Contraceptives are life-saving interventions because they prevent maternal and neonatal mortality from unwanted pregnancies. Worldwide, birth control (all forms) is estimated to reduce maternal deaths by 44% (272 000 deaths averted in 2008), and could prevent an additional 29% of such deaths if the full demand for contraception was met. Since their introduction in 1960, hormonal contraceptive m...

BACKGROUND Private-sector drug shops are often the first point of health care in sub-Saharan Africa. Training and supporting drug shop and pharmacy staff to provide a wide range of contraceptive methods and information is a promising high-impact practice for which more information is needed to fully document implementation experience and impact. METHODS Between September 2010 and March 2011, ...

OBJECTIVE Hormonal contraception (HC), younger age, and pregnancy have been associated with increased HIV risk in some studies. We sought to elucidate the biological mechanisms for these associations. DESIGN Case-control selection of specimens from a large, prospective, clinical study. METHODS We enrolled and followed 4531 HIV-negative women from Uganda and Zimbabwe using either the injecta...

BACKGROUND Irregular population growth is considered as a serious threat to the international community and is also a major obstacle for nations' social and economic development. Thus, one of the ways to have a healthy community is to control the population and provide safe and effective contraceptive methods. Hormonal contraceptives are the most effective method of birth spacing. The present s...

Mozambique has witnessed a climbing total fertility rate in the last 20 years. Nearly one-third of married women have an unmet need for family planning, but the supply of family planning services is not meeting the demand. This study aimed to explore the safety and effectiveness of training 2 cadres of community health workers-traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and agentes polivalentes element...

Use of long-acting progestin only contraceptives (LAPCs) offers a discrete and highly effective family planning method. Abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) is the major side effect of, and cause for, discontinuation of LAPCs. The endometria of LAPC-treated women display abnormally enlarged, fragile blood vessels, decreased endometrial blood flow and oxidative stress. To understanding to mechanisms ...

BACKGROUND Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) are an important category of drugs for both chemotherapy and prevention of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. However, current non-human primate (NHP) models utilizing simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) or commonly used chimeric SHIV (SIV expressing HIV-1 envelope) are inadequate due to the insensitivity to...