More Than a Biological Condition: The Heteronormative Framing of Infertility

Infertility is often framed from the perspective of heterosexual couples, the dominant patient group using reproductive technologies. However, there are many types of patients availing of fertility treatments and those patients are often overlooked in policy, planning, service provision, and research. This commentary demonstrates the need for further research into LGBT subgroups, who frequently fall outside of infertility discourses, and are therefore especially disadvantaged by current policy and fertility service structures

The effects of individual and community-level factors on maternal health outcomes in Ghana

Background Utilization of maternal health care services is key to reducing the number of perinatal deaths and post-natal complications in sub-Saharan Africa. With a few exceptions, many studies that examine the use of maternal health services in sub-Saharan Africa have focused largely on individual-level explanations and have ignored the importance of contextual and community-level explanations. In Ghana, progress has been made in reducing maternal mortality ratio from 740/100,000 in the late 1990s to 319/100,000 in 2015 but these rates are still high. Our study focuses on impact of individual and community level-factors on maternal outcomes with the hope that it will inform public policy in Ghana. This approach highlights latent or unacknowledged aspects of fragility within health systems designed to improve maternal health and opportunities for improving uptake of services. Methods and findings Using the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, we examined the effects of individual and community-level factors on antenatal care, facility-based delivery, and post-natal care. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to examine the effects of individual and community-level factors on the outcome variables. Our analysis revealed that overall utilization of antenatal, facility-based delivery and post-natal care was substantial across the board; however, both individual and community-level factors were significant predictors of these maternal health outcomes. Wealthier and better educated women were more likely to use antenatal services and facility-based delivery; in contrast poor and uneducated women were more likely to use antenatal and postnatal care but not facility-based delivery. Additionally, use of National Health Insurance Scheme was statistically associated with the utilization of maternal health services. Conclusions The findings point to areas where services can be better tailored to meet community-specific needs. Policy makers must consider factors such as educational levels and economic security at both individual and community-levels that shape women’s preferences and uptake of maternal health care in Ghana

Global incidence of suicide among Indigenous peoples: a systematic review

Background Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents worldwide, and is a major driver of health inequity among Indigenous people in high-income countries. However, little is known about the burden of suicide among Indigenous populations in low- and middle-income nations, and no synthesis of the global data is currently available. Our objective was to examine the global incidence of suicide among Indigenous peoples and assess disparities through comparisons with non-Indigenous populations. Methods We conducted a systematic review of suicide rates among Indigenous peoples worldwide and assessed disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. We performed text word and Medical Subject Headings searches in PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), PsycINFO, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS), and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) for observational studies in any language, indexed from database inception until June 1, 2017. Eligible studies examined crude or standardized suicide rates in Indigenous populations at national, regional, or local levels, and examined rate ratios for comparisons to non-Indigenous populations. Results The search identified 13,736 papers and we included 99. Eligible studies examined suicide rates among Indigenous peoples in 30 countries and territories, though the majority focused on populations in high-income nations. Results showed that suicide rates are elevated in many Indigenous populations worldwide, though rate variation is common, and suicide incidence ranges from 0 to 187.5 suicide deaths per 100,000 population. We found evidence of suicide rate parity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations in some contexts, while elsewhere rates were more than 20 times higher among Indigenous peoples. Conclusions This review showed that suicide rates in Indigenous populations vary globally, and that suicide rate disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations are substantial in some settings but not universal. Including Indigenous identifiers and disaggregating national suicide mortality data by geography and ethnicity will improve the quality and relevance of evidence that informs community, clinical, and public health practice in Indigenous suicide prevention

Suicide in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada: a time trend analysis from 1981 to 2018

Background: The suicide rate in Canada decreased by 24% during the past four decades. However, rates vary between provinces and territories, and not all jurisdictions experienced the same changes. This study examined suicide rates over time in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Methods: We used cross-sectional surveillance data from the Canadian Vital Statistics Death Database to examine suicide rates in Newfoundland and Labrador from 1981 to 2018. We calculated annual age-standardized suicide mortality rates and used joinpoint regression to estimate the average annual percent change (AAPC) in suicide rates overall and by sex, age group, and means of suicide. Results: From 1981 to 2018, 1759 deaths by suicide were recorded among people in Newfoundland and Labrador. The age-standardized suicide mortality rate increased more than threefold over the study period, from 4.6 to 15.4 deaths per 100,000. The suicide rate was higher among males than females, and accounted for 83.1% of suicide deaths (n = 1462); the male-to-female ratio of suicide deaths was 4.9 to 1. The average annual percent change in suicide rates was higher among females than males (6.3% versus 2.0%). Age-specific suicide rates increased significantly for all age groups, except seniors (aged 65 or older); the largest increase was among youth aged 10 to 24 years old (AAPC 3.5; 95% CI, 1.6 to 5.5). The predominant means of suicide was hanging/strangulation/ suffocation, which accounted for 43.8% of all deaths by suicide. Conclusions: The suicide rate in Newfoundland and Labrador increased steadily between 1981 and 2018, which was in contrast to the national rate decline. The disparity between the provincial and national suicide rates and the variations by sex and age underscore the need for a public health approach to prevention that accounts for geographic and demographic differences in the epidemiology of suicide

Estrogen conjugates in hen's urine.

It is well established that estrogen activity plays major roles in the physiology of reproduction in the hen. This aspect has been covered in a number of reviews, e.g., Sturkie (1958), Lorenz (1954), Van Tienhoven (1959), Parkes and Marshall (1956). [...

More Than a Biological Condition: The Heteronormative Framing of Infertility

Infertility is often framed from the perspective of heterosexual couples, the dominant patient group using reproductive technologies. However, there are many types of patients availing of fertility treatments and those patients are often overlooked in policy, planning, service provision, and research. This commentary demonstrates the need for further research into LGBT subgroups, who frequently fall outside of infertility discourses, and are therefore especially disadvantaged by current policy and fertility service structures.L’infertilité est souvent abordée du point de vue des couples hétérosexuels, le groupe de patients utilisant majoritairement les technologies de reproduction. Cependant, il existe de nombreux types de patients qui bénéficient de traitements de fertilité et ces patients sont souvent négligés dans les politiques, la planification, la prestation de services et la recherche. Ce commentaire démontre la nécessité d’approfondir la recherche sur les sous-groupes LGBT, lesquels se situent souvent en dehors des discours sur l’infertilité et sont donc particulièrement désavantagés par les structures actuelles des politiques et des services de fécondité

Tracking progress in suicide prevention in Indigenous communities: a challenge for public health surveillance in Canada

Abstract Indigenous peoples in Canada experience disproportionate rates of suicide compared to non-Indigenous populations. Indigenous communities and organizations have designed local and regional approaches to prevention, and the federal government has developed a national suicide prevention framework. However, public health systems continue to face challenges in monitoring the population burden of suicide and suicidal behaviour. National health data systems lack Indigenous identifiers, do not capture data from some regions, and do not routinely engage Indigenous communities in data governance. These challenges hamper efforts to detect changes in population-level outcomes and assess the impact of suicide prevention activities. Consequently, this limits the ability to achieve public health prevention goals and reduce suicide rates and rate inequities. This paper provides a critical analysis of the challenges related to suicide surveillance in Canada and assesses the strengths and limitations of existing data infrastructure for monitoring outcomes in Indigenous communities. To better understand these challenges, we discuss the policy context for suicide surveillance and examine the survey and administrative data sources that are commonly used in public health surveillance. We then review recent data on the epidemiology of suicide and suicidal behaviour among Indigenous populations, and identify challenges related to national surveillance. To enhance capacity for suicide surveillance, we propose strategies to better track progress in Indigenous suicide prevention. Specifically, we recommend establishing an independent community and scientific governing council, integrating Indigenous identifiers into population health datasets, increasing geographic coverage, improving suicide data quality, comprehensiveness, and timeliness, and developing a platform for making suicide data accessible to all stakeholders. Overall, the strategies we propose can build on the strengths of the existing national suicide surveillance system by adopting a collaborative and inclusive governance model that recognizes the stake Indigenous communities have in suicide prevention