Driving better sexual and reproductive health outcomes for women through primary care

We innovate strategies to ensure the Australian primary care workforce adequately addresses women's sexual and reproductive health needs, including trialling alternative service delivery methods to enhance accessibility, particularly in rural and regional areas.

Understanding the needs and preferences of women is important when co-designing interventions that can help women achieve their individual reproductive goals.

Health data sets are useful in gaining insights into the state of women's sexual and reproductive health in Australia and identifying gaps in health care provision.

New research from SPHERE has highlighted areas for improvement in Australia’s contraception and abortion care. “We found that practice nurses whose primary workplace was general practice were less likely to provide LARC or medication abortion services than those working in other settings, such as family planning organisations or women’s health services,” lead author Dr Sharon James said.

Professor Gita Mishra was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to medical research, particularly life course epidemiology and women's health, to leadership, and to tertiary education. “I have always been enthusiastic about our achievements in women’s health research, but this will undoubtedly give me that extra spring in my step as we go forward with new projects.’’ Professor Mishra said.

At least 11 MPs from across the political divide cited a flawed report on the abortion drug mifepristone during debate in NSW Parliament over expanding access to the medication, an ABC NEWS Verify investigation has found. The report came from a conservative think tank based in the US, amid a push there to restrict access to the drug.

The Endometriosis Management Plan will be trialled in eight medical centres nationally, following its development in a partnership between the RACGP and SPHERE. The The Endometriosis Management Plan trial follows last month’s release of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ new National Endometriosis Guidelines.

A majority of females currently want to avoid pregnancy but survey reveals very few use most effective birth control method. The latest Jean Hailes National Women’s Health Survey of 3,537 reproductive age women found more than 80% of 18-to-24-year-olds and 60% of 25-to-44-year-olds want to avoid getting pregnant.

New guidelines call for non-invasive test methods to be offered to patients to avoid long waits for surgical diagnosis. The living evidence guideline for endometriosis, published on Saturday by Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG), recommends that a transvaginal ultrasound be used as the first-line investigation or, if not appropriate, a pelvic MRI.