servicios de aborto en el segundo trimestre en México
Por Blair Darney y Lily Alexander Las mujeres en la Ciudad de México (CDMX) han tenido acceso a servicios de aborto gratuito y legal durante el primer trimestre de embarazo desde 2007. Desde entonces, el programa de Interrupción Legal de Embarazo (ILE) ha realizado 214,000 procedimientos legales. [Read this blog in English here] Sin embargo, […]