Are you a member of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association? NFPRHA is soliciting ideas for the next national conference. How about a presentation about male attitudes or contraceptive advances? You can e-mail “your frontline input to make this year's National Conference the most valuable one yet! Members are invited to send their ideas and feedback for topics, speakers or issues they are facing and want to address to Jennifer Stark, Director of Development, at jstark@nfprha.org. Your input will directly inform the work of the National Conference Advisory Group, and we may contact you to gather more information about the ideas or insights you are willing to share with us so we can implement them."
The Male Contraception Information Project often gets requests for family planning providers on the frontlines who will speak to reporters about men's attitudes. You can help get the word out about the growing demand for new male methods by signing up for our Interview Squad! Just e-mail MCIP with your name, title, location (city and state/country), contact phone number, and a few words about your experience of men's attitudes and needs. We hope to have potential interviewees in each region. Thanks!
Return to the top
Those of us who work in family planning know what a difference it makes to individuals, but reports continue to elucidate its importance to societal and global goals as well. An article in this month’s Obstetrics & Gynecology makes the connections:
“Family planning plays a pivotal role in population growth, poverty reduction, and human development. Evidence from the United Nations and other governmental and nongovernmental organizations supports this conclusion. Failure to sustain family planning programs, both domestically and abroad, will lead to increased population growth and poorer health worldwide, especially among the poor. However, robust family planning services have a range of benefits, including maternal and infant survival, nutrition, educational attainment, the status of girls and women at home and in society, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention, and environmental conservation efforts. Family planning is a prerequisite for achievement of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals and for realizing the human right of reproductive choice. Despite this well-documented need, the U.S. contribution to global family planning has declined in recent years.”
Read more
The Role of Family Planning in Poverty Reduction
Rebecca H. Allen, MD, MPH
Obstetrics & Gynecology 110: 999-1002.
Return to the top
Are blokes in Australia interested in the subject of male contraception? You bet! This short opinion piece on attitudes towards vasectomy and a potential "male Pill" had received a whopping 329 comments at last count, and they make for enlightening reading on the range of human experience and attitudes (more enlightening than the original article, which doesn't convey the pros and cons of vasectomy or a male Pill particularly accurately). Read this one to see what your patients are thinking and worrying about when they pick a method — things they may not tell you face to face.
Contraception: Too old for condoms?
Sydney Morning Herald, 8 November
Editorial says men and women need to speak up if they want new contraceptive options. “Times continue to change and more research is being done in the field of male contraception, but for many of us women, this is too little, too late.”
Male birth control: A hard pill to swallow
La Voz Weekly, 9 November
“Some researchers attending a pharmaceutical convention in San Diego believe the future of male contraception may come in a pill form…” Dr. Jim Dalton is briefly interviewed on television about selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) contraceptive development.
Male Birth-Control Pill Closer To Reality (and a video clip)
NBC San Diego, 13 November
The Chinese filter-core Intra Vas Device (IVD) in the Indian press. According to this article, clinical trials have now included over 1600 men, and approval is hoped for in 2008. The article compares the demographic situations in India and China: “Demographers expect India’s population to keep soaring until at least 2050, negating any effect of GDP growth on the quality of life of the masses.”
Long way to go for China's new birth control technique?
Merinews of New Delhi, 19 November
Dr. Joseph Hall’s enzyme mimic male contraceptive approaches clinical trials. “Hall said he is focusing on creating a synthetic compound that disrupts the function of the sperm rather than eliminates them. He is targeting an enzyme that sperm use to detect and fertilize the egg.” Hall hopes to be recruiting volunteers within 3 years.
It's conceivable
Daily Press of Newport News, 19 November
A successful injection plus implant formulation of a male hormonal contraceptive is being shelved in Australia. Despite compelling research showing a demand by couples for the drug, Anzac Institute Professor David Handelsman said the contraceptive was viewed as an orphan medication in the same category as AIDS and tuberculosis drugs. "The really unfortunate situation is there is a demand for something that works - we are waiting for a smaller company in India or China to take it up," Professor Handelsman said. "It's something we are proud of."
Male contraceptive at risk of being orphaned
The Daily Telegraph, 22 November
More coverage of Dr. Jim Dalton ’s selective androgen receptor modulator development. “GTX' male contraceptive, on the other hand, has promising potential for the 21st Century man, according to GTX preclinical R&D vice president James Dalton…”
Men get the heads up on possible oral contraceptive
DrugResearcher.com, 23 November
Return to the top
Editors
Elaine Lissner, Director of the Male Contraception Information Project (MCIP)
Email: info@NewMaleContraception.org
MCIP is entirely nonprofit and works in three areas: raising public awareness of promising nonhormonal male contraceptives, advocating increased and expedited government research, and serving as a resource for journalists who wish to write about the subject.
Kirsten Thompson, Director of the Male Contraception Coalition (MCC)
Email: info@MaleContraceptives.org
The Coalition’s objectives are to speed the development of new male contraceptives through increased legislative and institutional support, to raise funds for applied male contraception research and development, and to educate the public about the work of the research community.
