Childbirth News and Research

Latest Childbirth News and Research

One third of all post-partum women exhibit some symptoms of PTSD

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) develops in individuals who experience highly traumatizing situations such as terrorist attacks and car accidents, but symptoms can also come about after normal life events - including childbirth.

9 Aug 2012

Access to quality health care, political will essential for continued progress in reducing maternal mortality

In this Daily Beast opinion piece, Sarah Brown, an adjunct professor at the Institute for Global Health Innovations at Imperial College in London and global patron of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, and Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, head of obstetrics and gynecology and deputy head of clinical sciences at St. George's University of London, highlight the Global Health Policy Summit scheduled to take place in London on Wednesday.

2 Aug 2012

Anticancer benefit to giving birth after 30

Women who last give birth after the age of 30 years have a decreased risk for endometrial cancer, researchers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

27 Jul 2012

HIV drug resistance: an interview with Dr. Silvia Bertagnolio

Sexual intercourse is the major mode of HIV transmission. HIV may also be transmitted through sharing of needles or contaminated blood products (although this is rare).

27 Jul 2012

Risk of endometrial cancer begins to decrease after age 30 in women

Women who last give birth at age 40 or older have a 44 percent decreased risk of endometrial cancer when compared to women who have their last birth under the age of 25, according to strong evidence in a new, international study led by a researcher at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC).

26 Jul 2012

Cancer more likely in people with serious mental illnesses

People with serious mental illness —schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and disabling depression — are 2.6 times more likely to develop cancer than the general population, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

18 Jul 2012

Heart defects at birth linked to workplace exposure to solvents

Workplace exposure to organic solvents is linked to several types of heart defects at birth, indicates research published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

18 Jul 2012

Risk of birth defects linked to certain jobs dads do

Several types of job carried out by future fathers may be linked to an increased risk of birth defects in their babies, suggests research published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

18 Jul 2012

Commitments announced at London summit show power of family planning evidence

"High levels of unmet need for contraception around the world have a very negative impact on women's and children's health and survival as well as on the prosperity of communities and nations," Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) writes in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

17 Jul 2012

Scientists discover new way to convert cord blood cells into iNC

For more than 20 years, doctors have been using cells from blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after childbirth to treat a variety of illnesses, from cancer and immune disorders to blood and metabolic diseases.

17 Jul 2012

NHS hospitals have scope to make efficiency savings by adopting best practice

NHS hospitals have substantial scope to improve their efficiency by adopting best practice, according to research published today by Professor Andrew Street and colleagues at the Centre for Health Economics (CHE) at the University of York.

14 Jul 2012

Opinion pieces address family planning issues on World Population Day

The London Summit on Family Planning took place Wednesday, July 11, also recognized as World Population Day. The goal of the summit was to raise money to improve access to family planning services to prevent maternal and child mortality. The following summaries describe opinion pieces that address these issues.

13 Jul 2012

WHO commits to fast-track assessment of new and existing quality contraceptives

WHO today committed to fast-track its assessment of new and existing quality contraceptives so more women in low- and middle-income countries can obtain and use a broader range of safe and effective contraceptive products.

12 Jul 2012

Family planning summit commits to trebling the number of women and girls’ lives saved by 2020

At the London Summit on Family Planning, IPPF - the world’s foremost sexual and reproductive health and rights organization - has made an unprecedented commitment to treble the number of women’s and girls’ lives saved each year by 2020.

11 Jul 2012

Lancet series reviewing family planning evidence published on eve of London summit

A Lancet series on family planning, published Tuesday, "reviews the evidence for the effects of population and family planning on people's well-being and the environment," according to the series' executive summary.

11 Jul 2012

Contraceptive use likely prevents more than 272,000 maternal deaths from childbirth each year

Contraceptive use likely prevents more than 272,000 maternal deaths from childbirth each year, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Researchers further estimate that satisfying the global unmet need for contraception could reduce maternal deaths an additional 30 percent. Their findings were published July 10 by The Lancet as part of a series of articles on family planning.

11 Jul 2012

Satisfying unmet need for contraception could reduce maternal deaths by 30%

New research published as part of The Lancet Series on family planning provides startling new estimates of the effect that contraceptive use has on the number of mothers who die every year, suggesting that satisfying the global unmet need for contraception of women who want to limit or space their pregnancies but are not using contraception could reduce maternal deaths by 30%, saving around 104000 lives per year.

10 Jul 2012

Modest sums of U.S. foreign aid have saved lives on an 'unprecedented scale'

In this New York Times opinion piece, columnist Nicholas Kristof examines the effectiveness of U.S. foreign aid, writing, "In this election year in the United States, there'll be bitter debates about what should be cut from budgets, and one thing Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on is that foreign aid is bloated."

9 Jul 2012

Examining teenage pregnancy, maternal mortality in Africa

In this audio report in PRI's "The World," PRI anchor "Aaron Schachter talks to Agnes Odhiambo, a researcher on women's rights in Africa for New York-based Human Rights Watch, about the terrible toll of teenage pregnancy and childbirth in Africa."

6 Jul 2012

Annual report on MDGs shows success in some areas, but continued lack of progress in other areas, including maternal health

"An annual report card on the ambitious U.N.-led initiative known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) says that in three areas -- poverty, slums and water -- the goals have been met ahead of the 2015 deadline, but persistent gaps remain, notably in the critical area of maternal health," Inter Press Service reports.

4 Jul 2012