By Ezio De Nucci   Should we abolish ‘Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)? This provocative question might sound odd, especially after the US Supreme Court scrapped the federal right to abortion. Surely, we need more focus on ‘sexual and reproductive health’, not less! But actually, the issue is not as simple, especially after distinguishing between ..read more

  By Malcolm Moffat, Tanha Begum, Emer Cullen & Judith Rankin When the COVID-19 pandemic began almost four years ago, few of us could have predicted the profound and enduring impact that the events of 2020 and 2021 would have on all our lives. Not least among those impacts were the effects that lockdown restrictions ..read more

By Laura E Jacobson, Sarah E. Baum, Erin Pearson, Rezwana Chowdhury, Nirali M. Chakraborty, Julia M. Goodman, Caitlin Gerdts, & Blair G. Darney Measuring and improving quality of care is an essential part of ensuring safe and effective health services; however, until recently measuring the quality of abortion care has been hampered by a lack of shared definitions ..read more

By Tyne Baynton Cairns (They/Them) & Julia Bailey (She/They)   Contraceptive care guidelines are usually designed for cisgender, heterosexual women.  In the heavily gendered context of contraceptive care, gender dysphoria is common among trans, non-binary and gender-diverse people.  In healthcare settings, gender dysphoria can be brought on by the environment, the behaviours of providers, and ..read more

By Ezio Di Nucci   Last night I was running with my public health colleagues (the token philosopher ended up being faster than our Head of Department from Biostat, by the way – which sure must have a symbolic meaning in the modern academy).   After the race, conversation turned to my forthcoming vasectomy (anecdotally ..read more

 By Jane Meyrick, Michelle Cutland and Rae Adams  Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) is increasingly recognised and the impact often lifelong.  With at least 15% of girls/young women and 5% of boys/young men experiencing some form of sexual abuse before the age of 16 years the role of sexual health is crucial.  Sexual Health Follow-up (SHFU ..read more

By Julia Tasset, Klaira Lerma and Paul Blumenthal Access to safe and legal abortion services is a fundamental aspect of reproductive health care and bodily autonomy. While medication abortion is safe and effective, pregnant people face mounting access barriers. In the United States (US), since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, 13 states ..read more

By Cati Brown-Johnson, Sonia Rose Harris & Lisa Goldthwaite  In the February issue of the Journal, Hofmeyr and colleagues describe a postpartum family planning quality improvement initiative in a large public hospital in Botswana. Their initiative aimed to improve postpartum contraceptive counseling and provision, particularly efforts to integrate intrauterine device services into clinical practice while ..read more

  By Victoria Kinkaid Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons, as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Importantly, the practice has no health benefits for girls and women and stops them from reaching their full ..read more

By Sharon James, Jessica Moulton, Anisa Assifi, Jessica Botfield, Kirsten Black, Mark Hanson & Danielle Mazza    The potential impact of lifestyle risks such as smoking, unhealthy diet, unsafe alcohol consumption, and inadequate exercise, increases with the mother’s age and parity. While lifestyle risks are responsible for many chronic conditions, changing lifestyle behaviours during pregnancy ..read more