The top research story of the week is a new Lancet study that concludes a $1 drug that has been around a long time – the blood-clotting aid tranexamic acid (TXA) – could save tens of thousands women who die each year from postpartum hemorrhage. CIRHT colleague Dr. Abdulfetah from St. Paul’s Hospital is the national coordinator of the trial for Ethiopia and Jimma University Hospital, another partner institution, also participated in recruiting participants.
A study in the South Africa Medical Journal concludes that “contraception coverage is higher than many previous estimates. Rates of unintended pregnancy, contraceptive failure and knowledge gaps, however, demonstrate high levels of unmet need, especially among black Africans and young women.” Another article says that even with knowledge and availability, only 15% of college-age US women use long-acting reversible contraceptives, citing lack of physical access, misunderstanding of the side effects and cost.
Can more sex education help? Some guidance from a Guttmacher study in Ghana, and calls for more in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Swaziland and Uganda.
While availability of over-the-counter early medical pregnancy termination is seen by some as a way to increase choice, a BJOG study looks at the critical evidence gaps.
Concern and comment on the uncertainty over the Trump administration budget and its negative implications for family planning in the US and around the world: $8 billion at risk, more factual arguments about why investing in FP makes sense and how Planned Parenthood serves women across the country.
Creativity in the face of that uncertainty: Webby Awards for the best websites of 2016 went to UNFPA, Planned Parenthood and Shout Your Abortion. Check them out!
Complete News Review References:
General
Artificial Placenta Holds Promise for Extremely Premature Infants, M Health Lab, 27 Apr 2017
Tranexamic acid can reduce maternal deaths ‘by a third’, Al Jazeera, 26 Apr 2017 (See full research article from The Lancet below)
‘I am a criminal. What is my crime?’: the human toll of abortion in Afghanistan, The Guardian, 26 Apr 2017
$8B US global health aid at risk with ‘global gag rule’, Devex, 26 Apr 2017
Dollars and Sense…Why Invest in Family Planning, Huffington Post, 25 Apr 2017
Why Abortion Is a Progressive Economic Issue, The New York Times, 25 Apr 2017
Trump’s UNFPA Aid Cuts Will Deepen Poverty, World Policy, 25 Apr 2017
Guttmacher Report Confirms Planned Parenthood’s Irreplaceable Role in Providing Family Planning Care, YubaNet, 25 Apr 2017
Long-term birth control is the most reliable. So why do so few young women use it?, Washington Post, 24 Apr 2017
Swedish midwife to take abortion beliefs fight to higher European Court, Fox, 24 Apr 2017
Abortion Without Provider Involvement!, NWHN, 24 Apr 2017
David Nabarro: “The role I have been training for my entire life.”, Global Health Now, 24 Apr 2017
What are young people around the world learning about abortion?, IPPF, 24 Apr 2017
Alexander De Croo brings a working visit to Benin and Senegal together with UN Goodwill Ambassadors Goedele Liekens and Axelle Red, Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs24 Apr 2017
Study: Early Medical Abortion “Safe and Effective”, ePR News, 24 Apr 2017
Using Mobile Phones to Empower Smart Clients of Family Planning Services, HC3, 21 Apr 2017
The FGM Conversation has to Change, Girls Globe, 21 Apr 2017
Study Analyzes the Emotional Work of Preventing Pregnancy, Elle, 20 Apr 2017
Increasing caesarean sections in Africa could save more mothers’ lives, The Conversation, 19 Apr 2017
Perspectives on Monitoring Progress Toward Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality: Highlights from CUGH 2017, MHTF, 19 Apr 2017
The birth control gap: Women still do most of the work in preventing pregnancy — does it have to be that way?, Salon, 20 Apr 2017
Trump: Making IUDs great again?, USA Today, 20 Mar 2017
47,000 women die each year from unsafe abortions. Now is not the time to pull the plug on family planning, Medium, 8 Mar 2017
Academic
County-level racial prejudice and the black-white gap in infant health outcomes, Social Science and Medicine, May 2017
A research agenda for moving early medical pregnancy termination over the counter, BJOG, 27 Apr 2017
Effect of early tranexamic acid administration on mortality, hysterectomy, and other morbidities in women with post-partum haemorrhage (WOMAN): an international, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, The Lancet, 26 Apr 2017
Confounding, Causality and Confusion: The Role of Intermediate Variables in Interpreting Observational Studies in Obstetrics, AJOG, 25 Apr 2017
Religious Ethical and Cultural Impacts on the Delivery of Reproductive Healthcare: A Program for InterProfessional Education (RECIPE), APGO, 24 Apr 2017
New study threatens midwives’ freedom of conscience on abortion, Anglican Mainstream, 24 Apr 2017
Contraception coverage and methods used among women in South Africa: A national household survey, South Africa Medical Journal, April 2017
From Paper to Practice: Sexuality Education Policies and Their Implementation in Ghana, Guttmacher, April 2017
Benin
In search of well-being , Youth Against Abortion Stigma, 25 Apr 2017
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso communes allot funds for family planning in their 2017 investment plans, Advance Family Planning, 25 Apr 2017
A Teen in Burkina Faso on Why Reproductive Health Is Important to Her, Planned Parenthood Global, 12 Apr 2017
Ethiopia
UNFPA handed-over ambulances to the Gambella Region Health Bureau, UNFPA, 27 Apr 2017
Quality Improvement – The Constant Need to Provide Better FP Services to the Communities our Partners Serve, CIRHT, 24 Apr 2017
Ghana
Inadequate information hindering sexual and reproductive health in schools, Ghana Business News, 27 Apr 2017
PSI Ghana Sensitizes Young Women on Sexual Reproductive Health, Ghana News Agency, 26 Apr 2017
Kenya
Sexuality education failing students, Daily Nation, 26 Apr 2017
Clamour to give condoms to teens suspect, Daily Nation, 24 Apr 2017
Malawi
Local NGO Geared to Reduce School Dropout In Malawi, Capital. FM, 24 Apr 2017
Nigeria
The problems of family planning in Nigeria, The Economist, 29 Apr 2017
Afe Babalola wants number of children pegged at two, Vanguard, 28 Apr 2017
Why there should be increased adoption, funding for family planning, Daily Trust, 25 Apr 2017
Sierra Leone
Banned From School For Being Pregnant, The Voice, 28 Apr 2017
Marie Stopes refutes confidentiality allegation, Agence de Press Africaine, 21 Apr 2017
South Africa
New studies show benefits of increasing women’s access to medical abortion in South Africa, IPAS, 25 Apr 2017
Sexual and Reproductive Health Services and Peer Education at Mnambithi TVET College, UNFPA, 24 Apr 2017
Swaziland
Reducing maternal mortality through family planning, Swazi Observer, 27 Apr 2017
Tanzania
Reproductive health-care just a ‘bajaj’ away, The Citizen, 24 Apr 2017
Uganda
Young women’s freedom and choices amid talk of contraceptives, morals, Daily Monitor, 26 Apr 2017
Early pregnancies causing congestion in hospital – authorities, Daily Monitor, 25 Apr 2017
Experts blame teenage pregnancies on poverty, ignorance, Daily Monitor, 24 Apr 2017
At 37, she has given birth to 38 children, Daily Monitor, 23 Apr 2017
Shs36m up for young people interested in building innovative health products , Daily Monitor, 23 Apr 2017
