Infertility Services for Veterans: Policies, Challenges, and Opportunities.

Infertility prevalence and care needs among male and female Veterans are understudied topics. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical benefits package covers full infertility evaluation and many infertility treatments for Veterans but not, by law, for their spouses. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is also specifically excluded from this medical benefits package by regulation. Congress passed a law in 2016 that allowed VHA to provide IVF to Veterans and their legal spouses, and broader infertility benefits to the legal spouse, if the Veteran has a service-connected condition associated with his or her infertility, with some limitations. As the Veteran population becomes increasingly female, research efforts in reproductive health, including infertility, are expanding and evolving. This includes a nationwide study currently underway examining infertility among male and female Veterans and associations with military-related trauma, such as injury, posttraumatic stress disorder, military sexual trauma, and toxin exposure. In this review, we describe the state of the science and policy on infertility care in the VHA along with challenges and opportunities that exist within the VHA system.

Implicancias del marco legal chileno en la prevención del embarazo adolescente: conflicto e inseguridad en los profesionales de la salud / Implications of chilean legal framework in teen pregnancy prevention: conflict and insecurity in health professionals

Background: Teenage pregnancy is a psychosocial and multifactorial problem described as a lack of exercise of rights in sexual and reproductive health. There are important aspects in the doctor-patient relationship and confidentiality that directly affect the continuity and quality of care. There are controversies in the laws relating to the provision of contraception and confidentiality, and those that protect the sexual indemnity, especially in adolescents under 14 years. Aim: To describe the implications of the legal framework for professional midwives in the care of adolescents younger than 14 years in sexual and reproductive health. Material and Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted to 13 female and 2 male midwives working at Primary Health Care Centers in the Metropolitan Region. Results: The attention of adolescents younger than 14 years in sexual and reproductive health involves medical-legal issues for health professionals. All professionals recognize that mandatory reporting sexual activity is a complex situation. All professionals notify pregnancies. In relation to the delivery of contraception, clinical care is problematic since professionals should take shelter from a legal standpoint. Conclusions: The medical-legal context of pregnant women under 14 years of age care generates a context of uncertainty and fear for professionals and becomes a source of conflict and insecurity in the exercise of the profession.

[Implications of chilean legal framework in teen pregnancy prevention: conflict and insecurity in health professionals]. / Implicancias del marco legal chileno en la prevención del embarazo adolescente: conflicto e inseguridad en los profesionales de la salud.

BACKGROUND: Teenage pregnancy is a psychosocial and multifactorial problem described as a lack of exercise of rights in sexual and reproductive health. There are important aspects in the doctor-patient relationship and confidentiality that directly affect the continuity and quality of care. There are controversies in the laws relating to the provision of contraception and confidentiality, and those that protect the sexual indemnity, especially in adolescents under 14 years. AIM: To describe the implications of the legal framework for professional midwives in the care of adolescents younger than 14 years in sexual and reproductive health. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted to 13 female and 2 male midwives working at Primary Health Care Centers in the Metropolitan Region. RESULTS: The attention of adolescents younger than 14 years in sexual and reproductive health involves medical-legal issues for health professionals. All professionals recognize that mandatory reporting sexual activity is a complex situation. All professionals notify pregnancies. In relation to the delivery of contraception, clinical care is problematic since professionals should take shelter from a legal standpoint. CONCLUSIONS: The medical-legal context of pregnant women under 14 years of age care generates a context of uncertainty and fear for professionals and becomes a source of conflict and insecurity in the exercise of the profession.

Política nacional de comadronas de los cuatro pueblos de Guatemala: 2015-2025 / National policy of midwives of the four towns of Guatemala: 2015-2025

Fundamentada en la Ley para la Maternidad Saludable, considerada como prioridad nacional y amparada en el Acuerdo gubernativo: No. 102-105, esta Política Nacional quiere reconocer la labor de las comadronas, quienes por siglos han aportado a la salud de la comunidad a través de la atención materna neonatal y dado que la función de las comadronas está estrechamente vinculada a la promoción de la Maternidad Saludable. Según el INE, en el 2013 las 23,320 comadronas registradas por el MSPAS, atendieron 124,688 partos, que constituyen el 32,2 % de todos los partos atendidos en el país. Por todo ello, el MSPAS, implementará acciones para respetar, reconocer y revitalizar la labor de las comadronas en la población de Guatemala. La Política fue elaborada con base a los resultados de los 33 diálogos en los que participaron las comadronas representativas de las 29 áreas de salud de los 22 departamentos de Guatemala, en coordinación con instituciones gubernamentales, sociedad civil y agencias de cooperación internacional que trabajan en salud, lo que le da un respaldo social e institucional a la misma. Especialmente relevante es superar la incomprensión de algunos personeros de salud, debido a la desvalorización de dichas prácticas tradicionales. Por medio de esta Política no solo se quiere lograr el reconocimiento, sino establecer los ejes institucionales para el trabajo conjunto en pro del bienestar materno-infantil.

Sexuality education: emerging trends in evidence and practice.

The International Conference on Population and Development and related resolutions have repeatedly called on governments to provide adolescents and young people with comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). Drawing from these documents, reviews and meta-analyses of program evaluations, and situation analyses, this article summarizes the elements, effectiveness, quality, and country-level coverage of CSE. Throughout, it highlights the matter of a gender and rights perspective in CSE. It presents the policy and evidence-based rationales for emphasizing gender, power, and rights within programs--including citing an analysis finding that such an approach has a greater likelihood of reducing rates of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy--and notes a recent shift toward this approach. It discusses the logic of an "empowerment approach to CSE" that seeks to empower young people--especially girls and other marginalized young people--to see themselves and others as equal members in their relationships, able to protect their own health, and as individuals capable of engaging as active participants in society.

Striking a balance: conscientious objection and reproductive health care from the Colombian perspective.

Conscientious Objection or conscientious refusal (CO) in access to reproductive health care is at the center of current legal debates worldwide. In countries such as the US and the UK, constitutional dilemmas surrounding CO in the context of reproductive health services reveal inadequate policy frameworks for balancing CO rights with women's rights to access contraception and abortion. The Colombian Constitutional Court's holistic jurisprudence regarding CO standards has applied international human rights norms so as to not only protect women's reproductive rights as fundamental rights, but to also introduce clear limits for the exercise of CO in health care settings. This paper reviews Latin American lines of regulation in Argentina, Uruguay, and Mexico City to argue that the Colombian Court's jurisprudence offers a strong guidance for future comprehensive policy approaches that aim to effectively balance tensions between CO and women's reproductive rights.

Ley para la maternidad saludable: decreto No. 32-2010 / Reglamento de ley para la maternidad saludable: acuerdo gubernativo No. 65-2012 / Law for healthy motherhood: decree No. 32-2010 / Regulation of the law for healthy motherhood: government agreement No. 65-2012

Esta Ley tiene como objetivo, la creación de un marco jurídico que permita implementar los mecanismos necesarios para mejorar la salud y calidad de vida de las mujeres y del recién nacido, y promover el desarrollo humano a través de asegurar la maternidad de las mujeres, mediante el acceso universal, oportuno y gratuito a información oportuna, veraz y completa y servicios de calidad antes y durante el embarazo, parto o posparto, para la prevención y erradicación progresiva de la mortalidad materna-neonatal, entre otros. Contiene 32 Artículos. Contiene además: "Reglamento de ley para la maternidad saludable: acuerdo gubernativo No. 65-2012" (Págs. 24-46), que tiene por objeto establecer los procedimientos que permitan desarrollar las disposiciones de la Ley para la Maternidad Saludable