Obstetric fistulas are injuries that most often occur during childbirth, when a baby gets stuck in the birth canal, causing a hole to develop between the mother’s vagina, and her bladder or rectum. Faeces or urine leak from the fistula constantly, meaning many women with these injuries are shunned by their families and communities. The […]
Women need considerable practical and emotional support in the early days of breastfeeding to make it successful. Those who do not want to breastfeed must be listened to, respected and understood, rather than simply told ‘breast is best. The UK remains at the bottom of the “league tables” in terms of the numbers of new […]
As an academic, I am interested in the political and health nexus of conflict, and three years ago, I was working on an academic study concerning sexual and reproductive health amongst forcibly displaced communities in Greece. As I explored the high rates of survival sex amongst young migrants, it became abundantly clear that the entire […]
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Ruth Taylor lived and worked in the foothills of the Himalayas during the decade of the nineties. Based at Woodstock School in Musoorie , a hill station in North India, she travelled extensively in the region. She regularly visited and stayed with Dr Rajesh and Rajkumari Singh who run an isolated rural hospital, village clinics and […]
Through my work as a sex therapist and relationship counsellor, I know the challenges that a woman has to face if she suffers from bladder weakness, not least when it comes to her sex life. Whether married, single or in a relationship, it is causing many women to refrain from having sex altogether. That’s according […]
Don’t overlook fertility problems in your man, says Dr Catherine Hood, a consultant in psychosexual medicine, health writer and broadcaster. ‘Women are often quick to blame themselves if they don’t get pregnant, and overlook the fact that it is increasingly likely that the problem lies with their partner.’ The number of men diagnosed with severe […]
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Pregnant mums, in later pregnancy, shouldn’t sleep on their backs because it may cause problems for the fetus, according to new research published in The Journal of Physiology. This is the first study to monitor unborn babies overnight and at the same time record the mother’s position during sleep. The sleep position of women in […]
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Should bigger babies be delivered early? A baby larger than predicted by a mother’s size can cause complications at birth. One of the major problems is difficulty with delivering the shoulders after the head has come out. To answer that question, a nationwide study of 4,000 pregnant women, ‘The Big Baby trial’, is to determine […]
In tribal societies, obesity is often seen as a sign of health and beauty. However, in the developed world it is regarded as a disease that mainly affects the poor. It wasn’t always like this: Our ancestors were hunter gatherers and didn’t always have energy ready. During the harsh Neolithic winters food was scarce and […]
The ongoing holiday romance between heiress Chloe Green and the so-called ‘Hot felon’ Jeremy Meeks has been the subject of heated debate for the last several weeks. We ask Relationship counsellor Denise Knowles for her opinion on falling in love while wearing a bejewelled bikini on the beach is necessarily a good idea…. Holiday romances […]