Smoking may raise women's risk of HPV.
Women who smoke cigarettes may have an increased risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, according to an analysis of HPV Prevalence Survey data from 10,577 women aged 15 years or older from nine countries around the world (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain, Thailand and Vietnam). (1) Overall,...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Maternal education and low birth weight in China.
Education-related inequalities associated with low birth weight persisted in China from the early to late 1990s, despite an overall reduction in the proportion of low-birth-weight births during that time. (1) According to an analysis of Perinatal Health Care Surveillance System data from 111,181 women in six counties in rural...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

HIV-Positive women and breast-feeding.
Early, abrupt weaning of breast fed infants by HIV-infected mothers does not increase the children's HIV survival rates, according to a case-control study conducted in Lusaka, Zambia. (1) Of the 958 pregnant HIV-positive women recruited for the study between May 2001 and September 2004, half were randomly assigned to...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

No link between STI risk and circumcision.
Male circumcision is not associated with women's risk of acquiring chlamydia, gonorrhea or trichomonas from an infected partner, according to an analysis of data from a prospective cohort study conducted in Uganda, Zimbabwe and Thailand between 1999 and 2004. (1) Of the 5,925 sexually active 18-35-year-old women who were...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Emergency obstetric care in Pakistan is deficient.
Provision of emergency obstetric care in Punjab, Pakistan, needs to be increased and improved, according to a study of health care facilities in a random sample of 11 of the province's 34 districts between July and September 2003. (1) In the selected districts as a group, 16 facilities provide...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Maternal mortality high for months after birth.
Women in rural Bangladesh have an extremely high risk of death directly after giving birth and remain at elevated risk for up to six months. (1) According to an analysis of data collected between 1983 and 2001 from more than 100,000 women aged 15-50, the mortality rate on the...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Each year, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies releases its World Disaster report.
Each year, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies releases its World Disaster Report, which details the latest trends, facts and analyses of contemporary natural and man-made crises. Their 2008 edition focuses entirely on HIV and AIDS, calling for "humanitarian organisations, working in partnership with governments...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Does community clustering mitigate the negative effect of poverty on adolescent condom use in South Africa?
CONTEXT: It is important to examine whether youth from disadvantaged households are less likely than others to use a condom at first sex, even after correcting for shared characteristics within communities. METHODS: Baseline survey data from the Transitions to Adulthood in the Context of AIDS in South...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Husband-wife agreement, power relations and contraceptive use in Turkey.
CONTEXT: in Turkey, contraceptive use has become more widespread, but little is known about the concurrence of spousal reports or the relative influence of communication, decision making and power differentials on method use, METHODS: Date from the 1998 Turkish Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) for 1,546 married...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Consistency and predictive ability of fertility preference indicators: longitudinal evidence from rural India.
CONTEXT: Ideal family size and desire for an additional child are the two most commonly used fertility preference indicators. However, little is known about the consistency over time of responses to each measure, the consistency between the two indicators or the predictive value of these indicators in India. ...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Most heterosexual HIV transmission in urban Rwanda and Zambia occurs in married or cohabiting couples.
In urban areas of Rwanda and Zambia, most heterosexually transmitted HIV infections occur within marital or cohabiting relationships, according to a probability model that combined clinical data on couples' HIV status with population-based data on sexual behavior. (1) The estimated proportion is particularly high in Rwanda, where more than...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Lifetime abortion rate in Iran is estimated to be one per four women.
In Iran, where abortion is severely restricted by law, married women aged 15-49 have an estimated 73,000 abortions per year, according to a recent analysis of nationally representative data. (1) This translates to 0.26 lifetime abortions per woman. However, the abortion rate varies widely among Iran's provinces, depending largely...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Pregnancy and miscarriage are not the main reasons for leaving school in Africa.
Although "schoolgirl pregnancy" is commonly thought to be a key reason why many young women in developing countries do not complete their education, an analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data indicate that early pregnancy and marriage generally account for only about 20% of school dropouts among female adolescents...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Fertility declines have stalled in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
During the past four decades, the total fertility rate (TFR) in the developing world has fallen by about half, from around six births per woman to about three. However, a new analysis suggests that in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, the transition from high to low fertility has stalled. (1)...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Nevirapine regimen reduces risk of HIV transmission from breast-feeding--at least in the short term.
A six-week postpartum regimen of the anti-retroviral drug nevirapine reduces HIV transmission from breast-feeding in the short term, but the benefits are no longer apparent after six months, according to findings from three coordinated randomized trials conducted in Ethiopia, India and Uganda. (1) Among infants who were HIV-negative a...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Hand washing may reduce the risk of infant death in home births in Nepal.
In rural southern Nepal, where the vast majority of births occur at home, the risk of neonatal mortality is significantly reduced when visiting birth attendants wash their hands before the delivery, mothers wash their hands before handling their infant, or both, according to an observational prospective cohort study. (1)...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)

Developments in laws on induced abortion: 1998-2007.
CONTEXT: Women's lack of access to legal abortion is a major contributing factor to high rates of worldwide maternal mortality and morbidity. This article describes changes in the legal status of abortion in countries around the world since 1998. METHODS: The complete texts of new abortion legislation,...
(PERIODICAL ARTICLE)