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Council Hosts
International IUD Symposium
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| Left to
right: Philip D. Darney, University of California, San
Francisco; Horacio B. Croxatto, Chilean Institute of
Reproductive Medicine and member of the Council’s International
Committee for Contraception Research; Daniel R. Mishell, Jr.,
University of Southern California Medical Center; and Hedia
Belhadj, United Nations Population Fund. |
Intrauterine devices
(IUDs) have been widely used for contraception since the early 1960s.
This method of contraception has an extremely high effectiveness rate
similar to that of female sterilization, but, unlike sterilization, it
is reversible. IUDs have improved significantly from the original
plastic devices and now include Copper T IUDs and levonorgestrel-releasing
intrauterine systems (IUSs), both of which were developed by the
Population Council.In October, the Council
sponsored the International Symposium on Intrauterine Devices and
Systems for Women’s Health. Thirty-six preeminent international
scientists presented data and analyses relating to IUDs and intrauterine
systems at the symposium, the fifth such gathering since 1960.
“The body of knowledge on
IUDs and IUSs has grown significantly since the last symposium in 1992,”
says Régine Sitruk-Ware, executive director of product research and
development for the Council, “and it’s important to disseminate the
information we have to clinicians, users, and potential users. Fully 30
percent of female contraceptive users in China and Europe use
intrauterine devices. Yet, because of unwarranted concerns about IUD
safety or lack of knowledge about these highly effective contraceptive
options, their use in the United States is limited to fewer than one
percent.”
Presenters discussed
information and study data on such topics as the use of IUDs/IUSs by
HIV-positive women, peri- and postmenopausal women, and others; the
medical benefits of medicated IUSs (e.g., a decrease in bleeding); and
the effects of extended use of copper IUDs and levonorgestrel-releasing
IUSs. All of the conference papers will be published in a special issue
of the journal Contraception.
The symposium was
made possible by unrestricted educational grants from Barr
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Berlex Laboratories, Inc. Through the joint
sponsorship of the Population Council and the Keck School of Medicine of
the University of Southern California, continuing education credits were
available to physicians attending the two-day event.
(Return to issue contents)
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