See (and show) how emergency contraceptive pills work

May 2020. Gedeon Richter launched the Russian, Latvian and Spanish version of the 3-D animation video, which provides a clear and easy-to-understand explanation of the mechanism of action of emergency contraception pills. The video, originally published in English in 2016, is available for use in educational programas and trainings on this YouTube channel, and also…

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“EC in the COVID-19 era: advance access is more important than ever”

May 2020. The American Society for Emergency Contraception (ASEC) publishes “EC in the COVID-19 era: advance access is more important than ever”. While EC access in the US and most European countries differ (UPA EC pills are still a prescription product in the US) ASEC overall recommendation is still valid in our context: know where…

Protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights during COVID-19. Joint statement

May 14, 2020. On May sixth, 59 countries, including 37 European ones, issued a joint statement highlighting that COVID -19 may negatively impact women’s and girls’ abilities to exercise their sexual rights and reproductive rights. The statement raises the increased risk of gender-based violence, and addresses the need to ensure sexual health and reproductive health services,…

A snapshot in time during COVID-19

May 8, 2020. Last April, the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, and the European Network of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, issued Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. The joint report looks at the pandemic’s impact on access to essential SRHR services, and includes recommendations for decision-makers. With regards to…

Council of Europe: ensure women’s access to sexual and reproductive health and rights

May 7, 2020. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights published today a statement calling for the protection of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights during the pandemic. Among others, the statement calls upon member states to consider access to abortion care, contraception, including emergency contraception, and maternal healthcare, as essential health care services…

FIGO recommends promoting and suppling emergency contraception, during the COVID-19 pandemic

May 2020. Last April, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) issued a statement pointing at key action points to ensure access to contraception services and supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contraception services and supplies are core components of essential health services and access to these is a fundamental human right. The key action…

Contraception and COVID-19: recommendations from WHO

April 14, 2020. The World Health Organisation (WHO) publishes Contraception/Family planning and COVID-19, a Questions and Answers (Q&A) document that provides short and to the point responses regarding contraception accessibility and use in the current times. Use of emergency contraception (EC), and other self-care methods, is proposed if access to regular methods is disrupted. The…

ESC and FIAPAC 2020 congresses postponed

March 22, 2020. The Executive Committee and Secretariat of the European Society of Contraception and Reproductive Health (ESC) announced this past week that, in order to safeguard against COVID-19 and the spread of the coronavirus, the 16th Congress of the ESC (Dublin May 13th-15th 2020) has been postponed until further notice.  See https://escrh.eu/event/16th-esc-congress/ for further information. …

New resources in Spanish 

March 2020. Two recent publications provide good up-dates on emergency contraception (and other methods) in Spanish:  Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS) y Facultad de Salud Pública Bloomberg de Johns Hopkins/Centro para Programas de Comunicación (CCP), Proyecto de Conocimientos sobre la Salud. Planificación familiar: Un manual mundial para proveedores. Baltimore y Washington: CCP y OPS, 2019. Grupo…

Belgium: reducing financial barriers to EC pills and other contraceptives

February 2020. On February 21st, the Council of Ministers of the Belgium Federal Government, approved the Royal Decree that will make emergency contraception (EC) pills free of charge to all women, regardless of age. Until now, EC pills could be provided free of charge to women under 21. In addition, under this new policy, regular…

Switching EC to non-prescription status and unwanted pregnancy

January 2020. The paper Switching emergency contraceptives to non-prescription status and unwanted pregnancy among adult and teenage women: A long-term European comparative study was published in the South Eastern European Journal of Public Health and is available as open access. This study’s assessed abortion/birth rates among adult and teenage women in Europe before and after the…