Happy Menstrual Hygiene Day!

Let's Break the Silence about Menstruation and Contraception

Happy Menstrual Hygiene Day! In recognition of the important linkages between menstrual health and family planning, we are launching a new campaign this week in collaboration with Knowledge SUCCESS and the Contraceptive-Induced Menstruation Changes Task Force.

You are invited to share your story about experiences with changes to your menstrual cycle (also known as a monthly period) while using contraceptive methods like birth control pills, injectables, implants, and IUDs. A selection of these stories will be turned into illustrations and used in a global campaign on this topic and highlighted during the upcoming International Conference on Family Planning in Thailand this November. You are invited to share a written story, audio recording, or video with your experiences.   

Examples of menstrual changes can include changes in how long you bleed, how much you bleed, how often you bleed, how regularly you bleed, how your blood looks and/or smells—including more or fewer blood clots, as well as changes in your menstrual cramping and pain. 

Many people do not know that these types of menstrual changes are very common and to be expected when using most forms of contraception. In some cases, these changes can cause problems for contraceptive users such as confusion or inconvenience. But for other people, these menstrual changes can lead to improvements in quality of life such as less bleeding or pain or greater convenience to engage in work or school. 

If you are someone who has experienced menstrual changes while using a contraceptive method, we want to know your story. Please follow this link to view example stories and anonymously upload your own written, audio, or video recorded story.

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What We Are Reading, Listening to and Watching this Month

Here are just a few things on our must-read/listen/watch list:

 ●  Improving Representation in Clinical Trials and Research: A new report was recently released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Improving the Representation of Women and Underrepresented Minorities in Clinical Trials and Research. Visit this site to access the full report and view a recording of a recent launch webinar.

●  Webinar Series on Experimental Methods and Techniques in Reproduction: The Society for the Study of Reproduction recently announced a new webinar series that will feature important experimental methods in the field with a focus on a methods rather than research results. Register and access information about upcoming presentations here.

●  Integrating End-User Research in Multipurpose Prevention Technologies (MPTs) Product Development & Commercialization Strategies: On May 18, the Initiative for MPTs hosted a webinar that provided the opportunity to hear from researchers and product developers involved in R&D about challenges and strategies for utilizing socio-behavioral research findings to effectively inform product development and marketing strategies. The recording is now available.

●  Couple Years of Protection (CYP) is an output indicator that is commonly used to monitor progress and measure performance of family planning programs. The CYP conversion factors were recently updated. View the recording from a recent webinar about these updates. 

 ●  Acceptability of the contraceptive Sayana® Press when injected every four months: Results from a 12-month trial in Brazil, Chile and the Dominican Republic: This article from Burke & Packer et al. published in Contraception provides insight into the acceptability of Sayana® Press when the reinjection interval was extended from 3 to 4 months during a 12-month trial in Brazil, Chile and the Dominican Republic. Read it now.

●  Global research and learning agenda for building evidence on contraceptive-induced menstrual changes for research, product development, policies, and programs: This article from Hoppes et al. was recently published on Gates Open Research. It includes four CIMC research agendas for (1) measurement, (2) contraceptive research and development (R&D) and biomedical research, (3) social-behavioral and user preferences research, and (4) programmatic research.  Read the full article here.

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