Childbirth News and Research

Latest Childbirth News and Research

Britain to cut foreign aid for 16 countries, focus more on family planning, safe water, maternal mortality

British Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell on Tuesday announced major changes to the nation's international aid program based on a nine-month review of the agency's policies, Reuters reports.

3 Mar 2011

Research reveals men attend childbirth classes only for partner's sake

Although their involvement is very different, childbirth is an important shared experience for the first-time father and his partner, yet men generally attend childbirth classes only for their partner's sake, reveals research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

22 Feb 2011

Girls Decide: Putting girls' sexual and reproductive health at the heart of development

There is a growing global consensus that girls are central to global development. Yet issues relating to girls’ sexuality and their sexual and reproductive rights continue to be largely neglected. Girls Decide, a new initiative from the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), highlights the importance of girls’ and young women’s sexual and reproductive lives for both individual and global development, and aims to ensure governments around the world to adopt policies that work for girls.

15 Feb 2011

CVT more common than previously thought, disproportionally affects pregnant women

A rare and often underreported form of stroke that involves veins instead of arteries is more common than previously thought, according to the American Heart Association's first scientific statement on diagnosing and managing cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT).

4 Feb 2011

Miracle baby after radical new procedure for uterine fibroids

Amy Cordle is the first woman in Australia to become a mother after undergoing a radical new procedure. On Australia Day, the 31-year-old Albert Park woman’s little “miracle” arrived when daughter Neroli was born.

3 Feb 2011

Guardian online series explores global health worker issues

The Guardian reports, as part of an online feature about health care workforces worldwide done in association with the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA), that "Africa is desperately short of doctors and nurses. So is much of Asia. In 57 countries, the situation is deemed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be at crisis point ... But in contrast to some other developing world problems, this is an issue that really does affect all of us. The world needs an estimated 4.2 million more health workers."

19 Jan 2011

Close pregnancies increase autism risk: Study

According to a new study published in the February issue of Paediatrics, children born within one year of an older sibling may be three times more likely to be diagnosed with autism.

10 Jan 2011

Viveve's non-surgical vaginal laxity treatment receives European CE mark

Viveve, Inc., a development stage women's health company, announced today that it has received the European CE (Conformite Europeenne) mark for the use of its Viveve System for the non-surgical treatment of laxity of the vaginal introitus (opening), after childbirth, to improve female sexual function.

7 Jan 2011

Better monitoring, new techniques reduce anesthesia-related maternal deaths

The number of women who die from complications of anesthesia during childbirth has plummeted 59 percent over the last two decades thanks to improved monitoring and better medical techniques, according to a recent study.

7 Jan 2011

Home births on the decline in UK: Midwives protest

According to a leader of Britain’s midwives, more and more women are being discouraged from giving birth at home. Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives said that many GPs are citing harms of a home birth like dangerous bleeding where their midwives may be unable to help. Warwick said, “There are doctors that still tell women scary things that aren’t evidence-based that then put them off having a home birth…

30 Dec 2010

Male partners' sympathy levels during menstrual periods lacking

New research from Lloydspharmacy reveals that whilst an overwhelming number of women suffer from menstrual cramps, male partners' sympathy levels at that time of the month appear to be lacking. Although 87% of men claim to be very or fairly compassionate, a quarter of women (25%) who have suffered discomfort with 'Mother Nature's gift' say their partners are unsympathetic.

24 Dec 2010

Teen birth rate at a seven decade low: Report

Figures reveal that fewer teenagers are giving birth and the numbers are a seventy year low. Reasons are not specified but two decades of public-health initiatives to curb teenage pregnancy may be paying off feel experts. Report co author Brady Hamilton, a statistician at CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics said, “One of the biggest highlights is the continuing decline in teen births -- down to record lows.”

22 Dec 2010

Mums urged not to delay births for leave scheme

Many Australian couples are delaying having a baby in order to access the federal government’s paid parental leave scheme. The scheme begins at the start of the New Year and allows eligible parents to access up to 18 weeks pay at the minimum wage. Figures show that from January 1, 2011 an estimated 148,000 families will be eligible to receive a payment of $570 a week before tax, or $10,260 over 18 weeks.

20 Dec 2010

Over quarter million women who gave birth in hospitals had pre-existing diabetes or developed gestational diabetes

More than a quarter million women who gave birth in U.S. hospitals in 2008 had pre-existing diabetes or developed it during their pregnancy - a condition called gestational diabetes, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This equals 6.4 percent of the 4.2 million women who gave birth in that year.

17 Dec 2010

Do not delay breast cancer therapy during pregnancy

Do not delay treatment of breast cancer just because a woman is pregnant, said lead researcher Sibylle Loibl, Dr. med, of the German Breast Group.

13 Dec 2010

Research programs embody the promise of anti-aging medicine.

Sometimes the value of research lies as much in exposing false remedies as in discovering true breakthroughs. Scientists at the country's first school of gerontology and in laboratories around the University of Southern California do both, mindful of their responsibility to a society focused on healthful aging.

13 Dec 2010

African, Caribbean, Pacific, EU leaders meet to discuss maternal mortality, climate change, other issues

Leaders from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of nations and the European Union launched "wide-ranging talks" in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reports. Approximately 450 lawmakers from 110 countries attended the opening.

4 Dec 2010

Number of big babies rise along with obstetric complications

Doctors say that with more babies born oversized mostly to obese or overweight mothers the risks of shoulder injury and getting stuck during labour is on the rise. Horrifyingly sometimes obstetricians are resorting to breaking baby’s collarbones to facilitate delivery because their shoulders get stuck during childbirth. This is usually done in a potentially life-threatening is known as shoulder dystocia that compresses the umbilical cord or puts pressure on the neck, leaving the child starved of oxygen if not delivered immediately.

30 Nov 2010

UNAIDS 2010 report documents significant progress in reducing pediatric HIV infection

The just-released UNAIDS 2010 report on the global AIDS epidemic reflects that there is increased momentum to eliminate pediatric HIV and AIDS worldwide, and documents significant progress in increasing access to services to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, reducing new infections in children, and providing treatment for children, mothers, and families living with the virus.

24 Nov 2010

CONRAD congratulates Global iPrEx study team for HIV prevention trial

CONRAD is pleased to join in congratulating the Global iPrEx study team for their successful trial of oral tenofovir (TDF) with emtricitabine (FTC) for HIV prevention.

24 Nov 2010