Contraceptive Research and Development

Contraceptive Research and Development

Author: Committee on Contraceptive Research and Development

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1996-11-18

Total Pages: 535

ISBN-13: 030952251X

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The "contraceptive revolution" of the 1960s and 1970s introduced totally new contraceptive options and launched an era of research and product development. Yet by the late 1980s, conditions had changed and improvements in contraceptive products, while very important in relation to improved oral contraceptives, IUDs, implants, and injectables, had become primarily incremental. Is it time for a second contraceptive revolution and how might it happen? Contraceptive Research and Development explores the frontiers of science where the contraceptives of the future are likely to be found and lays out criteria for deciding where to make the next R&D investments. The book comprehensively examines today's contraceptive needs, identifies "niches" in those needs that seem most readily translatable into market terms, and scrutinizes issues that shape the market: method side effects and contraceptive failure, the challenge of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and the implications of the "women's agenda." Contraceptive Research and Development analyzes the response of the pharmaceutical industry to current dynamics in regulation, liability, public opinion, and the economics of the health sector and offers an integrated set of recommendations for public- and private-sector action to meet a whole new generation of demand.


Communities in Action

Communities in Action

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-04-27

Total Pages: 583

ISBN-13: 0309452961

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In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.


Science and Babies

Science and Babies

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1990-02-01

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 0309041368

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By all indicators, the reproductive health of Americans has been deteriorating since 1980. Our nation is troubled by rates of teen pregnancies and newborn deaths that are worse than almost all others in the Western world. Science and Babies is a straightforward presentation of the major reproductive issues we face that suggests answers for the public. The book discusses how the clash of opinions on sex and family planning prevents us from making a national commitment to reproductive health; why people in the United States have fewer contraceptive choices than those in many other countries; what we need to do to improve social and medical services for teens and people living in poverty; how couples should "shop" for a fertility service and make consumer-wise decisions; and what we can expect in the futureâ€"featuring interesting accounts of potential scientific advances.