CONTEXT Despite the commitment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to expand the family planning method mix and increase access to services, awareness of emergency contraception is low among women, and the method remains underused and poorly integrated in family planning programming. METHODS Data from 15 focus group discussions conducted in 2016 among women aged 15-35 were used to e...

BACKGROUND Lack of knowledge regarding preventive health services for women might impede campaigns to expand these services in the emergency department setting. For 18-55-year-old English-speaking women visiting an urban emergency department, we aimed to: (1) Ascertain their knowledge regarding the applicability, purpose, and recommended intervals of three women's cancer screening and three con...

BACKGROUND Emergency contraception refers to methods that women can use to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse, method failure or incorrect use. Unwanted pregnancy followed by unsafe abortion can be avoided by using different contraceptive methods including emergency contraceptives. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of emergency co...

In an article in this journal, Christopher Cowley argues that we have 'misunderstood the special nature of medicine, and have misunderstood the motivations of the conscientious objectors'. We have not. It is Cowley who has misunderstood the role of personal values in the profession of medicine. We argue that there should be better protections for patients from doctors' personal values and there...

BACKGROUND Emergency contraception (EC) is widely available free of charge at public sector clinics in South Africa. At the same time, rates of teenage and unintended pregnancy in South Africa remain high, and there are few data on knowledge of EC in the general population in South Africa, as in other resource-limited settings. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional, interviewer-administered ...

BACKGROUND As emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) become increasingly available through pharmacies, concerns about potential overuse of this product have emerged. In response, bridging women from ECPs to ongoing contraception was advanced as a solution. STUDY DESIGN We collected information in Ghanaian pharmacies on ECP users' sexual activity, use of contraceptive methods and reasons for buy...

1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland, 2 Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland, 3 Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland, 4 Department of Children, Young People, and Families, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Oulu, Finland, 5 Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital, Un...

BACKGROUND Emergency contraception has been known for several decades, and dedicated products have been on the market for close to 20 years. Yet it is unclear whether women, particularly in low-resource countries, have access to this important second-chance method of contraception. OBJECTIVES To review relevant policies, regulations, and other factors related to access to emergency contracept...

BACKGROUND To explore why increased access to emergency contraception (EC) failed to reduce pregnancies in a recent randomized controlled trial. METHODS We used multivariable logistic regression to identify risk factors for unintended pregnancy using data from a trial involving sexually active women (n = 1490, aged 14-24 years) randomly assigned to either increased access or standard access t...

A number of small studies have demonstrated increased use of emergency contraception (EC) when women have a supply available at home. It has been suggested that widespread use of EC could reduce abortion rates. We undertook a community intervention study designed to determine whether offering advanced supplies of EC to large numbers of women influenced abortion rates. All women aged between 16 ...