Jessica Figueras

A Culture of Transparency: are we failing our patients and their future progeny?

Phoebe Pottinger Introduction Informed consent is a guiding principle in the practice of ethical medicine (1). To obtain valid consent from patients wishing to undergo Assisted Reproductive Therapy (ART), this consent must be voluntary and informed whereby the patient understands the risks of the entire process, including the in-vitro culture of their embryos (1). Presently,Continue reading “A Culture of Transparency: are we failing our patients and their future progeny?”

IVF: The Information Void

Sarah Milosevic I hope that society wakes up to this silent crisis in women’s health happening all around us (1) Issues in IVF, such as unproven treatment add-ons and the postcode lottery for funding, have been prominent in the news in recent years. What is little discussed – and arguably more insidious – is thatContinue reading “IVF: The Information Void”

The Best Kept Secret on Why Smear Test Uptake Might Be So Low

Roxanne Stevenson-Brown Cervical screening is essential to the health of the female reproductive system. The UK’s screening programme is a necessary public health intervention, as of the 3,197 annual diagnoses of cervical cancer, the survival rate is 51%, despite the fact that in 99.8% of cases, this cancer is preventable (Cancer Research UK 2019). CervicalContinue reading “The Best Kept Secret on Why Smear Test Uptake Might Be So Low”

Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain is one of the most common, painful and debilitating conditions that you’ve never heard of

Sarah Fishburn and Jen Campbell, the Pelvic Partnership PGP: an unresolved issue Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain is a pelvic joint problem affecting up to half of all women and birthing people during and/or after pregnancy (1). It causes mild to severe pain in and around the pelvis, hips and lower back. Most women with PGPContinue reading “Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain is one of the most common, painful and debilitating conditions that you’ve never heard of”

PGP, me, and the one-in-five women affected

Angeline O’Connor Angeline O’Connor is a 38 year old mother of two, with lived experience of pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PGP). She is a proud Trustee of The Pelvic Partnership, a charity which supports women with PGP, an active member of The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (ALLIANCE), and a member of the ALLIANCEContinue reading “PGP, me, and the one-in-five women affected”

Who knows ‘best’ when it comes to breast?

Bakita Kasadha, Dr Shema Tariq, Dr Farai Nyatsanza, Dr Nell Freeman-Romilly, Angelina Namiba and Tanvi Rai PhD Author names and affiliations: Bakita Kasadha (University of Oxford), Dr Shema Tariq (UCL), Dr Farai Nyatsanza (Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust), Dr Nell Freeman-Romilly (Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust), Angelina Namiba (4M Network), Tanvi Rai (University ofContinue reading “Who knows ‘best’ when it comes to breast?”

Endometriosis, period health, and valuing women’s experience

Dr Andrea Ford Andrea Ford is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Chicago in 2017. Her research is at the intersection of reproductive and environmental health and justice — building out from herContinue reading “Endometriosis, period health, and valuing women’s experience”

Claudia and Me: an endo story

Laura Ruane A cheap bottle of supermarket wine smashed everywhere, and I almost cried. I had misjudged the packing area at the supermarket self-service checkout. That wine, and accompanying chocolate, was a last-ditch attempt to feel better after days of exhaustion and pain caused by my endometriosis. Endometriosis is like internal bleeding. Every month, cellsContinue reading “Claudia and Me: an endo story”

Why the UK needs a new National Milk

Jessica Cohen-Murray Jessica Cohen-Murray has a degree in Geography and Russian from the University of Nottingham, including a happy year spent living in Donetsk, Ukraine. She has always maintained a keen lay interest in pregnancy, childbirth and infant feeding; the birth of her first child led her to become more involved in the practicalities ofContinue reading “Why the UK needs a new National Milk”

Sharing the burden of miscarriage knowledge

Aimee Middlemiss and Susie Kilshaw Dr Susie Kilshaw is Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, University College London. Dr Aimee Middlemiss is a Research Officer at the London School of Economics who recently completed her PhD at the University of Exeter. Pregnancy loss before viability is an experience faced by manyContinue reading “Sharing the burden of miscarriage knowledge”