Girls younger than 17 can safely use emergency contraception without a prescription, and there is no reason they can't buy it over-the-counter. At least that's the conclusion from a study whose final analysis included 340 girls who requested emergency contraception from reproductive health clinics in 5 cities.University of California researchers tracked the girls who came into the clinics. Of the 340 girls, 91.5% were able to appropriately decide when to use the pill. Also, 92.9% of the 298 girls who eventually took the pill used the contraception correctly."Restricting young females' use of a single-tablet emergency contraceptive by prescription only is not warranted, because females younger than 17 years can use it in a manner consistent with over-the-counter access," the researchers concluded in the study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology."This study confirms findings from two other studies that teens are able to understand (emergency contraception) labeling in order to use it safely and effectively," Megan Kavanaugh, a senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institute in New York, told Reuters Health via email.The study was funded by research grants from Teva ($TEVA) Women's Health Research.Last year, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius set off a firestorm after trumping the FDA on expanding access to the Plan B contraceptive. At issue was whether Teva's product should be taken out from behind the pharmacists' counter, making it available outside pharmacy hours--and without a prescription for girls younger than 17 for the first time. The FDA was inclined to approve, but HHS intervened, overruling that decision.- here is the study
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Saturday, 24 March 2012
Reproductive Health Clinics-Emergency Contraception-Emergency Contraceptive-Women's Health
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
American Journal Of Public Health-Prescription-Bloomberg
Right now, the American women who have the most choice are those who live near the border with Mexico, where pharmacies sell oral contraceptives without a prescription, generally for about $5 for a one-month supply. A group of researchers including Grossman have conducted extensive interviews with more than 1,000 women who live in El Paso, Texas. Roughly half the women get birth-control pills from local clinics, often free, while the other half go across the border to pharmacies in Ciudad Juarez. The researchers find, not surprisingly, that those who cross the border have more ties to Mexico; 77 percent were born there, compared with 60 percent of clinic users. But there are also differences in priorities. “Among pharmacy users, very large percentages noted both not having to go to a doctor to get a prescription and being able to send a friend or relative to pick up their pills as advantages of Mexican pharmacies,” the researchers write in a June 2010 article in the American Journal of Public Health. Clinic users, on the other hand, cite low cost and the availability of other health services. via bloomberg.com Posted via email from Jack's posterous read more..
Sunday, 4 March 2012
University Of British Columbia-Effects Of Stress-Sleep Problems-Sleeplessness
Almost two-thirds of women in British Columbia filled at least one prescription at some point in their pregnancy, including drugs with potential risks, according to a new study by University of British Columbia researchers. The study, published online in the journal Clinical Therapeutics, is the first of its kind in Canada... read more..
Health Tip: Appreciate Your Body Image While Pregnant
-- Some women have a difficult time accepting their changing, growing bodies while they are pregnant.The womenshealth.gov website suggests how to help women better appreciate their bodies during pregnancy:Understand that your body is changing... read more..
For Sleep Struggles, Women Urged to Alter Routines
FRIDAY, March 2 -- Driven to sleeplessness by the effects of stress and the demands of their own biology, women are more likely than men to have serious sleep problems, experts say."We see insomnia much more frequently in women, probably at least... read more..