Newsletter

By Cynthia Pearson, Executive Director

In this issue, you’ll find a series of lovely photos of an event celebrating my 20 years at the National Women’s Health Network. The event was wonderful – and the people who came together to celebrate were impressive.

By Kiesha McCurtis

A complex condition of various forms and unknown cause, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a condition that is frequently misdiagnosed. PCOS is a reproductive endocrine disorder in which a woman’s ovaries produce excessive amounts of “male” hormones (androgens) such as testosterone. PCOS affects about five percent of U.S. women and is a common cause of infertility, menstrual irregularity, and excessive hair growth.¹ This underappreciated condition is the most common cause of female infertility in the U.S.²

By Adriane Fugh-Berman, M.D.

By Kim Lau, NWHN Board Chair

By Julia Matthews

The number of women infected with HIV rises each year across the globe. In the United States today, women account for more than one quarter of all HIV/AIDS diagnoses and AIDS is the leading cause of death among black women ages 25--34 years.¹ In sub-Saharan Africa, close to two-thirds of people living with HIV in 2006 were women.² In fact, for every 10 adult men infected with HIV in this region, there are approximately 14 adult women who are HIV-positive.³

 By Jessica Arons

Progressives who are committed to reproductive health rights currently face hostile opposition from social conser¬vatives and self-doubt among allies. Americans, in their discomfort with abortion, have disengaged from a narrow and entrenched debate that is seemingly unconnected to other reproductive rights issues. Women’s rights organizations, fighting constant attacks on their core beliefs, must spend their time playing defense rather than defining who they are and the values for which they stand.

 By Cynthia Pearson, Executive Director

 By Alicia Bell

“A sexy surgery that can make you like a virgin…women all over the world are discovering a new fountain of youth.”¹ This is how “vaginoplasty”, a surgical procedure that involves cutting or burning the vaginal wall, is being described in the media. Gynecologists offering the procedure promote the idea that women can get a “designer vagina” by undergoing “vaginal rejuvenation.”

Repeated reports have now confirmed a substantial and sustained decrease in breast cancer rates as women’s hormone use declined following the publicity about the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) results. The breast cancer rate went down significantly in 2003, and it remained lower in 2004. Powerful evidence published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine expressly linked the decrease to the sharp drop in hormone use by menopausal women.