Newsletter
Newsletter The Women’s Health Activist® is a bimonthly publication of the National Women’s Health Network. We’d like to hear from you. Please e-mail questions or comments to editor@nwhn.org.
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Snapshots
July/August 2009
Mothers of multiples are 43% more likely to experience moderate or severe postpartum depression and depressive symptoms than are woman who have a singleton birth. The finding comes from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of children born in 2001. The study measured 8,069 women’s depressive symptoms at nine months post-delivery, adjusting for demographic and socio-economic characteristics and the mother’s mental health history.
Don’t Get Burned at Your Next MRI
July/August 2009
by Theresa Watts
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned that patients risk potentially severe burns if they wear certain kinds of transdermal patches when having an Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan. Skin covered by these patches can be burned when the patches’ outer aluminum-containing layer is heated by the MRI’s magnetic field.
Is Your Clinician Prescribing Under the Influence?
July/August 2009
Here's a fun way for your favorite clinician to learn how drug companies try to influence them -- and earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits at the same time. The Pharmalyzer CME course offers open-minded clinicians a chance to see themselves through the eyes of Big Pharma, specifically Big Pharma's salespeople. It uses drug companies’ own words, gathered from marketing journals, training manuals, and testimony of former drug sales reps.
Bills, Barriers and Bias: Women’s Health Care Stories Show Need for Action on Costs and Quality
July/August 2009
By Amy Allina
Ofelia Sierra stood before a room of more than 120 people and told her story, first in Mixteco and then in English: “When I got sick a few months ago, I had a very high fever. I waited and waited, but finally I went to the emergency room. I felt like if I didn't speak the language well, I had no voice. They asked me why I had children if I didn't speak the language. They took my temperature and blood pressure, but didn't give me any medicine. Later I got a bill for $1,000 for that visit.”
Women's Health Snapshots
May/June 2009
Half of the public skimped on health care last year. Respondents to a Kaiser Family Foundation health tracking poll reported resorting to means including using home remedies and over-the counter drugs in-stead of visiting a doctor, passing on dental care, not filling prescriptions, skipping or halving prescription doses, and postponing surgery. When medical care could not be postponed, respondents fell behind on other bills, went into debt, and depleted their savings to cover health care costs.
Transgender Youth: Providing Medical Treatment for a Misunderstood Population
May/June 2009
By Stephanie Brill and Jennifer Hastings, MD
It is another one of those times in the history of progressive health care. Time to embrace another group of individuals who deserve health care and yet have been marginalized up until this point. An underserved, unrecognized, and much deserving segment of the population. This time it is children — transgender children and teens.
Want Health Care Reform that Really Meets Our Needs? It's Time to Get Our "Bold" on!
May/June 2009
By Cindy Pearson
Recently I had the absolutely delightful experience of spending two days talking about women’s health and health care reform with dozens of energized, committed, smart, passionate activists. On April 1st and 2nd, we gathered in the spacious, ground-floor meeting rooms of the InterChurch Center, across the street from the Riverside Memorial Church in Manhattan. The weather outside was lousy – rainy, windy, and colder than it should have been in early April -- but the mood inside was definitely warm!
Does the Timing of Menopause Hormone Therapy Really Matter When it Comes to Heart Disease?
May/June 2009
By Jonathan Raymond and Cindy Pearson
Medicaid Coverage of Plan B® Over-the-Counter: New York State's Experience
May/June 2009
By The Education Fund of Family Planning Advocates of New York State
Young Feminists: Disparities in Women’s Health Care Access
May/June 2009
By Elizabeth Pope-Collins
Last year, a woman I know, “Jody”,1 was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She and her husband are self-employed, and did not have health insurance. The medical bills for her diagnosis were enough to push Jody and her family into financial insolvency. At one point, she was torn between fighting to survive and letting the cancer go untreated, all because she wanted to save her family from the debt they would accrue during her treatment.
Prescription for Change -- Why Suzanne Somers is wrong about hormones
May/June 2009
By Charlea Massion and Adriane Fugh-Berman
Suzanne Somers looks great. In interviews and a series of books, the actress attributes her seeming agelessness -- not to mention increased energy, libido, and a host of other benefits -- to her use of “bioidentical” hormones. Let’s get a few things straight right off the bat. Hormones won’t make you look like Suzanne Somers. Hormones won’t make you young again. Nothing will make you young again. You will age, unless you die.
Join us in New York for the National Women’s Speakout for Action on Health Reform and Strategy Conference
March/April 2009
By Cindy Pearson
First FDA Decision on Contraception After the Election…Coming Soon!
March/April 2009
Female condoms may soon be more available and affordable for women in the United States and around the world, if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) follows the recommendation made by its advisory committee. On December 11, the FDA convened a group of medical and scientific experts to consider a new version of the female condom (FC2), and the committee voted unanimously to recommend approval.
The Treatment and Mistreatment of Chronic “Urgency and Frequency” – Gathering Women’s Experiences About Interstitial Cystitis
March/April 2009
By Kay Zakariasen, MA & Jennifer R. Hill, MD
www.cystitispatientsurvey.com
Young Feminist--Menstruation Education: The Impact of its Shortcomings
March/April 2009
By Nicole Shah
Snapshots
March/April 2009
A randomized, six month study has explored whether skills training on how to use female condoms increased sustained use of the barrier method and resulted in more protected sex acts overall. Half of the 409 participants received brief instructions on using the female condom to promote women’s health; half received intensive skills training sessions focusing exclusively on the female condom, including self-insertion and removal.
