Women's health stories

The Sydney Morning Herald •

Medical minefield: the murky world of Instagram advertising

The chief financial officer of Facebook, which owns Instagram, has said the rise in ad revenue during the second quarter of 2020 was primarily driven by small and medium-sized businesses. “In the last year, Instagram has radically pushed into pitching itself as the space of small business,” Professor Leaver says. “They spent the entire pandemic saying ‘we are the saviour of small business’ and you can basically run an entire business through Instagram and not need any other infrastructure.”
Business Insider Australia •

Ear wands, nerve machines and 'pussy mist': I asked medical experts whether I should buy the miracle cures I see in my Instagram ads

• Much of the growth in Instagram ad revenue in the second half of 2020 was due to small and medium-sized businesses, according to Facebook. • The surge in smaller businesses advertising on Instagram has led to a number of medical and wellness products being advertised under the noses of regulators. • I asked medical experts about whether the products I’m advertised on Instagram live up to their claims.
Crikey •

Lockdown pregnancies creating a 'shadow pandemic' of complications

Reproductive health and abortion providers say they are preparing for a 'shadow pandemic' following a wave of unintended pregnancies during the world's lockdowns. A heavily pregnant 19-year-old with high blood pressure lost her baby and went partially blind after she was turned away from a Port Moresby hospital in April, as the hospital had no temperature-testing facilities to confirm she was not carrying COVID-19.
Crikey •

Mesh-injured women win in the courts and Senate yet still wait for compensation

Women injured in vaginal mesh procedures have won a class action against Johnson & Johnson, but as the case drags on to an appeal, they are still waiting for compensation. When more than 1300 women with pelvic mesh devices won a seven-year legal battle against Johnson & Johnson in November, the judgement was so lengthy that one Federal Court staffer remarked they’d “need a forklift” to carry the printed version.
Crikey •

The fight for reproductive rights isn’t over in Australia until there’s equity in access

Abortion may be disappearing from criminal codes across Australia, but a lack of access to providers means the fight is far from over. You can see how long these battles have taken in the faces of the women who were on the front line. A few days before abortion was decriminalised in Queensland in October 2018, Beryl Holmes stood, supported by a cane, on the steps outside state parliament house for a rally in support of the bill. She had been fighting for this for almost 50 years. In the 1970s
Buzzfeed •

These Women Are The Faces Of Australia’s Essential Workforce

Jocelyn Hoffman has stopped seeing her loved ones and spends her time reassuring patient’s families that their loved ones are okay. Hoffman is a registered nurse working at a NSW aged care facility, where she says patients are anxious about contracting COVID-19 and staff are anxious about infecting them. “After work we have to make sure we don’t compromise the health of our families by taking it home and at work we have to make sure we don’t compromise the health of our patients,” she said.
Buzzfeed •

A Supplier Refused To Fill A Face Mask Order For An Australian Abortion Provider Because They're For "Health Professionals"

Australia's largest abortion provider says its supply of face masks and hand sanitiser for carrying out surgical abortions will only last two more weeks after a number of orders from private personal protective equipment (PPE) providers were cancelled or refused in the coronavirus pandemic. In one instance, a private company cancelled an order from Marie Stopes Australia (MSA) on the basis it was reserving supplies for "health professionals". The Australian government has also refused to suppl
Buzzfeed •

Lots Of New Parents Are Seeking Mental Health Help As They Deal With Social Isolation And A Baby

There has been a 20% surge in callers to national Australian support group Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia (PANDA) as families grapple with social isolation in the new coronavirus pandemic. The helpline, which is now sourcing retired volunteers to meet current demand, is a “live thermometer” for how parents across Australia are coping, according to its chief executive Julie Borninkhof. "We have seen a significant increase in the number of new and expecting mums and dads across Aus
Buzzfeed •

Women In Cambodia Are Using Facebook Messenger To Access Abortions And Sexual Health Advice

J, who lives in Cambodia’s southern province of Takeo, wasn’t sure who to turn to for advice on her unplanned pregnancy. She couldn’t afford to have another child, and knew she wanted an abortion. “I felt afraid to discuss it with my family but I told my sister,” she told BuzzFeed News through an interpreter. “My husband supported my decision because our baby is one year and five months old, so we spend a lot of money already.”
Buzzfeed •

Australian Doctors Can Already Turn Away Women Seeking Contraception Or An Abortion. What Will The Religious Discrimination Bill Do?

Doctors in Australia can already object on religious grounds to providing contraception and abortion. In fact, several doctors have signs in their offices outlining that they will not see patients about contraception, abortion, sterilisation or in-vitro fertilisation. Religious hospitals, too, can turn away patients with these needs. But that hasn’t stopped the government moving forward with its religious discrimination bill.
Buzzfeed •

Kids Have Spent Weeks On End Indoors To Avoid Smoke During Australia's Bushfire Crisis

Freya Bundey, her partner and their six-month-old twins have spent the summer holidays dodging fire and smoke. “Life is challenging with twins and this summer made it really hard,” the 30-year-old told BuzzFeed News. “It was really difficult not being able to leave the house and being cooped up, and that is really hard for small babies that are just starting to explore the world.” Bundey spent the end of December helping her mother pack up her childhood home in Kangaroo Valley in the Shoalhave
Buzzfeed •

Pregnant Women Are Asking For Inducements And Extra Ultrasounds Because Of The Bushfires

Kai Hodgkin is a midwife in Canberra, where the air has become some of the most polluted in the world during Australia’s ongoing catastrophic bushfire season. Staff at the hospital where she works have this week been wearing face masks indoors, to protect themselves against the smoke creeping into the wards and even into birthing suites. “We were giving masks to everyone who has left us and sending these brand new parents and babies out into the smoke,” Hodgkin told BuzzFeed News.
Buzzfeed •

Babies Are Being Born In Smoky Delivery Rooms As Australia Burns

A couple of hours into the new decade, while many people were stumbling home to bed after celebrating New Year's Eve, Dr Steve Robson was driving through a "smoky hell" to a Canberra hospital to deliver a baby. "I had the little spotlight that you use to look at things and it went through the smoke and we all realised that in this birth suite, this baby was born into bushfire smoke," the obstetrician told BuzzFeed News.
Buzzfeed •

These Signs Show Doctors Can Already Refuse To See Women Wanting The Pill Or An Abortion In Australia

The Australian government is pushing ahead with its proposed religious discrimination laws, and doctors and lawyers are concerned the legislation could allow practitioners to deny or delay medical care when it comes to reproductive health. But as signs in GP's offices provided to BuzzFeed News show, doctors are already refusing reproductive healthcare under the current guidelines, before a patient has even walked into an appointment. Laura — who asked to use a pseudonym to protect her privacy
Buzzfeed •

The "Chew And Spit" Eating Disorder Behaviour Is More Common Among Teens Than Adults, Researchers Say

Sydney woman Elle — a pseudonym to protect her privacy — is in recovery for anorexia nervosa, but it took her years to talk to her doctor, friends or family about regularly chewing and spitting out food. "It is like some people just interpret it as coward's bulimia, or pointlessly wasting food for no good reason," the 32-year-old told BuzzFeed News. "There is such limited understanding about the true complexity and pain associated with it."
Buzzfeed •

Hundreds Of Women Just Won A Landmark Case Against Johnson & Johnson Over Pelvic Mesh Implants

Hundreds of women living in pain after they were fitted with transvaginal mesh devices have won a landmark class action case against Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Seven years after a class action involving more than 1,350 women began, the Federal Court's Justice Anna Katzmann handed down a searing judgement in which she found Ethicon had acted negligently, and that patients should be compensated.
Buzzfeed •

Pregnancy Is A Risk Factor For Violence. Midwives Have Known This For Years.

Hannah Dahlen will never forget when she was a student midwife and a woman came to the hospital, the imprint of a studded football boot on her pregnant belly. “We got him out of the room and we said [to her] ‘we need to report what he did to you and you need to find safety for yourself and we can help you with that, and think about the child coming into this’,” Dahlen, now a professor of midwifery and director of higher degree studies at Western Sydney University, told BuzzFeed News.
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