BACKGROUND Increased fertility rates in HIV-infected women receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) have been attributed to improved immunological function; it is unknown to what extent the rise in pregnancy rates is due to unintended pregnancies. METHODS Non-pregnant women ages 18-35 from four public-sector ART clinics in Johannesburg, South Africa, were enrolled into a prospective cohort and ...

Introduction: Pregnancies can be either planned or unplanned. Unplanned pregnancies are a major public health issue globally causing poor maternal and foetal outcomes. Addressing this problem would improve the well-being of antenatal mothers their children. Family planning is an important step to minimise burden unplanned pregnancies. Objective: To determine prevalence family preferences in Thi...

BACKGROUND In 2012 there were around 85 million unintended pregnancies globally. Unintended pregnancies unnecessarily expose women to the risks associated with pregnancy, unsafe abortion and childbirth, thereby contributing to maternal mortality and morbidity. Studies have identified a range of potential determinants of unplanned pregnancy but have used varying methodologies, measures of pregna...

BACKGROUND Use of folic acid supplements preconception, and during the first trimester, is associated with a reduced incidence of first and subsequent neural tube defects. The Department of Health guidelines recommend the use of folic acid supplements by all women planning a pregnancy. AIM To ascertain the proportion using folic acid supplements and the factors affecting their use. METHOD Q...

Each year, an estimated 210 million women become pregnant. Worldwide, more than one fourth of these pregnancies will end in abortion or an unplanned birth. While many abortions may result from the desire to delay or avoid pregnancy, 15% to 20% of pregnancies will end in miscarriage or stillbirth with some causative agents being malaria, HIV/AIDS, and physical violence. Postabortion care (PAC) i...

Economic hardship accompanying large recessions can lead families to terminate unplanned pregnancies. To assess whether abortions have risen during the recession, we collected crude abortion data from 2000 to 2012 from Eurostat for countries that had legal abortions and complete data. Declining trends in abortion ratios between 2000 and 2009 have been reversing. Excess abortions between 2010 an...

BACKGROUND The risk of adverse pregnancy outcome for women with type 1 diabetes is reduced through tight diabetes control. Most women enter pregnancy with inadequate blood glucose control. Interview studies with women suggest the concept of 'planned' and 'unplanned' pregnancies is unhelpful. AIM To explore women's accounts of their journeys to becoming pregnant while living with type 1 diabet...

BACKGROUND Prevention of unplanned pregnancies among HIV-infected individuals is critical to the prevention of mother to child HIV transmission (PMTCT), but its potential has not been fully utilized by PMTCT programmes. The uptake of family planning methods among women in Uganda is low, with current use of family planning methods estimated at 24%, but available data has not been disaggregated b...