Showing posts with label ReproHealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ReproHealth. Show all posts

23 March 2021

After A Hurt Ankle, Woman Discovered She Was Born A Man

Chinese Intersex Woman
There is a 25-year-old woman in eastern China who failed to fall pregnant after 12 months of trying, was shocked to discover she was actually born male and is intersex.

The woman, whose external female genitalia never forced her to question her sex, stumbled upon the discovery after an X-ray of her injured ankle was taken in a hospital in her hometown.

17 January 2018

Contraceptive App Under Fire

Contraceptive App
A mobile contraceptive app used by more than 500,000 women is being criticized after reportedly causing 37 unwanted pregnancies.

Stockholm's Södersjukhuset hospital has now reported the Natural Cycles app to the Swedish Medical Products Agency (the government body tasked with the regulation of medical devices) according to news outlet SVT.

20 November 2017

The Phil. Gov't. Resumes Contraceptive Distribution

Contraceptives
The Department of Health (DOH) will start including implants in the family planning commodities being distributed to its regional offices after the Food and Drug Administration certified 51 contraceptives as non-abortifacient or cannot cause abortion.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said they are ready to distribute 261,000 implants, within 10 months, to civil society organizations and local government units as they fully implement the Reproductive Health Law.

20 July 2017

Gonorrhea Is Evolving Dangerously, Especially ... Among Gays

Gonorrhea
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), gonorrhea is becoming harder — and sometimes impossible — to treat, thanks to antibiotic resistance. The WHO data was collected from 77 different countries and three of them — Japan, France, and Spain — have shown untreatable strains of gonorrhea.

"The bacteria that cause gonorrhea are particularly smart. Every time we use a new class of antibiotics to treat the infection, the bacteria evolve to resist them," Dr. Teodora Wi, a human reproduction specialist at the WHO, explained in the press release.

27 December 2015

Gays Are HIV-Carriers

Quarantine
Even if gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) represent approximately only 2 percent of the United States population, they are the population with the most number of HIV cases and HIV carriers as well.

In 2010, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that young gay and bisexual men (aged 13-24 years) accounted for 72 percent of new HIV infections among all persons aged 13 to 24, and 30 percent of new infections among all gay and bisexual men.

24 August 2015

IUDs Are Effective A Year After Approved Use

A recent publication has found that long-acting forms of birth control may work one year longer than their approved duration of use, and researchers are studying whether they may be effective another two years beyond that.

"This research is important because extended use of these devices will reduce cost to both the individual and insurer and improve convenience for women, who can delay removal and re-insertion," study author Colleen McNicholas, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University, said in a news release.

27 April 2015

Demand High for Non-Catholic Weddings

Humanist Wedding
How do you know when the Catholic Church is slowly collapsing? One indicator would be when the traditionally Catholic Ireland allows an atheist group to perform weddings this year for the first time in history. Another indicator is when the few people who performed those non-Catholic rites are overwhelmed by hundreds of couples seeking their services.

According to a report by Tom Heneghan of Reuters, demand for the Humanist Association of Ireland's secular weddings has surged as the moral authority of the once almighty Catholic Church declined in recent decades amid sex abuse scandals and Irish society's rapid secularization.

28 July 2014

Anti-RH Groups Still Cling To Illogical Arguments

Illogical Arguments
The anti-RH Law advocates are still not aware or refuse to buckle down and acknowledge the fact that the measure was considered constitutional by the highest court of the land. The legal defeat has definitely thoroughly discredited the extremist ideologues and intellectual zealots, but they still refuse to see it that way.

The hardliners within their ranks argued that with the penal provisions struck down, the RH Law has become a “toothless” law. They even cited as an example that if a company refuses to pay for the condoms for its employees, they cannot be brought to court for this refusal.

10 April 2014

UN Statement on the RH Law Ruling

UN Philippines
Leaders of various public and private institutions in the country expressed relief that the Reproductive Health law was upheld by the Supreme Court over a year since its passage. Majority are in agreement that the eight provisions struck down as unconstitutional would not hinder its objectives. They also praise the administration of President Benigno Aquino III for pushing what was tagged one of its most enduring legacies.

However, the thrill of the law's constitutional passage was not confined to majority of Filipinos only. The commitment of the government to attend fully to the needs for maternal care of millions of mothers was also recognized by the United Nations Philippines.

08 April 2014

SC: RH Law Constitutional, But ...

RH Law
Finally, the controversial, but essential, Reproductive Health (RH) Law has been upheld by the country’s highest court.

Expected to transform the lives of millions of poor Filipinos, the constitutionality ruling of the RH Law struck down dozens of petitions against it by church groups and ensured the stunning defeat for the powerful Catholic Church.

20 February 2014

Vinegar Reduces Maternal Death

Vinegar Testing in India
Good news that came from India this week is about efforts to save women’s lives using a simple vinegar test. The effect was extremely effective that it slashed cervical cancer death rates by one-third in a remarkable study of 150,000 women in the slums, where the disease is the top cancer killer of women.

In a cancer conference in Chicago last 2 June 2013, Doctors reported the results and several experts called the outcome "amazing." Reports added that participants conclude that the quick, cheap test could save tens of thousands of lives each year in developing countries because is spots early signs of cancer, allowing treatment before it's too late.

12 February 2014

Filipinos Support RH But Not Gay Marriage

Voice of the People
It’s all about choice and Filipino Catholics know that they have that right and will go to great lengths to choose what is good for their health and family.

This is the conclusion drawn up after a survey commissioned by U.S. Spanish language network Univision revealed that some 68 percent of Filipinos support contraception while only 30 percent were against it.

09 July 2013

AIDS Rate Higher Among Homosexual Men

Condoms
In 2009, LifeSiteNews.com reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates AIDS as fifty times more prevalent among men who have sex with men ('MSM') than the rest of the population in the United States. Dr. Amy Lansky revealed this statistic during a plenary session at the 2009 HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta.

The CDC had already revealed last year that approximately 53 percent of the estimated 56,300 new HIV cases in 2006 were in homosexual men, with the African American population being particularly affected.

01 January 2013

False Ads on Condoms

Covered Church
After their failed attempt to gather enough support in stopping the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill in Congress, Catholic bishops are resorting to misinformation by claiming that condoms are too porous and do not work in preventing the spread of infection.

The bishops, whose church claims over 80 percent of Filipinos as its followers, have been attacking the government openly after health officials distributed free condoms to mark Valentine's Day. Now, they are trying to raise doubts and questions in order to incite a wave of criticism and opposition to condoms.

05 December 2012

Absurd Question on Condom Use

Photo courtesy of amparoland
The Roman Catholic church in the country and their affiliate organization are not only contented with their recent disgraceful attempts to interfere with the democratic process by blocking the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill pending in Congress, but are now questioning the effectiveness of promoting condoms to curb population growth.

The Catholic Association of Doctors, Nurses and Health Professionals in Asia (ACIM-Asia) is using the doctrinal ecclesiastic muscles of the church to propagate half-truths and lies by warning the public that condom promotion encourages premarital or free sex in this article.

06 September 2012

"SOTTOing" Just Keeps on Evolving

Senator TiTo Sotto
When it rains, it pours and Senator Vicente "Tito" Sotto III doesn’t want the rain to stop falling on him.

After being accused by US-based blogger Sarah Pope of copying and lifting her words without by any permission and using it in his speech last 15 August 2012, Sotto was again suspected of plagiarizing a speech from a former American President and translated it in Tagalog.

29 July 2012

Why Girls?

Girl Effect
I've always believed that family planning unleashes the girl effect.

At the groundbreaking London Summit on Family Planning this month, more than 150 leaders from the public and private sector joined forces to increase access to lifesaving contraceptives in the developing world. Over $2.6 billion was committed to get modern family planning to 120 million girls and women in the world’s poorest countries by 2020.

27 July 2012

IUD, Implants More Effective?

IUD Cookies
One scientific study claim that women who choose birth control pills, the patch or vaginal ring are 20 times more likely to have an unplanned pregnancy compared to those who are using long-term methods such as IUDs and implants.

Among young women under 21 who chose the pill, the patch or vaginal ring, the risk of unintended pregnancy is almost twice as high as that for older women, according to researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

12 July 2012

Milinda Gates Supports Contraceptive Campaign

Summit on Family Planning
Participants in the 11 July 2012 London Summit on Family Planning were all excited after hearing a buzz that Melinda Gates, the philanthropist and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pledged to unveil funding a sum in the hundreds of millions of dollars for a campaign to improve access to contraception in the developing world.

The exact amount is expected to be announced during the gathering of world leaders and aid organizations. However, in an interview with Reuters, Melinda Gates said the commitment would be "on a par" with the Foundation's other big programs, like that against malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis.

14 February 2012

Freedom of Religion in Hospitals

Catholic Church
There are several Catholic hospitals in the Philippines and they have been critical in delivering services in areas where private interest are not viable. However, in the light of public debates related to the possible passage of the Reproductive Health Bill, there is a question on whether these hospitals should be allowed to restrict doctors from performing common and legal medical practices? Do such restrictions unfairly impinge on the rights of non-Catholic patients and doctors, particularly those in rural or underserved areas where alternative hospitals are not readily available?

Well, I tend to believe that freedom of religion is a cherished ideal in the Philippines, even though at times it has not been provided to those whose beliefs run counter to mainstream or politically correct thinking. Nevertheless, it is a goal we should continually strive for and support as much as possible. With that in mind, hospitals that are owned and run by the Catholic Church, or by any other religious organization, should definitely be able to restrict doctors and other health care professionals in their employment from performing those procedures that go against their stated religious beliefs and doctrine. At the same time, there must also be certain conditions and caveats, because nothing exists in a vacuum.