European Commission confirms EC access

The European Commission, in a historic ruling, has confirmed the authorisation of the emergency contraceptive, ellaOne® (ulipristal acetate, 30mg), to be accessible direct from pharmacies without the need for a prescription from a doctor. This is the first ever decision of its type regarding any oral contraceptive product applicable to all EU member states, according […]

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Google, Sex and Censorship

Men Only Tayside is a sexual health partnership which has developed beween NHS Tayside Sexual Health and Tayside’s Blood-Bourne Virus Managed Care Network which aims to provide unbiased information and sexual health services for men who have sex with men (MSM) and men who have sex with women and men (MSWM) in the Tayside area […]

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The Future Is Here

Most of us, as healthcare professionals, would consider access to the internet to be an essential part of our work, whether this is for communicating with each other or keeping up to date with our field. For patients, the benefits of access to the internet are many. Being able to contact peer-support and information about […]

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Sex Ed

The teaching of sex education in British schools remains a divisive topic at the forefront of media attention as the Government considers its position on whether or not the teaching of Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) should become mandatory in England and Wales At the moment, all maintained secondary schools must provide SRE. This means […]

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EMA recommends availability of ellaOne® emergency contraceptive without prescription

Change in status to facilitate access for women across Europe The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has recommended a change in classification status from prescription to non-prescription for the emergency contraceptive ellaOne® (ulipristal acetate). This means that the medicine could be obtained without a prescription in the European Union […]

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The Three Ghosts of Child Protection

It’s been a depressing time for child protection in the UK recently. Admittedly, child protection work rarely hits the headlines for the right reasons, as confidentiality restricts the pronouncement of victory, and the media rarely gets excited about restoring safety and normality. The prevention of bad outcomes doesn’t make for headlines that sell newspapers in […]

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Marie Stopes International launches “Time to Act: Achieving a world where no woman dies from unsafe abortion”

Ahead of World Contraception Day (September 26th) Marie Stopes International (MSI) is launching Time to Act: Achieving a world where no woman dies from unsafe abortion to coincide with the UNGA’s deliberations on the 1994 Cairo agenda and the post-2015 goals.  A copy of the report is available here: http://www.makewomenmatter.org/timetoact. Part of MSI’s Make Women […]

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FGM Awareness

Female Genital Mutilation has come to the forefront of media attention this summer, with the government allocating a quarter of a million pounds of funding towards the eradication of the practice earlier this year. and readers of the Journal have probably noticed an increasing focus on this issue. Last week Yvette Cooper, the shadow home […]

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Readers might be interested to know that Pfizer are sponsoring a series of educational events on womens’ healthcare, encompassing  aspects of sexual health and family planning. These are taking place in England through October and November. Manchester – Saturday 4th October 2014 Nottingham – Saturday 11th October 2014 Durham – Tuesday 4th November 2014 Blackburn […]

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