Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:00:00 PST  Women's Health / Gynecology The American College Of Obstetricians And Gynecologists Supports Women's Access To Universal Health Care During Cover the Uninsured Week, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reiterates its position that all women should be guaranteed a package of essential benefits that includes primary and preventive care, pregnancy-related and infant care, medically and surgically necessary services, prescription drugs, and catastrophic care...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 PST  Sexual Health / STDs CDC Analysis Shows Genital Herpes Rates Remain High Roughly 16% of U.S. residents ages 14 through 49 are infected with genital herpes, making it one of the nation's most common sexually transmitted infections, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis released on Tuesday, Reuters reports. CDC noted that infection rates for the lifelong and incurable infection varied by gender and race. Twenty-one percent of U.S...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 PST  Pregnancy / Obstetrics U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate Increases Over Last Decade The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. appears to have risen over the past 10 years, reaching a rate that is four times higher than the federal government's 2010 goal, the AP/Yahoo! News reports. In 2006, the last year for which nationwide data are available, about 13.3 maternal deaths occurred for every 100,000 live births, compared with around seven deaths per 100,000 births one decade before...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 PST  Women's Health / Gynecology Men's 'Barbarity' Should Not Be Used To Justify Mistreatment Of Women, Opinion Piece Argues "'Feminism' is a loaded word in the United States," but the "simple fact is that 'the feminists' are absolutely right when it comes to the treatment of women in much of the developing world," Los Angeles Times columnist Jonah Goldberg writes...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:00:00 PST  Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Women Who Drink Moderately Appear To Gain Less Weight Than Non-Drinkers Normal-weight women who drink a light to moderate amount of alcohol appear to gain less weight and have a lower risk of becoming overweight and obese than non-drinkers, according to a report in the March 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. More than half of American adults drink alcoholic beverages, according to background information in the article...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PST  Sexual Health / STDs Risk-Free Treatment For Low Female Sexual Desire According to the Journal of Sexual Medicine, people who engage in regular sexual activity gain several health benefits, such as longer lives, healthier hearts, lower blood pressure, and lower risk of breast cancer. However, approximately 33 percent of women may not receive these benefits due to low sexual desire...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 PST  Women's Health / Gynecology Questioning The Benefits Of Elective Removal Of Ovaries During Hysterectomy: Evidence Suggests Procedure May Do More Harm Than Good Removal of the ovaries (bilateral oophorectomy) while performing a hysterectomy is common practice to prevent the subsequent development of ovarian cancer. This prophylactic procedure is performed in 55 percent of all US women having a hysterectomy, or approximately 300,000 times each year...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 PST  Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Low-Income Women Living In Small Cities Have Higher Chance Of Obesity A recent Kansas State University study found that the availability of supermarkets -- rather than the lack of them -- increased the risk of obesity for low-income women living in small cities. This suggests that policies to increase healthful eating behaviors might need to be tailored based on geographic location...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:00:00 PST  Abortion Utah Gov. Signs Revised Bill Allowing Criminal Charges Against Women For Illegal Abortions Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) on Monday signed a bill (HB 462) that would allow prosecutors to bring criminal homicide charges against women who arrange illegal abortions, the Salt Lake Tribune reports (Gehrke, Salt Lake Tribune, 3/8). An earlier version of the bill (HB 12), sponsored by state Rep...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:00:00 PST  Pregnancy / Obstetrics New York Times Examines Factors Affecting VBAC Rates As NIH Conference Begins The New York Times on Tuesday examined efforts to increase rates of vaginal births after caesarean sections at the Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation, a small hospital run by the Navajo Nation and financed partially by the Indian Health Services...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:00:00 PST  Women's Health / Gynecology Obamas, Clinton Commemorate International Women's Day Marking International Women's Day at the White House Monday, President Barack Obama vowed to fight for gender equality at home and abroad, Agence France-Presse reports. The president marked the event with First Lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, AFP reports...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:00:00 PST  HIV / AIDS Opinions: Don't Slow Fight Against HIV, TB, Malaria; U.S. Focus On Women, Girls 2010 To Be 'Decisive Year' For Global Health, Global Fund Director Says In a BusinessDay opinion piece, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Michel Kazatchkine reflects on the organization's progress and impact on global health outcomes since its creation in 2002, as detailed in the organizations' 2010 annual report...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:00:00 PST  Abortion Blogs Comment On Abortion Coverage In Health Reform, International Women's Day, Other Topics The following summarizes selected women's health-related blog entries. ~ "Stupak's Abortion Argument: Still More About Class Than Choice": Washington Post's "Ezra Klein": The "practical effect" of Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:00:00 PST  Autism Controlled Study Finds Possible Early Warning Signs For Autism Spectrum Disorders Within Families A new study suggests a trend toward developing hyperactivity among typically developing elementary-school-aged siblings of autistic preschoolers and supports the notion that mothers of young, autistic children experience more depression and stress than mothers with typically developing children...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:00:00 PST  Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Novel Program Translates Behavioral And Social Science Research Into Treatments To Reduce Obesity Under a $7.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Rush University Medical Center is developing a novel program, called WISHFIT, to help pre-menopausal women reduce visceral fat through a sustained increase in physical activity and reduction in stress...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:00:00 PST  Women's Health / Gynecology Washington, D.C., To Become First U.S. City To Distribute Free Female Condoms Washington, D.C., soon will become the first city in the U.S. to distribute female condoms at no charge, the Washington Post reports...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:00:00 PST  Abortion Sex Education, Contraception Key To Lowering Abortion Rate Among Blacks, Guttmacher CEO Writes In a New York Times letter to the editor published on Monday, Guttmacher Institute President and Chief Executive Sharon Camp calls for the U.S. to "get serious about providing better health care and more educational and economic opportunities for black women...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:00:00 PST  Women's Health / Gynecology Unequal Health Care, Neglect, And Sex-Selective Infanticide, Abortion Lead To Large Gender Gap In Asia, Report Finds "Nearly 100 million women across Asia have 'disappeared' because of a huge and growing gender gap that has fatally deprived them of access to health care and food and has led to widespread abortions of female fetuses, according to a U.N. report released Monday," the Associated Press reports. The U.N...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:00:00 PST  Women's Health / Gynecology Politico Opinion Pieces Argue For U.S. Investment In Global Women's Issues On International Women's Day, Politico published two opinion pieces discussing the benefits of U.S. aid to support women overseas. ~ Dana Perino, Politico: "Empowering one woman is an investment in the future of families and countries," Perino -- a former press secretary to President George W. Bush -- writes in an opinion piece discussing her work with Women ONE2ONE in Africa...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:00:00 PST  Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Light To Moderate Drinking Linked To Less Weight Gain In Middle Aged Women A new study from the US found that normal weight women in their 40s and older who drank a light to moderate amount of alcohol gained less weight and had a lower risk of becoming obese and overweight compared to their non-drinking counterparts...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:00:00 PST  Women's Health / Gynecology Washington Post Opinion Piece Draws Attention To Breast Ironing In Cameroon In a Washington Post opinion piece on Sunday, freelance writer Jamie Rich examined the Cameroonian practice of breast ironing, in which women use heated plantain leaves or hot stones to "flatten adolescent girls' developing breasts, intending to protect the girls from the dangers of sex, consensual or otherwise...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:00:00 PST  HIV / AIDS Global Fund Releases Latest Impact Data, Projections For Improving Global Health In Next Decade By 2015, mother-to-child HIV transmission will be virtually eliminated and deaths from malaria and tuberculosis will continue to decline if health investments for the diseases are maintained or scaled up, according to an annual results report published Monday by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Agence France-Presse/Africasia.com reports (3/8)...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PST  Women's Health / Gynecology Women's Group Support Can Improve Birth Outcomes Community support groups can reduce neonatal mortality, and lower rates of maternal depression-provided that the population coverage is wide enough and the programmes are appropriately designed. These are the conclusions of two Articles, published Online First in The Lancet. Participatory women's groups have shown promise in trials in Nepal, reducing neonatal mortality by about one-third...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PST  Menopause What Is Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)? What Are The Benefits And Risks Of Hormone Replacement Therapy? Hormone replacement therapy, commonly known as HRT is a treatment used to replace hormones that the body is no longer producing because of the menopause. The hormones that need replacing are estrogen and progesterone. The therapy is based on the notion that the treatment may prevent discomfort caused by diminished circulating estrogen and progesterone hormones...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:00:00 PST  Women's Health / Gynecology Equal Rights And Opportunities For Women And Girls Essential For Better Health Today, on International Women's Day, the world reflects on how to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and girls. Everyone must fight against discrimination and inequalities that compromise the health of women and girls around the world...